[Taxacom] names abbreviated

[Phil Jenkins]

We and many others struggled a bit over such abbreviations as "H.B.K."
Since it was Kunth that did most of the botany in this work, many people
simply changed  H.B.K. to Kunth. But Kunth authored plants in a number of
other works, and the argument arose to retain the H.B.K. because it referred
the investigator to a specific publication. The result of this argument gave
rise to such depictions as H.B.& Kunth, H.B.ex Kunth, Kunth in Humbolt,
Bonpland & Kunth, and some others. The point was that "H.B.K." identified a
work to look in for answers where simply Kunth would not be informative, and
was, at the end of the story, an ego trip for Kunth, who presumably has
moved beyond that now. H.B.K. was again resurrected. Not everyone knew which
authors to change back to H.B.K. and they are still Kunth. So the attempt to
specify Kunth became somewhat of a boondoggle, and there is a mix of ways to
refer to this publication, or not to refer to it. So, can anyone tell me
that H.B.K. is not useful?  And I repeat, it is perfectly right to use
"Humbolt, Bonpland & Kunth." And that Brummitt and Powell did not address
these sorts of issues.
Phil Jenkins (ARIZ)