Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Pmanderson (talk | contribs) at 14:30, 6 December 2008 (restore collateral damage; ''Unique, unambiguous, and well-known" is from Tree of Life and undiscussed in the edit war.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This guideline documents an English Misplaced Pages naming convention. Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.

Shortcut WP:NC(flora)

This page's designation as a policy or guideline is disputed or under discussion. Please see the relevant talk page discussion for further information.

Policy page Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions

The naming conventions that apply to flora have been extensively discussed and continue to be discussed on the WikiProject Plants talk page

Article title

The ideal name for an article would be unique, unambiguous, and well known. Flora articles rarely have such names, and so their naming offers special difficulties. The following notes are in general compatible with naming policy and the standard Tree of Life project.

It is rare for the common (i.e. vernacular) name of a plant taxon to be unambiguous: many taxa bear several English common names, and many English common names are applied to multiple unrelated taxa. In the first case, no English name is likely to be common in the "broadly used" sense, although the scientific name may be. In the second case, the common name is ambiguous, so the use of scientific names is necessary in the interests of sufficient precision. The majority of plant taxon articles are therefore best titled with their scientific names (with redirects or disambiguation entries from the common names).

However, the common name of a taxon should be used for the article title if it is the only prominent English common name for the taxon (spelling variations excepted); it is more common (i.e. more broadly used) than the scientific name; it is unambiguous as the name of the taxon; and it is widely attested in reliable secondary sources (without the scientific name) in reference to the entire taxon as commonly circumscribed. Cases where these conditions are likely to be met include:

1. Widely known genera and higher rank taxa; e.g. Maple, not Acer (genus); some species also will qualify.
2. Plant taxa that are commonly named after a plant product of which they are the source; e.g. coffee, rice. So long as a single article treats both plant taxon and plant product, the article should be named after the product. Ideally, though, these articles should eventually be split, with the plant taxon article to be entitled with the scientific name; e.g. Coffea, Oryza sativa.
   • Note that this does not apply when multiple plant products stem from the same plant taxon; e.g. brussels sprouts, cabbage and broccoli. In such cases, a separate article on the plant taxon is necessary; e.g. Brassica oleracea.

Common names should also be used for groups that are not taxonomically sound, even if they were previously thought to be. For example, the dicotyledons are no longer recognised as a valid taxon, so it is inappropriate to address that group by a scientific name.

Where the boundaries of the common name are vague (e.g. grass), separate articles on the common noun and the taxon (Poaceae) may be helpful.

When treating monotypic taxa, it is often appropriate to treat the various ranks in a single article. If an article treats both a monospecific genus and its species, the article should be named after the genus, with the species name as a redirect. If an article treats both a monogeneric family and its genus, the article should still be at the genus name, as that is more likely to be commonly recognised.

See also

• General naming policy
• Tree of Life naming convention
• Guideline on common names
• Guideline on precision.
• Plant naming convention discussion

• Misplaced Pages naming conventions