Conventions

Data quality

We are aiming at a completely standardised treatment, where all names and bibliographic citations have been checked with their original sources. As our data are collected from many heterogeneous sources, not all of them have been critically evaluated, nor are they all standardised yet. We are continuously working on improvement of data quality, checking all names and presenting them according to the standards outlined below.

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Accepted taxa

Currently, taxa at the following ranks are accepted: subtribe, section (in Taraxacum only), species, subspecies. The system is open to accept additional infrageneric ranks.

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Synonyms

The database is aiming at a complete registration of all synonyms above and including the rank variety as well as unranked names. Names below the rank of variety are only included if they constitute basionyms of other names. In the case of accepted subspecies, homotypic synonyms of the species are attributed to the species name, not to the nominal subspecies. Heterotypic synonyms which cannot be assigned undoubtedly to one of the subspecies are placed within the synonymy of the species.

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Invalid designations

Names which have not been validly published are compiled only if they have been misinterpreted as valid designations (e.g. many names treated by IPNI) and have led to confusion. This refers, e.g., to nomina nuda and names from opera utique oppressa (App. VI of the ICBN). Such names are listed at the end of the synonymies.

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Authors of scientific plant names

Authors of scientific plant names are abbreviated in conformity with Brummitt, R. K. & Powell, C. E. 1992: Authors of plant names (updated online version) . Between author initials, we use spaces. If there are more than two authors, only the first one is given, followed by "& al." If the authors of the name are different from the authors of the work in which the name was published, the latter are part of the bibliographic citation and are not abbreviated, e.g.: Andryala incana DC. in Lamarck & Candolle, Fl. Franç., ed. 3, 5: 445. 1815. Again, if there are more than two authors of the publication, only the first one is given, followed by "& al." The citation of "'ex' authors", although nomenclaturally not necessary, is deemed useful and continuously added.

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Bibliographic citation of taxon names

Titles of monographs
Titles of monographs are separated from the author citation by a comma and abbreviated in conformity with "Taxonomic literature, ed. 2" [Stafleu F. A. & Cowan R. S. & successors; volumes 1-8: 1976-1988; supplements 1-8: 1992-2008], but all components start with capital letters. Titles of monographs not listed in "Taxonomic literature" follow the version used in IPNI . Titles not mentioned in any of these sources are abbreviated as in serials (see following point).

Titles of serials
Titles of serials are separated from the author citation by "in" and abbreviated in conformity with Bridson G. D. R., Townsend S. T., Polen E. A. & Smith E. R. 2004: BPH-2. Periodicals with botanical content 1-2. Pittsburgh ( online edition ). Titles of serials not listed are abbreviated according to the abbreviation standards there defined.

Volume and fascicle numbers
Volume numbers of monographs are given only if volumes have separate pagination. The same applies to fascicles of serial volumes.

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Data on nomenclatural types of names

Sources
Data on types generally follow the protologue information. Types are classified as holo-, syn-, neo- or lectotypes and their duplicates as iso-, isosyn-, isoneo- or isolectotypes. When no such specification is possible yet, they are simply indicated as "type". As soon as data on a lecto- or neotypification superseding the original designation(s) are available, syntype data are replaced. Quite often, details of the indications of types in the protologues differ markedly from the original type specimen labels. In such cases, if the original label data were available, only the latter version is given, and this is indicated by an exclamation mark after the herbarium abbreviation. The version in the protologue can be checked by viewing the protologue image, which is attached to the nomenclatural reference.

Standardisation
Original data on types are shown in quotation marks. Additions (e.g., current country and geographical names) and omissions (e.g., lengthy ecological descriptions of sites "[…]") are characterized by the use of square brackets. If country names are not identical to those currently used, they are replaced by the current ones. Information on collecting dates and collectors is given in a standardised form. Examples for dates are: 1869, Apr 1970, 6 May 2008. Exceptions like "mid 1867" are given in quotation marks as in the original version. Known forenames of collectors are abbreviated with the initial letters. Unknown collectors are given as "coll. ignotus". Abbreviations of exsiccata follow the collector's name preceded by a semicolon and are in conformity with IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae . Not yet existing abbreviations are created in conformity with this list and with BPH-2 . Abbreviations of herbaria follow Index Herbariorum . In unresolved cases, the original data on herbaria are mentioned; private collections are cited as "herb. [name]". The herbarium's accession or barcode number of the specimen, if available, follows the herbarium abbreviation preceded by a blank.

Examples
Holotype: [India] "East of Delhi", Apr 1876, Hooker; Pl. Indiae 345 (B!). Type: "Cyprus, Troodos mountains, S of 'Chionistra' […], alt. 1800 m", 4 May 1967, E. Miller 789 (BM 8900785).

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Distribution: status of occurrence

Currently, information of distributional data in the maps are somewhat heterogenous. Regarding the Euro-Mediterranean region, we adopted, for the time being, the classification of the Euro+Med PlantBase which accepts no less than 9 categories. On the longer run and outside that region only the following categories are applied:
• native = indigenous taxon or archaeophyte, i.e. introduced before the year 1500
• introduced = neophyte introduced after 1500, incl. casuals and established aliens
• doubtfully native = unclear, if native or introduced
• reported in error = definitely absent but reported to occur
• doubtfully present = occurrence doubtful and to be clarified.
The references cited in the Portal for a taxon in a certain area substantiates that report, whereas the status of occurrence categories applied are in principal interpretations by the  Editors and can thus deviate from status designations, if any, made by the authors of the cited sources. Taxa cultivated only are not recorded.

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Common names

The common name entries have the following structure: language name (in bold) according to the code tables of ISO 639 , followed (in brackets and normal type) by the geographic region where the name is used, and, after a colon, by the common name(s).

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Abbreviations and symbols

Art. Article of the "International Code of Botanical Nomenclature"
f. forma/form
nom. cons. nomen conservandum
nom. illeg. nomen illegitimum
nom. inval. nomen invalidum
nom. nud. nomen nudum
nom. provis. nomen provisorium
sect. section
ser. series
subsect. subsection
subsp. subspecies
var. varietas/variety
= heterotypic synonym
≡ homotypic synonym
– misapplied names & invalid designations
click for viewing the protologue
coll. ignotus collector unknown
! after herbarium abbreviation: specimen seen, original label version cited