Botanical name

A botanical name is a formal scientific name which follows the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN). If it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar term must follow the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants.

The code of nomenclature covers "all organisms traditionally treated as plants, whether fossil or non-fossil, e.g. blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria); fungi, including chytrids, oomycetes, and slime moulds; photosynthetic protists and taxonomically related non-photosynthetic groups".^[1]

The purpose of a formal name is to have a single name which is accepted and used worldwide for a particular plant or plant group. For example, the botanical name Bellis perennis was given to a plant species which is native to most of the countries of Europe and the Middle East, where it has various names in many languages. Later it has been introduced worldwide, bringing it into contact with more languages.

Some English names for this plant species are: daisy,^[2] English daisy,^[3] lawndaisy.^[4] In other languages, some examples are:^[3] French: pâquerette, Spanish: vellorita, Swedish: tusensköna, German: Gänseblümchen, Maßliebchen.

The cultivar Bellis perennis 'Aucubifolia' is a golden-variegated horticultural selection of this species.

1. ↑ McNeill J. et al (eds) 2006. International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Vienna Code). Adopted by the Seventeenth International Botanical Congress Vienna, Austria, July 2005. A.R.G. Gantner, Rugell, Liechtenstein. online here
2. ↑ "Bellis perennis". Ecological Flora of the British Isles. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Taxon: Bellis perennis L." Germplasm Resources Information Network - GRIN. United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
4. ↑ "Bellis perennis L. - Lawndaisy". Natural Resources Conservation Service. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 29 November 2013.