> recently I was surfing around the web searching info on Drosera
> spathulata. I'm not a botanist at all, so I was surprised to know
> from Rick's data base that D_spathulata isn't a valid name! I
> realized that D_spathulata (Labillardiere) is a synonym, but of what?
> I found the following text: N: [Drosera spathulata {Hort.}]
> S: =[Drosera aliciae {R.Hamet}] /[Drosera spatulata {Labill.}]
>
>
> Does it mean that D_spathulata (Labill.) is a synonym of D_spathulata
> (Hort)? If so, which is the correct nomenclature of both?
I'd guess that the real experts will have followed up long before I
dial up and post this. I think that the issue here is that
someone somewhere started spelling the name wrong. I never know
which is right myself but I'd guess from the above that there is no
'h' and that it should be 'spatulata'. My non-botanist's
interpretation of {Hort} is just that this incorrect name occurs
frequently in 'Horticulture' but was never officially published. The
other two names in {} are those of botanists who really did publish
these names.
I've just spotted Jan's followup, so I hardly need bother posting now,
except to note that he said that 'spatulata' and 'spathulata' are both
*valid Latin* - this did not imply that both are valid as names for
Drosera. As for pronounciation, I always see this as irrelevant -
pronounce them however you like - of course it helps if others can
understand you. Personally, I'd pronounce these two differently.