registration & names for money

[Elmar Robbrecht]

I rarely have time to contribute to the discussions in Taxacom. The names
for money issue is very important, however, and I fully endorse the views
expressed by Neil Snow.
The planned registration of new botanical names (to be adopted or not at the
IBC this summer) will not resolve the problem of proliferation of names by
extreme splitters. I think there is only one remedy: that an international
body selects a number of biological journals that are recognized for the
valid description of novelties (using criterions such as editorial board,
review system, present reputation of the journal ...). The journal editors
then will have the 'power' to watch that novelties are described in the
context of a scholar knowledge of biology and evolution in general and the
concerned group of organisms in particular.
Elmar Robbrecht
Prof. Dr. Elmar Robbrecht
curator vascular plants BR
editor Syst. Geogr. Pl.
National Botanic Garden of Belgium
Domein van Bouchout, B-1860 Meise (Belgium)
Tel. **32 2 269 39 05; fax ** 32 2 270 15 67
email robbrecht at BR.fgov.be

Information on N.B.G. on the internet (www.BR.fgov.be)