[1] A sanctioned name, as defined under article 15 of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (previously, the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature) is automatically treated as if conserved against all earlier synonyms or homonyms.
Because of the imprecision associated with assigning starting dates for fungi sanctioned in Fries' three Systema volumes, the Stockholm 1950 International Botanical Congress defined arbitrary or actual publication dates for the starting points to improve the stability of nomenclature.
Because fungi defined in the second and third volumes lacked a starting-point book for reference, the Congress declared that these species, in addition to species defined in Fries' 1828 Elenchus Fungorum (a two-volume supplement to his System), had "privileged status".
According to Korf,[1] the term "sanctioned" was first used to indicate these privileged names by the Dutch mycologist Marinus Anton Donk in 1961.
[3] In 1982, changes in the International Code for Botanical Nomenclature (the Sydney Code) restored Linnaeus' 1753 Species Plantarum as the starting point for fungal nomenclature; however, protected status was given to all names adopted by Persoon in his 1801 Synopsis, and by Fries in both the Systema and the Elenchus.