mapmate-taxon-requests

Tracks requests for the addition or revision of plant names in the MapMate dictionary

Please submit requests as Issues. Please use a separate issue per taxon.

Please include the following details in the issue:

• Taxon name
• Authority
• Links to any online supporting information, e.g. theplantlist.org ; publications etc.
• Rationale for why the name should be included
• Whether the name is present in the BSBI Database (DDb), if so please link to the taxon entry.
• Is the name a synonym of an existing MapMate taxon entry (non-accepted names will not usually be accepted for addition, but updates reflecting taxonomic revisions will be considered).
• The BSBI uses Stace edition 3 and Sell & Murrell for guidance - where possible the taxon names used in MapMate should conform to these publications.

For practical reasons (to prevent the dictionary from ballooning in size) only names that satisfy somewhat stringent criteria will be accepted. Requests may be held over if the reviewers consider that the requested name is not of sufficient general utility or if the validity of the name or the status of British Isles occurrences is still controversial.

As general guidance, names will only be considered for inclusion if the taxon can be shown to be occurring in wild situations in the British Isles. Requests for plants that occur only in horticultural situations are unlikely to be allowed. Speculative requests for taxa that might be present but have not yet be found are likely to be postponed until concrete evidence of occurrence is available.

Requests will be reviewed by a panel of experts and then submitted to MapMate periodically (two or three times a year).

Before submitting a request please check that the name is not already present as a synonym or as a spelling variant.