Changing the names
Changing the names
The naming of cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games...
T.S. Eliot, 1940
The same, unfortunately, applies to the naming of plants. According to the latest (1994) edition of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature "the original spelling of a name or epithet is to be retained, except for" correction of errors and standardization of certain aspects of spelling. The standardizations specified in the Code are retrospective and compulsory, so unstandardized names are simply wrong. Two types of standardization affect a number of plant names used - or, currently, misused - in Hong Kong: the use of "compounding forms" and the use of terminations. Terminations are easier so I will start with them.
Many specific epithets (the second part of the Latin name) in Hong Kong are formed from the names of people. These names are usually given Latin endings ("terminations"): it is these endings which must be standardized. Epithets derived from personal names are of two types: "substantive" epithets, where the name is used as a noun (in English, "Fred's rhododendron") and "adjectival epithets", where it is used as an adjective ("the Fred rhododendron", which sounds odd in English!). Substantive epithets use the Latin genitive ending (the equivalent of the "'s" in English), which is-i for a man and -ae for a woman, except after -a, when both the male and female ending is -e. The genitive ending is added directly to a vowel, including -y, and to -er (so Fortune becomes fortunei, Hance becomes hancei, Macartney becomes macartneyi, Balansa becomes balansae, Hooker becomes hookeri), but an extra -i must be added before the ending if the name ends in a consonant (so Tsang becomes tsangii, Edith becomes edithiae, Champion becomes championii, except for the Rhododendron named after his wife, which is championiae?). It is this extra -i- which has often been omitted in Hong Kong, necessitating recent changes.
For completeness: adjectival epithets are formed by adding -an- (or -ian- after a consonant, or just -n- after an -a) plus an ending which agrees in gender with the name of the genus rather than the person. So it is Camellia crapnelliana and Illicium dunnianum: Crapnell and Dunn were male but Camellia and illicium are female and neuter, respectively.
Standardization of "compounding forms" is a very complex topic which I cannot cover fully here. It applies to adjectival epithets which combine bits of two or more Latin or Greek words. The Code is irritatingly vague on many aspects of this but one error which occurs in the Hong Kong checklist is the use of -ae- rather than the correct -i- as a connection for Latin elements. Thus our Quercus myrsinaefolia has to be corrected to Q. myrsinifolia and Ardisia primulaefolia to A. primulifolia.
Correction of supposed errors has sometimes been taken too far and the Code makes clear that, apart from the above-mentioned cases, "the liberty of correcting a name is to be used with reserve". The tendency now is retain - or restore - the original spelling except for proven errors. Thus, the single -r- in Bruguiera gymnorhiza has usually been doubled ("B. gymnorrhiza") since this is now considered the best way of transliterating the Greek letter rho after a vowel. However, many reputable authors have not followed this practice and it cannot be considered an error. Thus the original form of the epithet must stand, contrary to common usage.
A final example for anyone who has got this far. When Blume described the genus Aporosa in 1825, he spelled it with an -o-. A year later he published it as Aporusa, with a -u-. If the latter spelling was a correction of an earlier slip of the pen, then it is the one we should use. However, there is no good evidence that the original spelling was a mistake - he used it on herbarium specimens - and recent authors have generally preferred Aporosa.
Richard Corlett
P.7
Rescue of native orchids
In July 1997, the authors were informed by Dr. S Y. Hu of the Chinese University that two species of orchids had been found at a landfill site in Lam Tin, Kowloon. Subsequently, Gloria Siu accompanied Dr. Hu to the landfill. She confirmed the identity of the orchids as Eulophia graminea and Habenaria linguella. She also discovered a third orchid species, Spiranthes sinensis. All three species are native to Hong Kong. Part of the original landfill had been developed as public tennis courts already. Works were about to start on the rest of the landfill. Therefore, in August 1997 a team of workers from KFBG dug up all the orchids (35 colonies of E. graminea, about 200 individuals of S. sinensis and one H. linguella) and transplanted them to KFBG for ex-situ conservation. The orchids grew well and flowered in 1998.
In February 1998 we checked the landfill site for the deciduous orchid Zeuxine strateumatica, and confirmed its presence. Some 500 individuals were transplanted to KFBG. We thank the EPD and Dr. S.Y. Hu for their help in making these ex-situ conservation operations possible.
