plural collective nouns

[MANMEET SINGH]

Here is some useful information from various sources to substantiate
  what I had written:
 Woodland, Contemporary Plant Systematics, 1991
     page 359 "The family Marantaceae consists of 30..."
               "Economically the family is...."
     page 183 " The family Polygonaceae is distinctive..."

Jones and Luchsinger, Plant Systematics, 1986
     Page 317 "Moraceae are perhaps"
     Page 318 "The family is of little economic importance..."
     Page 327 "The Cactaceae are important as ornamentals..."

Stace, Plant Taxonomy and Biosystematics, 1989
     Page 108  "Caryophyllaceae are quite close"
     Page 189  "A good example is family Fabaceae, which represents...."

Porter, Taxonomy of Flowering Plants, 1959
     Page 400 " The family includes about 11 genera..."

Thorne, 1977 in Flowering plants ...edited by Kubitzki
     Page 307 "The small Australian family, Gyrostemonaceae...., has
               lately been......"
     Page 308 "Bataceae. This monogeneric family consists........"
     Page 310 "Rosiflorae are......."

Hutchinson, Families of Flowering Plants, 1973
     Page 444 "Meliaceae is a large and very homogeneous family..."
     Page 403 "The family Goupiaceae was described..."
     Page 570 "Aristolochiaceae are of great interest..."

   Understandably all these renowned authors know the difference between
    is and are  and this satisfies my friend Lammers. All these authors as
well myself very well know ICBN and the correct grammatic use.

******************************************************
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Department of Botany
Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College
University of Delhi
Delhi-110007, INDIA
ph: 91-011-7257469
Res: 932 Anand Kunj
Vikas Puri
New Delhi-110018
ph: 91-011-5531534
e-mail: singhm at giasdla.vsnl.net.in
******************************************************







On Fri, 30 Oct 1998, Thomas G. Lammers wrote:

> At 06:21 AM 10-30-98 -0500, Dr. Gurcharan Singh wrote:
>
> >Thus "Winteraceae
> >are primitive angiosperms" and "Winteraceae is a primitive family of
> >Angiosperms" are both correct.
>
> Sorry, I disagree.    International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, Art.
> 18.1:  "The name of a family is a plural adjective used as a substantive
> ..."   The name of a family is not, in my opinion, a collective noun.  It is
> simply a plural.  Ordinarily, collective nouns are necessary because there
> is a need to pluralize those concepts in turn, e.g., family, families;
> people, peoples; herd, herds; etc.   We have no need to pluralize the
> concept "Campanulaceae"; we cannot have two "Fagaceae-s".   The word
> "Winteraceae" is plural, and as the subject of the two sentences above, it
> takes a plural verb; the fact that the object of the second sentence
> ("family") is singular does not alter that fact.  Only if we make "family"
> the subject, and Winteraceae a noun in apposition may we get away with a
> singular verb ("The family Winteraceae is ...")
>
> If anyone is ever silly enough to let me edit a journal, I shall enforce
> this rule strictly!   ; - )
>
>
> Thomas G. Lammers
>
> Classification, Nomenclature, Phylogeny and Biogeography
> of the Campanulaceae, s. lat.
>
> Department of Botany
> Field Museum of Natural History
> Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive
> Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496 USA
>
> e-mail:          tlammers at fmnh.org
> office:        312-922-9410 ext. 317 (voice-mail)
> home:   630-759-4280
> fax:                312-427-2530
> http:  www.fmnh.org/candr/academic_affairs/collection_report/cv_lammers.htm
>
> -----------------------------------------------------
> "In no affairs of mere prejudice, pro or con,
>  do we deduce inferences with entire certainty,
>  even from the most simple data."
>              --- Edgar Allan Poe
>
>