[Taxacom] Why stability? - Revisited

[Paul van Rijckevorsel]

I was a little uneasy why Stephen Thorpe's attitude
that taxa are defined by types is so alien to me.

But it is very straightforward: from the very first
the 'botanical' Code has laid down that nomenclatural
types are not necessarily the most typical or 
representative element of a taxon (that is, holding 
only the type, it is not possible to predict with any 
degree of confidence what the taxon exactly looks 
like: the type is only the type) .

For plants there does exist a situation where the whole 
unit is determined by a reference specimen, namely in 
the ICNCP (Cultivated-plant-Code), resulting in names 
of the type Hydrangea macrophylla 'La France'.

The ICNCP deals with a field of considerable complexity 
(and which does benefit from regulation), but taxonomy
is not involved.

Paul