Gloria Siu & Lawrence Chau
P.7
Orchid on ash
In February 1998, a team of biologists from the Chinese University (Dr. S.Y. Hu and colleagues) and the Polytechnic University (Dr. W.K. Chan) found an orchid in flower growing on the fly ash lagoon in China Light & Power's facility at Black Point, Castle Peak. The team was conducting a vegetation study on the lagoon. The orchid was later identified by Mrs. G. Barretto and Dr. Hu as Zeuxine strateumatica (Indian Orchid or Green Lip Orchid) - a native deciduous perennial herb about 10-15 cm tall (occasionally up to 25 cm).
Zeuxine strateumatica is an Asiatic orchid, ranging from Afghanistan to Japan and south to New Guinea. It has also been recorded in Florida and Bermuda, and very recently in the desert environment of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is widespread in Hong Kong, where it is usually found in disturbed sites such as landfills, urban parks, cut slopes and open grassland. The fly ash itself is very loose and sandy and has a high salinity, since it was pumped with sea water into the lagoon from the power station nearby It therefore supports very few weedy or opportunistic plants.
Subsequently, the authors visited the same site and conducted a quick count of the population of this weedy orchid. In an area of about 150 m by 20 m an estimated mean density of 10 individuals per m was recorded. However, in patches that were more open and damp, population density could exceed 60 per m2 . A lower population density (3 per m2) was recorded in an adjacent area (150 m by 50 m) of thicker and taller ( 1 m) vegetation cover.
This small opportunistic orchid will be displaced if the vegetation in the fly ash lagoon is allowed to pass through a natural process of succession. However, the tiny wind-dispersed seeds of this orchid will be carried long distances and will germinate if they land in a suitable habitat.
Lawrence Chau & Gloria Siu
P.8
Eria pusilla (Orchidaceae), a new record for Hong Kong
The number of known native orchid species in Hong Kong has been doubled, from about 60 in the early 1 970s to about 120 to date, as a result of continued work by Mrs. G. Barretto, M.B.E., Dr. S.Y.Hu and the Hong Kong Wild Orchid Group. Even now, after more than 20 years of hard work on orchid research in Hong Kong, there are still new records, discovered by the orchid research team at KFBG over the last few years.
The latest addition to the Orchid Family in Hong Kong is Eria pusilla, which is very similar to and has been mixed with Eria sinica, the smallest orchid known locally. Apparently the species (E. pusilla) had been collected by Mr. Ruy Barretto some 20 years ago. However due to limited information and reference material available at that time it was regarded as E. sinica. The difference between the two species was first noticed when Mr. R. Leung and Mr. K.H. Choi of KFBG collected more specimens of the two species together in 1995. However no flower specimen was available for confirmation at that time. In autumn 1997, during the anticipated flowering period of this species, Gloria Siu made 7 trips to two of the three known sites in Hong Kong to check for flowers. Only two flowers were seen, of which one was collected for identification.
There are 3 known localities for E. pusilla in Hong Kong, all in high mountains, ranging from 600m to 800m in altitude. In the two sites visited by the first author, the plants were growing on steep sides of boulders together with mosses (e.g. Leucobryum bowringii), in and by partially shaded streams (30-60% shade). In one of the two localities, both species of Eria actually grow together. At a glance they are very much alike but the main difference in their vegetative part is that E. pusilla has conspicuous creeping rhizomes (usually 1-3 cm long) linking pairs of opposite pseudobulbs. There are no such rhizomes for E. sinica.
Gloria Siu & Lawrence Chau
P.8
Update on new records of vascular plants in Hong Kong
It was reported in Porcupine! No. 15 that 2 families, 20 genera and 52 species of vascular plants had been newly recorded for Hong Kong as a result of the Hong Kong Biodiversity Survey. This was updated to 4 families, 23 genera and 84 species last year (Xing et al, 1997). Since then, the following 4 genera and 12 species have been added to the Hong Kong list:
New genera Ampeloptris, Remirea (Cyperaceae), Trigonostemon (Euphorbiaceae) and Tournefortia (Boraginaceae). New species: Ampelopteris prolifera (Retz.) Cop, Arachniodes cavalerii (Christ) Ching, Ardisia sieboldii Miq., Borreria latifolia K. Schum., Cyclobalanopsis hui (Chun) Chun, Digitaria heterantha (Hook. f.) Merr., Drypetes arcuatinervia Merr. & Chun, Pileostegia tomentella Hand.-Mazz., Remirea maritima Aubl., Sabia swinhoei Hemsl., Tournefortia montana Lour., and Trigonostemon chinensis Merr.
William Xing, Richard Corlett and Lawrence Chau
P.8
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