International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Madrid Code)

by Editorial Committee of the Madrid Code, Nicholas J. Turland (Contribution by), John H. Wiersema (Contribution by), Fred R. Barrie (Contribution by), Kanchi N. Gandhi (Contribution by)

Overview

The latest, updated edition of the essential, authoritative reference for botanical, mycological, and phycological names.
 
The International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, known as “the Code,” is the set of internationally agreed rules and recommendations that govern the naming of these organisms. Scientific naming has deep historical roots. Indeed, the system of naming organisms is one of the first truly global scientific standards. This essential reference originates in Alphonse de Candolle’s 1867 Lois de la nomenclature botanique. This 2025 edition of the Code, the Madrid Code, reflects the decisions made at the Twentieth International Botanical Congress, which met in Madrid, Spain, in July 2024. The congress debated 447 proposals to amend the Code and accepted important new rules, including a mechanism for voluntary registration of plant and algal names, clarifications for naming fossil taxa, the option to reject a new name if it is derogatory to a group of people, and the replacement of an epithet that was considered particularly offensive (revising to afra, afrorum, and afrum).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226839462
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	07/21/2025
Series:	Regnum Vegetabile
Edition description:	Eighteenth Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

The members of the Editorial Committee of the Madrid Code are Nicholas J. Turland, Chair; John H. Wiersema, Secretary; Fred R. Barrie; Kanchi N. Gandhi; Julia Gravendyck; Werner Greuter; David L. Hawksworth; Patrick S. Herendeen; Ronell R. Klopper; Sandra Knapp; Wolf-Henning Kusber; De-Zhu Li; Tom W. May; Anna M. Monro; Jefferson Prado; Michelle J. Price; Gideon F. Smith; and Juan Carlos Zamora Señoret.


Nicholas J. Turland is head, publishing and graphics, at Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin.


John H. Wiersema is a researcher in the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.


Fred R. Barrie is a research scientist at the Missouri Botanical Garden and in the Gantz Family Collections Center, The Field Museum.


Kanchi N. Gandhi is the senior nomenclatural registrar at the Harvard University Herbaria.


Julia Gravendyck is a lecturer in the Plant Biodiversity Section, Bonn Institute of Organismic Biology (BIOB), University of Bonn.


Werner Greuter is an associated scientist at Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin.


David L. Hawksworth is an honorary research associate in comparative plant and fungal biology at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as well as affiliated with the Natural History Museum in London and Jilin Agricultural University, China.


Patrick S. Herendeen is senior director, systematics and evolutionary biology, at the Chicago Botanic Garden.


Ronell R. Klopper is the South African national plant checklist coordinator and a plant taxonomist at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) as well as a curator at the H.G.W.J. Schweickerdt Herbarium, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Pretoria.


Sandra Knapp is a senior research botanist at the Natural History Museum in London and served as president of the Linnean Society from 2018 to 2022. She is the author of several books, including Extraordinary Orchids and In the Name of Plants, both also published by the University of Chicago Press.


Wolf-Henning Kusber is a scientist, Diatom Research Group, at Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin.


De-Zhu Li is professor at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.


Tom W. May is a principal research scientist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Australia.


Anna M. Monro is a botanist at the Australian National Herbarium, Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research.


Jefferson Prado is a botanist at the Instituto de Pesquisas Ambientais (IPA), Brazil.


Michelle J. Price is head of science at the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de Genève, Switzerland.


Gideon F. Smith has held several senior management positions at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, as well as the John Acocks Chair in Botany at the University of Pretoria. He is at present attached to the Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha and is South Africa’s most prolific author on Old and New World succulents. Among his many books, he is coauthor with Estrela Figueiredo of Plants of Angola / Plantas de Angola and Common Names of Angolan Plants.


Juan Carlos Zamora Señoret is a curator at the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de Genève, Switzerland.

Table of Contents

Preface
Key to renumbering between the Shenzhen Code and the Madrid Code
Important dates in the Code
Latin terms and their abbreviations used in the Code
Preamble
 
Division I. Principles
     Principle I. Independence
     Principle II. Types
     Principle III. Priority
     Principle IV. Single correct name
     Principle V. Latin names
     Principle VI. Retroactivity
 
