Type-in taxon names on Florida specimens

[Tom Humphrey]

Usually, for specimens from the UK, herb@home has taxon lists that cover most names that are likely to be used on sheets, so the documentation form doesn't allow new names to be typed in.

For the current set of sheets from Florida our name list doesn't cover much of the range of taxa (except for some plants that have made it to the UK as garden escapes) so the system is accepting names that are not on herb@home's lists.

The system can usually make sense of newly entered names. Later I'll check and link them to the full details and add authorities. At this stage please don't enter taxon authorities for names either as part of the taxon name or in the determiner's notes field. Name authors will be added, but the database will work better if everything ends up in the the right field.

(but don't worry at all about any entries that already have some typed-in authority names - it doesn't help that I make-up guidelines as I go along... )

Tom

[bonnie123]

Just want to make sure I'm doing this correctly. Here is an example.

Euphorbia Curtisii Engelm. ex Chapm

I only inputted the following, is this correct?
Euphorbia Curtisii

Thanks so much!

[Tom Humphrey]

Hi Bonnie,

Yes that's the right part of the name. The convention for taxonomic names is that the genus (Euphorbia) starts with a capital letter and everything else is lowercase, so 'Euphorbia curtisii' rather than 'Euphorbia Curtisii'.

I know that sounds obsessive, but it can help the database break up the separate parts of the name (and can be a good habit to get into anyway).
( there's more info in wikipedia )

The labels on the Florida specimens are mostly correctly spelled, but if you have doubts about a name then the International Plant Name Index is a good place to check.

[bonnie123]

Thanks so much Tom! Good news is that I do know to not capitalize the second word, I didn't noticed I had typed it that way in the post.

Thanks for the link to the website as well!