Two Oak Names Conserved

Two proposals to conserve names of oaks were ratified at the International Botanical Congress held in Madrid in July. Quercus frainetto is conserved as the name for what is known as Hungarian oak and Q. pacifica is conserved as the name for the shrub oak of the Californian Channel Islands. Both these names had been at risk of being changed, because according to the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi, and Plants (a.k.a the Code) they had been published later than another name for the same taxon (the case of Q. frainetto) or were a later homonym, i.e. the name had already been used for another taxon and so was illegitimate (the case of Q. pacifica). In both instances, it was decided that a change to the names would have been disadvantageous and it was preferable to make an exception to the rules in order to keep names that were widely used.

The process to conserve a name requires several steps. First, a proposal must be submitted to TAXON, the journal of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy. The proposal is scrutinized and often revised by the editors of the journal before acceptance and publication. The published proposal is then reviewed by the relevant Nomenclature Committee, who will vote on recommending the proposal. Their recommendation is then reviewed by the General Committee, who will vote on whether to accept the Special Committee’s recommendation. The General Committee’s decision then has to be accepted by the Nomenclature Section of the International Botanical Congress, which is held every six years (barring pandemics or other force majeure). Finally, the Botanical Congress as a whole must then accept the Nomenclature Section’s decision and the conservation of a name is subsequently added to Appendix IV of the Code that is published following the Congress.

The procedure for both proposals to conserve Quercus names was mostly smooth. The proposal to conserve Q. frainetto, authored by Roderick Cameron, was published in Taxon 72, Issue 1 in February 2023 and reviewed by the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants (NCVP) in a report published in Taxon 73, Issue 1 in February 2024. The report summarized the proposal as follows:

Two authors published names for the Hungarian oak around the same time. Quercus conferta Kit. was published in 1814, while the publication date of Q. frainetto Ten. was disputed. It was published in a supplement to a work issued between 1811 and 1813, and 1813 had been thought to be the publication date. It was later determined that the actual publication date was 1815, making Q. conferta the name with priority. The proposal tells us that correct use of Q. conferta in historical literature was “common” until 1937, but Q. frainetto then replaced it in most literature. The error was pointed out by Soldano (in Atti Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat. Mus. Civico Storia Nat. Milano 133: 113–114. 1993) but that was overlooked. The proposal seeks to conserve Q. frainetto because horticulturists and oak experts prefer it. It does appear that Q. frainetto is much more used online, though some people have adopted Q. conferta now that it is known to be older. A narrow majority recommend acceptance of the proposal.

The narrow majority mentioned in the report is not a simple majority. The NCVP has 17 members, and a minimum of 11 votes is required for recommendation that a proposal be accepted or rejected (a 60% vote, known as a qualified majority or super-majority). In the case of the proposal to conserve Q. frainetto, 12 members voted for the proposal and 5 against (no abstentions), indicating that a significant number of Committee members preferred to stick to the rules rather than bend them simply because a name was widely used. The General Committee reviewed the NCVP’s recommendation and unanimously approved it in their Report 31 published online on July 3, 2024.

The proposal to conserve Q. pacifica was published in Taxon 72, Issue 3 in April 2023, authored by Alan Wihttemore. It was reviewed by the NCVP, who summarized the proposal in their Report 75 (Taxon 73, Issue 1, February 2024) as follows:

Quercus pacifica Nixon & C.H. Mull. is an endangered species endemic to islands of the state of California (U.S.A.). The earlier homonym Q. pacifica Knowlt. applies to a fossil taxon. It was later transferred to Caesalpinia Plum. ex L. as C. pacifica (Knowlt.) R.W. Br. Though the placement in Caesalpinia is now doubted, it is agreed that the fossil was a legume. The name of Q. pacifica Nixon & C.H. Mull. is used in a popular state vegetation classification scheme, whose revision might be confusing to its users—if it was revised; if it was not, the name used in the classification would not match the name used in taxonomy. It is also referenced in conservation literature and state conservation plans. Since the older homonym will never again be in use, conserving the younger homonym will avoid inconvenience to non-taxonomist users of nomenclature.

In this case the vote to recommend the proposal was almost unanimous (16 in favor and 1 abstention). As the proposal involved the name of a fossil, it was also reviewed by the Nomenclature Committee for Fossils. In a report published in Taxon 32, Issue 2, they provided a similar summary of the proposal and voted unanimously to recommend it. The General Committee reviewed the NCF’s recommendation and voted unanimously to approve it, as stated in their report published in June 2024. Due to an oversight, they did not comment on the NCVP’s recommendation to accept the proposal, but this did not affect the approval of the overall recommendation. According to Karen Wilson, Secretary of the General Committee (pers. comm.), a clarification will be included in their next report.

The Nomenclature Section of the XX International Botanical Congress met in Madrid prior to the Congress itself and in their last session on July 19 accepted the decisions of the General Committee, and in the final session of the Congress, on July 27, the Nomenclature Section’s decisions were accepted by the Congress by show of hands. The two names will be added to Appendix IV (Conserved, protected, and rejected names of species and infraspecific taxa) of the Madrid Code. Only two oak names are currently included in Appendix IV: Q. ilex, which was conserved with a conserved type in the Shenzhen Code (2018), following a proposal by IOS members Francisco Vázquez and Allen Coombes, and Q. pubescens, which was conserved against Q. humilis in the Vienna Code (2007), following a proposal by Rafaël Govaerts, head of the Plant & Fungal Names Team at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

The process for conserving and rejecting names is complex and requires considerable efforts from authors and reviewers. However, the effort is worthwhile if it means we can avoid disadvantageous name changes and contribute to nomenclatural stability. The IOS should continue to participate in the rectification of oak names. If any member knows of a nomenclatural issue that needs to be resolved involving an oak name, please write to the Taxonomy and Nomenclature Committee (click here for the address) to bring it to our attention.