Index Kewensis

The "Index Kewensis" ("IK") is maintained by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: its aim was to register all formal botanical names for seed plants, at the rank of species and genera. It later came to include names of families and ranks below that of species.

History

The preparation for this venture was made by Benjamin Daydon Jackson of the Linnaean Society, directed by Joseph Dalton Hooker at Kew. Charles Darwin provided the funding for the indexing project in the 1880s, £250 per annum over a 5 year period, stipulating in his will that provision be made for this. In providing citations of plant names, the starting point was taken from 1753 onward; the year of publication for the "Systema Naturae" of Linnaeus. Darwin had found difficulties in applying these to the plants he studied, and Hooker's directive was to ‘the compilation of an Index to the Names and Authorities of all known flowering plants and their countries’. [Hooker, 1893 Preface. In "Index Kewensis": an enumeration of the genera and species of flowering plants from the time of Linnaeus to the year 1885 inclusive (ed. B. D. Jackson). Oxford: Clarendon.] While the "Index" has never fulfilled this original charter, it was the most comprehensive for over 100 years. This work, after its combination with the Gray Herbaria and Australian Plant Name indexes, is the foundation of a database anticipated to complete this task.cite journal |last= Lughadha |first=Eimear Nic |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2004 |month=April 29 |title=Towards a working list of all known plant species |journal=Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. |volume=359 |issue=1444 |pages=681–687 | pmid = 1693359 |url=http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1693359&blobtype=pdf |accessdate=2008-03-18 |quote= |doi=10.1098/rstb.2003.1446 ]

Previous attempts at a comprehensive index had relied on secondary sources, this was the first attempt to provide the original publication details of the names. A note on the country of origin was also included. The publications of De Candolle, Pfeiffer, Bentham provided models for the acceptance of names. However, the editor admitted that not all earlier sources were included; this sometimes led to subsequent errors in botanical nomenclature. [cite web | url = http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/databases/apni-introduction.html | title = Australian Flora and Fauna Series - Number 12. Australian Plant Name Index | accessdate = | author = Arthur D. Chapman | authorlink = | coauthors = | date = 14 December, 2006 | year = | month = | work = Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra | publisher = Australian National Botanic Gardens | quote = Introduction to the original 1991 printed version ]

The scope of the project was also changed in early editions, the editor noting that to include a full synonymy was too ambitious. The work originally indicated acceptance of a name, acting as a rather than an index, but by 1913 it avoided making taxonomic judgement in its citations. The integrity of the document was liable to criticism as only representing the 'Kew view' on nomenclatural validity, the objective task of indexing gave the work itself greater international acceptance.

Editions

A hard copy was reprinted in 1996, providing access to the original publication details of plant names; these were also made available in microfiche format as the Cumulated Index Kewensis. The publication titled Kew Index was issued from 1986 until 1989. [cite web | url = http://www.kew.org/data/reference.html | title = Reference Works, Bibliographies, etc. | accessdate = | author = | authorlink = | coauthors = | date = | year = | month = | work = Data and Publications | publisher = Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew | quote = Cumulated Index Kewensis: Original 2 volumes plus supplements 1-16: Microfiche version of cut-up set in Kew Library. ]

The first index contained the scientific names of 400 000 species, regular supplements were then issued on newly published names. The supplements were issued every five years, each one adding around 6 000 names to the index, eventually forming a compilation of over 1 000 000 entries. The sixteenth supplement began to include bibliograhic details at the rank of family and below, the later annual supplements included ferns and their allies. A digitalized version of the index was issued on a Compact Disc. A digital version was incorporporated with other indexes as the "International Plant Names Index" (IPNI), and may fulfill the original intention - a complete index of plant names. Entries at IPNI are designated with the abbreviation "(IK)". [cite web | url = http://www.ipni.org/ik_blurb.html | title = About the Index Kewensis | accessdate = | author = | authorlink = | coauthors = | date = | year = 2004 | month = | work = | publisher = International Plant Names Index | quote = ]

ee also

*International Plant Names Index
*Australian Plant Name Index

References

External links

*cite book
last = Durand
first = Théophile
coauthors = Benjamin Daydon Jackson, William Turner Thiselton-Dyer, David Prain, Arthur William Hill, Edward James Salisbury
title = Index Kewensis plantarum phanerogamarum: Supplementum Tertium Nomina et Synonyma Omnium Generum et Specierum AB Initio Anni MDCCCCI Usque AD Finem Anni MDCCCCV Complectens
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=BRMDAAAAYAAJ
accessdate = 2008-05-27
edition = suppl.3 (1901-1905)
date = 1908
publisher = Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew