JohnI need to air a gripe: taxa whose specific epithets honor people rather than describe the subject. Is the ego of one or a few humans worth choosing a non-descriptive name forever? I always imagine a besuited Victorian gentleman extravagantly autographing a plant with a Sharpie, handing it over, and saying “You’re welcome.” I just want to know if the folia are angusti or not, dude.
Kathy in KY@thoroughburro 😂 I love this thoroughly developed gripe, complete with a fully outfitted character, action and lines!
Dr Mark D. Scherz (He/Him)@thoroughburro it’s a valid complaint. But in many cases, it’s only a combination of characters that distinguish species, making a single feature impossible to use as a name. Using a location is doomed to become obsolete when the species is inevitably found elsewhere. Honourifics may be a bit pompous, but they are our way of acknowledging significant people (to us), and arguably not *that* much worse than descriptive names when you have to learn a set of features anyway.