Botanical name

A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP).

The code of nomenclature covers "all organisms traditionally treated as algae, fungi, or plants, whether fossil or non-fossil, including blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria), chytrids, oomycetes, slime moulds and photosynthetic protists with their taxonomically related non-photosynthetic groups (but excluding Microsporidia).

In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralize the defining features of that particular taxon.

[citation needed] The usefulness of botanical names is limited by the fact that taxonomic groups are not fixed in size; a taxon may have a varying circumscription, depending on the taxonomic system, thus, the group that a particular botanical name refers to can be quite small according to some people and quite big according to others.

A name of a "subdivision of a genus" also needs a connecting term (in the Acacia example above, this is "subg.

[citation needed] A taxon may be indicated by a listing in more than three parts: "Saxifraga aizoon var.

The example set by the ICN is to italicize all botanical names, including those above genus, though the ICN preface states: "The Code sets no binding standard in this respect, as typography is a matter of editorial style and tradition not of nomenclature".

In the case of cultivated plants, there is an additional epithet which is an often non-Latin part, not written in italics.