#scientificnames — Public Fediverse posts

Botanical names and the practices that pre-serve the legacies of empire

"Plant naming is a fractious area of botany, partly because most plants are named after white, western men. Acknowledgement of female and Indigenous plant collectors is often absent from plant names and also from the botanical database records."

"While in Australia, English botanist Joseph Banks (1743-1820) collected 1,400 plants over his seven-week trip. No Aboriginal plant names were recorded. Plants were then returned to Britain and Europe to meet the growing hunger for rare natural collections. These collections became the major European museums and herbaria we know today, such as Kew Gardens in London."

"Subramaniam’s book views colonialism as a genocide, an ecocide and an epistemicide where Indigenous knowledges were mostly lost but also partly appropriated."
>>
https://theconversation.com/sex-plants-and-colonisation-reclaiming-botany-from-the-tendrils-of-empire-234679

Botanists vote to remove racist reference from plants’ scientific names
https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jul/20/botanists-remove-racist-references-plants-scientific-names

Restoring Indigenous names in taxonomy
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7584613/

Botany of Empire, Plant Worlds and the Scientific Legacies of Colonialism, Banu Subramaniam, 2024
https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295752457/botany-of-empire/
#botany #biology #nomenclature #taxonomy #ScientificNames #epistemicide #DB #databases #PlantSciences #Plants #terminology #ecology #conservation #restoration #colonialism #empire #IndigenousPeoples #women #Book #PlantHumanities

Botanical names and the practices that pre-serve the legacies of empire

"Plant naming is a fractious area of botany, partly because most plants are named after white, western men. Acknowledgement of female and Indigenous plant collectors is often absent from plant names and also from the botanical database records."

"While in Australia, English botanist Joseph Banks (1743-1820) collected 1,400 plants over his seven-week trip. No Aboriginal plant names were recorded. Plants were then returned to Britain and Europe to meet the growing hunger for rare natural collections. These collections became the major European museums and herbaria we know today, such as Kew Gardens in London."

"Subramaniam’s book views colonialism as a genocide, an ecocide and an epistemicide where Indigenous knowledges were mostly lost but also partly appropriated."
>>
https://theconversation.com/sex-plants-and-colonisation-reclaiming-botany-from-the-tendrils-of-empire-234679

Botanists vote to remove racist reference from plants’ scientific names
https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jul/20/botanists-remove-racist-references-plants-scientific-names

Restoring Indigenous names in taxonomy
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7584613/

Botany of Empire, Plant Worlds and the Scientific Legacies of Colonialism, Banu Subramaniam, 2024
https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295752457/botany-of-empire/
#botany #biology #nomenclature #taxonomy #ScientificNames #epistemicide #DB #databases #PlantSciences #Plants #terminology #ecology #conservation #restoration #colonialism #empire #IndigenousPeoples #women #Book #PlantHumanities

Hitler beetle, Trump moth, Beyoncé fly: is it time to rethink naming of #species?
Some scientists say the rules must be changed so plants and animals are not tagged with ‘objectionable’ names. Many scientists are pressing for changes to be made to international system for giving official #scientificnames to allow deletion and substitution of past names if deemed objectionable. Current #taxonomy regulations, which do not allow such changes, must be altered, they say.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/nov/05/hitler-beetle-trump-moth-beyonce-fly-is-it-time-to-rethink-naming-of-species

Hitler beetle, Trump moth, Beyoncé fly: is it time to rethink naming of #species?
Some scientists say the rules must be changed so plants and animals are not tagged with ‘objectionable’ names. Many scientists are pressing for changes to be made to international system for giving official #scientificnames to allow deletion and substitution of past names if deemed objectionable. Current #taxonomy regulations, which do not allow such changes, must be altered, they say.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/nov/05/hitler-beetle-trump-moth-beyonce-fly-is-it-time-to-rethink-naming-of-species

This was fun, a way to stretch my writing about #ScientificNames for an audience (linguistics, law) unfamiliar with them. Naming species is the most purely creative act in all of science... and that makes names fascinating!

I've written about #humour in #ScientificWriting, and about interesting #etymology of #ScientificNames. So when these topics crash into each other - and in #Entomology to boot - I'm all over it: https://scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2022/11/29/ignotus-aenigmaticus-an-accidental-and-amusing-latin-name/

I've written about #humour in #ScientificWriting, and about interesting #etymology of #ScientificNames. So when these topics crash into each other - and in #Entomology to boot - I'm all over it: https://scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2022/11/29/ignotus-aenigmaticus-an-accidental-and-amusing-latin-name/

This data compilation helps us organise data as we collate datasets in #BiodiversityInformatics, as it provides the correct spelling of the #ScientificNames - and this is a real challenge. Names data are often very messy but key values to use in #DataIntegration.
It also allows us to explore who is participating in the publication of scientific names, where they are publishing and how publishing practices are changing.

IPNI is supported & compiled by an editorial team - they are experts in the interpretation of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi & plants - the set of rules that govern how we create and use names. The code is revised every 6 years at the nomenclature section of International Botanical Congress. The last congress was in Shenzen, China in 2017, the next will be in Madrid in 2024. Should have met in Brazil in 2023, but... COVID
#botany #ScientificNames

@dylan this looks great, thanks for posting!
Will try to make time to evaluate for #biodiversity data - all those #ScientificNames and collection localities make data integration a real challenge..
#BiodiversityInformatics

@dylan this looks great, thanks for posting!
Will try to make time to evaluate for #biodiversity data - all those #ScientificNames and collection localities make data integration a real challenge..
#BiodiversityInformatics

Some things I tend to be interested in, in no particular order:

#ecology
#evolution
#entomology
#ScientificWriting
#writing
#words
#linguistics
#botany
#nature
#fungi
#puns
#ScientificNames
#etymology
#EponymousNames
#HistoryOfScience
#blogging
#books

Just a few for now...

Some things I tend to be interested in, in no particular order:

#ecology
#evolution
#entomology
#ScientificWriting
#writing
#words
#linguistics
#botany
#nature
#fungi
#puns
#ScientificNames
#etymology
#EponymousNames
#HistoryOfScience
#blogging
#books

Just a few for now...