>Could someone expound on the meaning of >aff.< when used in plant
>nomenclature? I see it a lot in seed lists and I just saw it used in a
>general discussion here on CP. For instance, is D. aff. erythrorhiza
>ssp. squamosa a form of D. erythrorhiza ssp. squamosa, or is it
>something else?
"aff." is an element of unsettled or provisorical nomenclature. It means
affinis (related to), and would be used in your example for a plant which
seems to be related in some way to _D.erythrorhiza subsp.squamosa_ (but
perhaps not entirely identical with it). "aff."-nomenclature leaves open
the question whether the plant does belong to the cited taxon or not; it is
a "maybe" identifier.
Kind regards
Jan