Dear Nishant,

Capparis himalayensis Jafri is the basionym of both Capparis spinosa L. subsp. himalayensis (Jafri) Fici and Capparis spinosa L. var. himalayensis (Jafri) Jacobs.

In other words Capparis himalayensis Jafri is the name bringing synonym of both the names.

These names seem to be applicable to the same plant. The difference lies in the fact that some taxonomists are preferring Capparis himalayensis Jafri as a subspecies of Capparis spinosa L. whereas others as a variety. It is totally up to you to consider Capparis himalayensis Jafri as a subspecies / variety of Capparis spinosa L. . So in your case it is matter of taxonomic rank - subspecies or variety?

Scientific names of plants really matters! For example Allium cepa and Solanum tuberosum are not the same.

Similarly just for understanding PRIYANKA CHOPRA and RIYA CHOPRA are not the same!!!

Nishant:

In biological literature author's name is necessary to avoid confusion pertaining to homonyms. However, the latest version of ICBN dictates that author name citation is not mandatory in certain cases. Kindly see this link - p. 787:

Best

Syed

Syed is correct. The name(s) of the author(s) is/are integral part of the plant nomenclature. The name(s) of the author(s) is/ are not required for autonyms.

The latest ICN (Melbourne Code) will soon be replaced by Shenzhen Code (2018)

Thank you so much sir Syed Abbas Jafar ; you have explained what I want to know exactly. Thank u sir Subir Bandyopadhyay for your valuable feedback.

Dear Nishant:

I misunderstood your question. It is related to author name citation of the plant names. The Article from Melbourne Code is pasted below:

• 46.1 In publications, particularly those dealing with taxonomy and nomenclature, it may be desirable, even when no bibliographic reference to the protologue is made, to cite the author(s) of the name concerned (see also Art. 22.1 and 26.1). In so doing, the following rules apply.
  • Ex.1. Rosaceae Juss., Rosa L., Rosa gallica L., Rosa gallica var. eriostyla R. Keller, Rosa gallica L. var. gallica.

In Chapter 9 of book entitled 'The Code decoded' by N. Turland (2013) the following have been stated:

It is not mandatory to cite authors of plant names. Omitting an author citation has no effect on valid publication, legitimacy, or correctness of a name, nor the application of a name. In very general terms, scientific publications should use author citations, whereas popular publications should not………One potential source of such confusion is homonyms...........

You should try to go through the said chapter from this book.

You go through the attachment provided by Syed.

MAARTEN JM CHRISTENHUSZ stated 'Therefore, several journals (e.g. Christenhusz et al. 2009) have come up with alternative citation of authors, which is fortunately allowed by the ICN, and which forces

authors to cite taxonomical and nomenclatural publications in the references, securing a better citation factor for taxonomic papers and journals.' In other words citation of the full details of the authors of plant names is mandatory.

I feel that you should cite the authors of plant names because you are involved in scientific research.

Dear Nishant:

I agree with the earlier answers that as per recent ICN, Author name citation is not mandatory. Most of journals are avoiding author name citation in their journals. The citation of author names is generally used to prevent confusion between homonyms.Normally the

Unfortunately, this leads to the fact that all taxonomy papers including those dealing with nomenclatural issues and papers describing new species have very low citation. But to overcome this bottleneck,

several journals have come up with alternative citation of authors in such a way which forces authors of research papers to cite taxonomical and nomenclatural publications in the references, ultimately leading to a better citation for taxonomic papers and journals as well!!!. A win-win situation for taxonomists.

Thanks to all eminent experts for explaining thoroughly. As I understood, that authors name not essential to a species in general case, though citation needs author name to make it more authentic; however another concern about variation among the author names (less frequent, some time occurred); we usually verify a species through online databases such as The Plant List, IPN, Tropicos etc, variations, sometime leads a debate and confusion too. In such condition every debater have their own fact to consider a specific name.

IPNI, The Plant List and Tropicos are very helpful but not absolutely dependable. We should alway try to confirm the data by ourselves, especially when there is discrepancy between these three. IPNI, however, unlike The Plant List and Tropicos never shows which are presently the accepted names.