About IPNI

The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) is a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and fern allies. Its goal is to eliminate the need for repeated reference to primary sources for basic bibliographic information about plant names. The data are freely available and are gradually being standardized and checked. IPNI will be a dynamic resource, depending on direct contributions by all members of the botanical community.

IPNI is the product of a collaboration between The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, The Harvard University Herbaria, and the Australian National Herbarium

NEWS - June 2009

• The State of Observed Species (SOS) Report for 2009 was released on 22 May. It summarises the number of species newly described during 2007. IPNI contributed data for this analysis - see page five of the report.

• The numbers and categories of names added to IPNI are recorded here. These statistics charts are automatically updated whenever we update the static webpages - usually around the beginning of each month.

• More thanks are due for your help in providing us with some of the references we've been unable to get hold of. Missing names have been added and corrections made as a result. The list shrank quite considerably last month but we have now topped it up again!

• If your name is already in the Authors Database please check to see if you can supply us with any additional information about yourself, like date of birth or full name where we only have your initials. This may help to prevent you from being confused with someone else in the future!

• We have changed the format of the Plant Names search results summary to show nomenclatural status, where available. For names published from 1992 onwards, this assessment can be considered to be reliable. The terms used are defined here.

• Read about events in the history of Index Kewensis from 1893-2000. We hope you will find this new page informative and that it will help you to interpret the data. The information was taken from the IK archive.

• Errors in page or volume number, title or publication year which are spotted and corrected during the standardization process are listed in a table. This table now has almost 3,000 entries - mostly scanning errors. If you come across more, please let us know. Table last updated 30 April 2009.

• A quick analysis of the names added to IPNI since 1 Jan 2007 that were published in 2007-8 showed that just over 1.6% (or about 140 names) were illegitimate or not validly published according to ICBN (2006).

TIPS

June 09

• Remember IPNI's focus is purely nomenclatural. No opinions are given on what are currently accepted names or taxonomic synonyms. [See link to find some sources of current names.] 

• If you view IPNI data elsewhere, ensure that you are looking at the most recent version of the record.

• Quick searches allow you to paste a plant name (without authors) straight into a single box. Unlike full searches, quick searches are case-sensitive and will find matching records at the same rank as the name you put in. Try it out! Get more ideas on how to use it.

May 09

• Use an abundance of wildcards when searching the publications database, including a leading wildcard. The full title of the publication may start with something unexpected, e.g. see Phan. Cuming. Philipp.

• Some of the publication titles not yet standardised in IPNI may be a little cryptic to decipher. Ask the editors if you encounter any difficulties.

• A vast and growing amount of botanical literature is now available on-line. Try out some of the links listed here.

Apr 09

• If you are checking author's name against the IPNI authors database it is essential to consider the name of the author you are dealing with in context. An example: several names were recently encountered in IPNI with authorship 'R.Baker'. Now, R.Baker is a standard form, so a machine check would find an exact match and you might assume that all is well. But on delving further, [searching on Surname Baker and Forename R%] R.K.Baker, R.A.Baker, R.E.D.Baker and R.T.Baker are also presented as possibilities. So, references have to be checked to ascertain the correct author. In this example, the author had to be corrected to R.T.Baker.

• An asterisk next to a plant name record indicates that the record is awaiting verification by one of the editors. The record may be a recent addition to the database or it may be a record that has just been edited in some way. Once the editors have checked and approved the record the asterisk will disappear.

• See new names just added by searching by additional terms. Search must be limited by at least one term, like family, genus or author.

Mar 09

• The early compilers of Index Kewensis didn't have the benefit of being able to consult the invaluable source of information on plant taxonomic literature that is available to us today in TL-2. Consequently, it is advisable to check that the publication dates cited in some of the old records are correct. We are making corrections and adding missing dates as standardisation progresses. Some of the errors found as standardisation progresses are listed in the errors database.

• Scanning errors can result in the wrong author being displayed. For example: there were several occurences of 'Benth.' that were scanning errors for 'Bernh.' Both of these are standard forms. Please tell us if you come across other similar errors.

• Not all of the authors in plant names records are standardised yet. Those that are (83%) are hyperlinked.

February 09

• If your name is in the Authors Database please check to see if you can supply us with any additional information about yourself, like date of birth or full name where we only have your initials.

• When searching the authors database use a wildcard after the first letter of the forename if you are using that field in your search. Find out why.

• If you come across an '=' sign in the notes field of a plant name record, we advise you to ignore the associated information. The record will be from the original volume of Index Kewensis and its early supplements when the compilers often passed taxonomic judgement (which may have been their own personal view). This practice ceased for names published after 1905. Find out more about about Index Kewensis and its 21 Supplements.

January 09

• Remember IPNI's focus is purely nomenclatural. No opinions are given on what are currently accepted names or taxonomic synonyms. [See link to find some sources of current names.] 

• A hyperlink on author name or publication title in the detailed search results indicates standardized format. 

• Clicking on the IPNI icon in the top left hand corner of every page in the website will take you back to the Home Page. 

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Page last updated 5 June 2009