Division II. Rules and Recommendations
     Chapter I. Taxa and their ranks
               Article 1. Taxa
               Article 2. Ranks
               Article 3. Principal ranks
               Article 4. Secondary and further ranks
               Article 5. Order of ranks
     Chapter II. Status, typification, and priority of names
          Section 1. Status definitions
               Article 6
          Section 2. Typification
               Article 7. Typification in general
               Article 8. Specimens and gatherings
               Article 9. Categories and designation of types
               Article 10. Typification of names above the rank of species
          Section 3. Priority and status of names
               Article 11. Priority of names
               Article 12. Status of names
          Section 4. Limitation of priority
               Article 13. Nomenclatural starting-points
               Article 14. Conserved names
                [Article 15. Sanctioned names - see Article F.3]
     Chapter III. Nomenclature of taxa according to their rank
          Section 1. Names of taxa above the rank of family
               Article 16. Names above the rank of family
               Article 17. Names of orders and suborders
          Section 2. Names of families, subfamilies, tribes, and subtribes
               Article 18. Names of families
               Article 19. Names of subfamilies, tribes, and subtribes
          Section 3. Names of genera and subdivisions of genera
               Article 20. Names of genera
               Article 21. Names of subdivisions of genera
               Article 22. Autonyms of subdivisions of genera
          Section 4. Names of species
               Article 23
          Section 5. Names of taxa below the rank of species (infraspecific taxa)
               Article 24. Names of infraspecific taxa
               Article 25. Sum of subordinate taxa
               Article 26. Autonyms of infraspecific taxa
               Article 27. Final epithet in names of infraspecific taxa
          Section 6. Names of organisms in cultivation
               Article 28
     Chapter IV. Effective publication
               Article 29. Definition and conditions of effective publication
               Article 30. Further conditions of effective publication
               Article 31. Date of effective publication
     Chapter V. Valid publication
          Section 1. Valid publication in general
               Article 32. General requirements for valid publication
               Article 33. Date of valid publication
               Article 34. Suppressed works
               Article 35. Further requirements for valid publication
               Article 36. Names not accepted by their authors, alternative names
               Article 37. Requirement of indication of rank
          Section 2. Valid publication of names of new taxa
               Article 38. Requirement of description, diagnosis, or illustration with analysis
               Article 39. Language of validating description or diagnosis
               Article 40. Requirement of indication of type
          Section 3. New combinations, names at new rank, and replacement names
               Article 41
          Section 4. Registration of names and nomenclatural acts
               Article 42
          Section 5. Names in particular groups
               Article 43. Names of fossil-taxa
               Article 44. Names of algae
               Article 45. Names in groups covered by other Codes
     Chapter VI. Citation of names
               Article 46. Author citations
               Article 47. Names of altered taxa without exclusion of type
               Article 48. Names of altered taxa with exclusion of type
               Article 49. Parenthetical author citations
               Article 50. Transfer between the hybrid and non-hybrid category
               General recommendations on citation [Recommendations 50A-50G]
     Chapter VII. Rejection of names
               Article 51. Limitation of rejection
               Article 52. Nomenclaturally superfluous names
               Article 53. Homonyms
               Article 54. Inter-Code homonymy
               Article 55. Limitation of illegitimacy
               Article 56. Rejected names
               Article 57. Names used for taxa not including their types
               Article 58. Reuse of illegitimate names
                [Article 59. Names of fungi with a pleomorphic life cycle - see Article F.8]
     Chapter VIII. Orthography and gender of names
               Article 60. Orthography of names
               Article 61. Orthographical variants of names
               Article 62. Gender of names
     Chapter F. Names of organisms treated as fungi (Maastricht version)
          Section 1. Limitation of priority
               Article F.1. Nomenclatural starting-point
               Article F.2. Protected names
               Article F.3. Sanctioned names
          Section 2. Valid publication and typification of names
               Article F.4. Misplaced rank-denoting terms
               Article F.5. Registration of names and nomenclatural acts
          Section 3. Rejection of names
               Article F.6. Homonyms
               Article F.7. Rejected names
          Section 4. Names of fungi with a pleomorphic life cycle
               Article F.8
          Section 5. Orthography of names
               Article F.9
          Section 6. Author citations
               Article F.10
          Section 7. Recommendations on types that are living cultures
               Recommendation F.11A
     Chapter H. Names of hybrids
               Article H.1. Indication of hybrids
               Article H.2. Hybrid formulae
               Article H.3. Names of nothotaxa
               Article H.4. Circumscription of nothotaxa
               Article H.5. Ranks of nothotaxa
               Article H.6. Nothogeneric names and condensed formulae
               Article H.7. Hybrids between subdivisions of genera
               Article H.8. Parentage, nothogeneric names, and condensed formulae
               Article H.9. Valid publication of names of nothogenera and their subdivisions
               Article H.10. Valid publication of names of nothospecies and infraspecific nothotaxa
               Article H.11. Nothotaxa with parents belonging to different higher-ranked taxa
               Article H.12. Subordinate taxa within nothospecies
 
Division III. Provisions for governance of the Code
     Provision 1. General provisions for governance of the Code
     Provision 2. Proposals to amend the Code
     Provision 3. Institutional votes
     Provision 4. Nomenclature Section
     Provision 5. Procedures and voting at the Nomenclature Section
     Provision 6. After an International Botanical Congress
     Provision 7. Permanent Nomenclature Committees [Membership, Functions, Procedural rules]
     Provision 8. Provisions for governance of the Code relating solely to names of organisms treated as fungi
 
Glossary. Definitions of terms used in this Code
Appendices I-VII
Index of scientific names
Subject index