View source for use of Scientific and Common Names


Scientific names are enclosed in la'o- or zoi-quotes. The delimiter is preferably {ly}, but sometimes {ly} cannot be used, e.g. Lythraceae. The first time a name is used, it is followed by the name of the namer, e.g. ''Rosa villosa'' L. In Lojban {peteme'e} is used, e.g. la'o ly. Rosa villosa .ly. peteme'e la linEs.

Sometimes the current name of a species is not the original name. In this case the original namer is put in parentheses, e.g. ''Simmondsia chinensis'' (Link) Schneider. This means that Link originally named the species, but his name (''Buxus chinensis'') is no longer used. This is written in Lojban {la'o ly. Simmondsia chinensis .ly. peteme'e la link. ce'o la cnaidr.}

Common names consist of a naltau selbri with a name in x2. This name may be a cmevla or brivla preceded by {la}. In colloquial speech a tanru may be used as a common name, e.g. {selplirai matlyspa}, but in scientific writing this must be written with a naltau, {matlyspa la selplirai}. One can also write {matlyspa la'o ly. L. usitatissimum .ly}, but this is not a common name. If the taxon denoted by the brivla is monotypic, such as {ricrginko}, x2 may be omitted or {zu'i}.

If a brivla {broda} denotes exactly those individuals that belong to a taxon, {lo'e se broda} denotes that taxon, and {lo se broda} denotes any subtaxon of it. E.g. lo'e se guzme is the family Cucurbitaceae, while lo se guzme is ''Sicyos'', ''Cucumis sativus'', or any of several others.