Priority

Jan Schlauer (zxmsl01@studserv.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de)
Wed, 22 Dec 1993 09:25:45 +0100

Barry, Michael, Jeff, & al.:
In most other disciplines it is the usual way to determine priority by the
date a manuscript was submitted. This is mainly due to minimize deletrious
effects of over-refereeing. But in botanic nomenclature, the rules are
slightly different. Here it is indeed the first day of availability to the
public which is important (i.e. too bad if you meet a lazy referee...).
Maybe this is for reasons quite aptly sketched by Michael. 8-) Got your
tattoo already?

If two names for the same plant are published simultaneously (e.g. in the
same journal or the same day), the name selected by the first author to
recognize their synonymy (in our case _D.citrina_, by Cheek, grr...) is the
valid one. It is of no importance if the information which led to the
decision was correct or not. The situation could only be reversed if there
was unambiguous proof for the other name to have been published (at least
one day) earlier.

>...Or perhaps I'm giving Dr. Cheek a bit too much credit...?

No, not in this respect; Cheek's completely right even if his information
was wrong (this is what makes me hit the ceiling).
Kind regards
Jan