Vermifrux Gillett (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae), a New Name for Helminthocarpon A. Rich

Abstract

The name Helminthocarpon A. Rich. Cannot be used as it is a later homonym for Helminthocarpon Fee. Bentham and Post & Kuntze when they used Helminthocarpum and Helminthocarpus respectively, as well as other authors who have followed them, attributed these names to Richard and gave no indication that they realized that they were spelling the name differently from Richard or that they knew that Richard's name was a later homonym. They were clearly therefore either misspelling Richard's name accidentally or tacitly 'correcting' it, an illegitimate procedure under Article 73 of the ‘International Code of Botanical Nomenclature': 'the original spelling of a name must be retained'. Neither of these names has therefore been validly published. Even if they had been proposed as new names it is doubtful whether either could be accepted as they would seem to conflict with Article64 which states 'mere orthographic variants of the same name are treated as homonyms' and Article 75 which prescribes 'generic names so similar that they are likely to be confused'.