Taxonomists have an opportunity to rid botanical nomenclature of inappropriate honorifics in a structured and defensible way

Recent proposals to amend the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (the Code) to allow the rejection of names that honour historical individuals who committed crimes against humanity has sparked a counter-reaction that we believe misrepresents both the intent and mechanism of the proposals. In this short paper we point out errors and fallacious reasoning in this counter-reaction, and again make the case that an open, balanced, modest, structured, and defensible way to deal with this issue is now, through sensible and reasonable proposals to amend the Code, within the grasp of the taxonomic and nomenclatural community. Adopting these proposals would represent a small but significant contribution to helping address some egregious historical wrongs.

Automated summary

This paper points out the misinterpretation of the intent and mechanism of the proposals to amend the Code and suggests that adopting these proposals can contribute to addressing historical wrongs.