[Taxacom] Why stability? - Revisited

[Weakley, Alan]

The type is a flag in space around which the circumscription of a taxon (its concept) is defined -- usually in relation to other, "competing" taxa.  

-----Original Message-----
From: Taxacom [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Paul van Rijckevorsel
Sent: Monday, May 04, 2015 7:57 AM
To: TAXACOM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Why stability? - Revisited

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
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