Accuracy and clarity in the names of species are achieved through globally agreed rules: the various international codes of nomenclature. For plants, proposed amendments to these rules¹ are debated during a week-long side meeting of the International Botanical Congress, which is held once every six years — most recently in Madrid in mid-July 2024 (ref. ²). Amendments accepted by delegates to that meeting will be included in the next published International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi, and Plants (hereafter, Code), due in 2025. Three controversial issues were considered at the 2024 International Botanical Congress, two of which focused on addressing ethical issues that arise from historical nomenclature and one of which aimed at future-proofing the type method to ensure that biological nomenclature is able to continue to accurately document and name the Earth’s biodiversity.

In the end, modest decisions were taken with respect to the first issue, which addressed eponymy — the common practice of naming taxa in honour of significant individuals. Eponyms capture and permanently record noteworthy — and sometimes troubling — aspects of the history and social context of the science of taxonomy. A set of proposals³ considered by the Madrid meeting provided a mechanism by which problematic eponyms, such as those that honour traders of enslaved persons or colonial administrators who were responsible for genocidal policies and acts, could be retired and replaced by more appropriate and acceptable names. When first published in 2021, these proposals sparked controversy: some argued that they would throw nomenclature into disarray by opening a floodgate of re-namings. By the opening of the Madrid meeting, the proposals had polarized the community. By the end of the meeting, a decision had been reached (the required 60% supermajority had been achieved) to amend the Code to allow the rejection of names that are derogatory to a group or groups of people, but only for names published after 1 January 2026. Although this decision recognizes that derogatory names are unacceptable, the meeting attendees demurred from establishing a way to deal with historical derogatory names. A special committee was established to report to the next meeting (in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2029) on how best to deal with matters of ethics in botanical nomenclature. The committee, once established, has an important but challenging remit — to find an appropriate way forward in a contested space.

物种名称的准确性和清晰度是通过全球公认的规则实现的：各种国际命名法。对于植物，对这些规则¹ 的拟议修正案将在每六年举行一次的国际植物学大会为期一周的会外会议上进行辩论，最近一次会议于 2024 年 7 月中旬在马德里举行（参考文献 ²）。该会议代表接受的修正案将包含在下一次发布的《藻类、真菌和植物国际命名法》（以下简称《法典》）中，该法将于 2025 年发布。2024 年国际植物学大会考虑了三个有争议的问题，其中两个侧重于解决历史命名法中出现的伦理问题，另一个旨在使类型方法面向未来，以确保生物命名法能够继续准确记录和命名地球的生物多样性。

最后，对第一个问题做出了适度的决定，该问题涉及同名——为重要人物命名分类群的常见做法。同名捕捉并永久记录了分类学历史和社会背景中值得注意的——有时是令人不安的——方面。马德里会议审议的一组提案³ 提供了一种机制，通过该机制，有问题的同名词，例如那些纪念被奴役者的商人或负责种族灭绝政策和行为的殖民地管理人员的同名，可以被停用，并由更合适和可接受的名称代替。当这些提案于 2021 年首次发布时，引发了争议：一些人认为，它们会打开重新命名的闸门，从而使命名法陷入混乱。到 Madrid 会议开幕时，这些提案已经使机构群体两极分化。到会议结束时，已经达成了一项决定（已达到所需的 60% 绝对多数），修改《守则》，允许拒绝贬损一个或多个群体的名称，但仅限于 2026 年 1 月 1 日之后发布的名称。尽管这一决定承认贬义名称是不可接受的，但与会者对建立处理历史贬义名称的方法表示反对。成立了一个特别委员会，向下一次会议（2029 年在南非开普敦）报告如何最好地处理植物学命名中的伦理问题。该委员会一旦成立，就有一个重要但具有挑战性的职权范围 — 在有争议的领域找到适当的前进方向。