TheInternational Association for Plant Taxonomy(IAPT) is an organization established to promote an understanding ofplantbiodiversity,facilitate international communication of research betweenbotanists,and oversee matters of uniformity and stability in plant names. The IAPT was founded on July 18, 1950, at the SeventhInternational Botanical CongressinStockholm,Sweden.[1] The IAPT headquarters is located inBratislava,Slovakia. Its president, since 2023, is Lúcia G. Lohmann of the Universidade de São Paulo; vice-president is Fabián Michelangeli of the New York Botanical Garden; and secretary-general is Mauricio Bonifacino of the Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
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| Formation | July 18, 1950 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Bratislava,Slovakia |
President | Lúcia G. Lohmann |
| Website | www |
Both the taxonomic journalTaxonand the seriesRegnum Vegetabileare published by the IAPT. The latter series includes theInternational Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants,Index Nominum Genericorum,andIndex Herbariorum.
Purpose
editThe IAPT's primary purpose is the promotion and understanding of biodiversity—the discovery, naming,classification,andsystematicsof plants—for both living andfossil plants. Additionally, it promotes the study andconservationof plant biodiversity, and works to raise awareness of the general public to this issue. The organization also facilitates international cooperation among botanists working in the fields of plant systematics,taxonomy,andnomenclature. This is accomplished in part through sponsorship of meetings and publication of resources, such as reference publications and journals.
IAPT was founded in 1950 as a not-for-profit organisation for the purposes of publication of a periodical (Taxon) dealing with activities of the association and with objects of general importance for plant taxonomy, the publication of books and indices of utility for plant taxonomists (Regnum Vegetabile), the establishment and maintenance of committees for specific taxonomic and nomenclatural purposes, and the organization of international symposia on problems of plant systematics.[2]
The IAPT also seeks to achieve uniformity and stability inplant names.It accomplishes this through theInternational Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants,previously known as theInternational Code of Botanical Nomenclature,and through the oversight of the International Bureau for Plant Taxonomy and Nomenclature.
Publications and online resources
editThe association's official journal isTaxon,the only medium for the publication of both proposals to conserve or reject names[2]and proposals to amend theInternational Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants.
Regnum Vegetabile
editRegnum Vegetabile[3]is a series of books on topics of interest to plant taxonomists. Many of the volumes are literature surveys or monographs in the area of plant systematics. There are several volumes of general use:
- International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants(vol. 159, 2018,ICN), a set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal names that are given to plants. The current edition is known as the "Shenzhen Code", as it was drafted in 2017 at the Eighteenth International Botanical Congress in Shenzhen, China.
- International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants,8th edition (vol. 151, 2010), a companion to theICNthat sets forth rules regarding the names of plantcultivars.
- Index Nominum Genericorum(vols. 100–102 & 113), an index of all publishedgenericnames covered by theICN,including the place of publication and information about the type species. The index is prepared in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution. An electronic version is available online.
- Index Herbariorum,the first six editions (vol. 15, 31, 86, 92, 93, 106, 109, 114, 117, 120), a directory and guide to theherbariaof the world, including contact information, abbreviation codes, and important collections located in each herbarium. Nowadays, theIndex Herbariorumis an online database, managed by The New York Botanical Garden, and available for on-line searching.
- International Directory of Botanical Gardens(updated as vol. 95, 1977), a directory tobotanical gardensandarboretaaround the world.
The series includes many additional volumes of interest to specialists in specific subdisciplines of botany, in addition to the ones listed above.
Databases
editIn addition to electronic versions of its print publications, the IAPT maintains the "Names in Current Use", a database of scientific names of extant botanical genera.[4]
Awards
editThe IAPT established two Engler Medals in honour ofAdolf Englerin 1986: the Engler Medal in Gold awarded every six years for outstanding lifetime contributions to plant taxonomy and presented since 1987 at each International Botanical Congress (IBC), and the Engler Medal in Silver (medal sensu lato) awarded from 1987 to 2001 for a monograph or other work in systematic botany and presented from 1990 to 2002 at various meetings, congresses, symposia, etc. In 2002 the latter medal was divided into three awards for outstanding publications in these areas: the Engler Medal in Silver (medal sensu stricto) awarded for monographic or floristic plant systematics; the Stafleu Medal awarded for historical, bibliographic, and/or nomenclatural aspects of plant systematics; and the Stebbins Medal awarded for phylogenetic plant systematics and/or plant evolution. The medals honorAdolf Engler(24 March 1844–10 October 1930),Frans Antonie Stafleu(8 September 1921–16 December 1997), andGeorge Ledyard Stebbins, Jr.(6 January 1906–19 January 2000).[5]
References
edit- ^IAPT web site.Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
- ^abIAPT Strategic PlanArchived2006-07-06 atArchive-It"(PDF). 2004.Taxon53(1): 2.
- ^ISSN0080-0694.
- ^"Names in Current Use".Archivedfrom the original on 2008-02-12.Retrieved2008-01-01.
- ^IAPT(2016)."Awards presented by IAPT".Archived fromthe originalon 2016-12-20.Retrieved2016-12-14.