Fwd: Re: taxons and orthography

[Thomas Lammers]

>Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 09:20:58 -0600
>To: "Susan B. Farmer" <sfarmer at GOLDSWORD.COM>
>From: Thomas Lammers <lammers at uwosh.edu>
>Subject: Re: taxons and orthography
>
>At 05:25 PM 3/8/00 -0500, you wrote:
>>But one part of the gentleman's question hasn't been answered -- at least
>>I don't think so (and it's one I'm currently struggling with as well --
>>and English *is* my native tongue).  Do family names take an article?
>>is it "Rosaceae are" or "The Rosaceae are"
>
>I indicated it was a matter of taste, in my opinion.  And in fact, that
>THIS may be the best way to distinguish between a family name as a
>singular entity ("Rosaceae is" sensu Jensen) vs. a family name as an
>aggregate of singular entities: "The Rosaceae are distinguished by their
>..."  vs.  "Common Rosaceae include Rosa, Prunus, Pyrus, ..."
>

Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:                     lammers at uwosh.edu
phone (office):         920-424-7085
phone (herbarium):  920-424-1002
fax:                         920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that stood his ground."
                                                 -- Anonymous