Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 14:12:05 From: SCHLAUER@chemie.uni-wuerzburg.de To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2736$foo@default> Subject: Re: new species or hybrid
Dear Nigel,
> It would be useful if people who are active in naming new plants and
> frequently have to negotiate the bureaucracy involved could detail
> their experiences to this listserver.
This statement refers to two principally different situations.
The first one (see Subject line!) is the more or less academic debate
what is the difference between a hybrid and a "good" (i.e. non-
hybrid) species. The answer from the nomenclatural point of view is,
there is no difference. It does in fact not matter if you write
_Drosera tokaiensis_ or _D. * tokaiensis_ . Both names have the
same status. In cases where the parents can be identified (so the
hybrid nature is evident; in our case _D. rotundifolia_ * _D.
spatulata_), I prefer the hybrid formula, which has the same priority
as the binomial _D. tokaiensis_. Therefore, hybrid names are not
listed as accepted names in the CPDB, and the hybrid formula is cited
as a synonym.
The second situation is the almost exclusively negative effect (for
the scientist who requires the specimens) of the (wrong and
contraproductive) application of CITES regulations to herbarium
specimens, which is only possible because some weird legal eagles
have defined the transport of herbarium specimens on loan from one
address to the other as "trade" although no change of proprietary
status is involved whatsoever. This can (and IMHO must) be changed by
a definitive statement in the CITES text that should a priori (i.e.
without lengthy debates and tedious application paperwork if and why
herbarium specimens are what they are) exclude material for purely
scientific research. I know that there is quite a lot of fake "whale
research" in countries where whale meat and other products (which
are somehow always the waste of the "research" work) can be sold at
good prices, but the situation with herbarium specimens is quite
different. At least I do not know of any person who sells herbarium
specimen derived products or by-products of herbarium specimen
preparation.
So far my personal experience with loan of specimens from Herbaria
ranged from positive to excellent throughout. I did never have any
trouble to receive even type specimens on loan for at least six
months (which is quite a long time if one considers the number of
colleagues interested in cps at the moment). I did not try to loan
_Nepenthes_ specimens very recently, so I cannot tell what expects
someone who wants to check the type of e.g. _N. argentii_. I hope it
will still be possible, anyway.
Kind regards
Jan
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