Adding taxa

Before adding a new taxon entry to the BSBI database please check carefully that the name is not already present. A reliable way to do this is to run a query for the associated genus and check that there are no entries for the taxon (or similar misspelt name variants). Search using the usual DDb search form, specifying ‘Taxa’ in the first ‘search for’ field.

Check whether the new taxon might be treated as a synonym (referring firstly to the BSBI’s canonical taxonomic references, Stace ed. 4 and Sell & Murrell and then to https://worldfloraonline.org or to primary sources).  Even if the proposed name is treated as a synonym then there may still be justification to adding it to the DDb if the name is in use by recorders in the British Isles, but it is important to check whether the new name should be immediately synonymised with a pre-existing DDb taxon entry (or even whether the new synonym and its preferred name ought both to be created).

As general guidance, names at sub-species level or above must be validly published before they can be included in the DDb. Pragmatic exceptions have been made for names that are acknowledged to be unpublished ‘sp. nov.’ research concepts that are being actively recorded – but a strong aversion to making exceptions ought to be maintained.

Names must not be included speculatively. There must be evidence that the proposed new taxon has been recorded in wild situations in the British Isles and that the name is being used by recorders.

Horticultural names should firstly be checked against the RHS plant finder ( https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/search-form ), if missing from that source then the names may still be acceptable if it is in widespread and consistent use.

Creating a new taxon

Taxon entries can be created using a form that is accessible under New > Taxon

• Select the rank of the new entry. Note that hybrid ranks are separate from plain ranks but see the notes below for complex cases where the two hybrid parent clades are of differing rank.
  
• Enter the epithet name, this is the right-hand part of a binomial name. E.g. for Carex nigra, enter nigra. (see notes below for how to use this field for hybrid names). The epithet name should not include any rank suffix and should omit quotation marks (for cultivars etc).
  
• The qualifier field is usually used to denote aggregates (agg. or s.l.) or to emphasise that a strict name is intended (where alternative aggregate concepts exist) (s.s.).
  
  The convention used in the DDb is that s.l. is applied to ambiguous concepts that directly and narrowly encompass ambiguous names resulting from a taxonomic split, whereas agg. is used for wider groupings that represent a pragmatic recording concept whose constituent taxa are usually itemised in a flora or in published guidance notes.The qualifier field may also be used to denote informal subsets that do not match a conventional rank e.g., ‘white flowered’, but be cautious about creating such entries – often informal details such as flower colour should be in a records determination notes rather than specified as a taxon concept. The qualifier field may be used to specify the explicit sex of hybrids, in this case use ‘(f x m)’ to indicate that the female parent name is first. Always specify the female parent first (i.e., don’t ever use ‘(m x f)’).
  
• Authority – specifies the name authors, using the standard abbreviated format.  The convention used for the DDb is that within a name there should be no spaces after full stops, but there should be spaces between names (i.e. ‘Dahlst. ex G.E.Haglund’ rather than ‘Dahlst. ex G. E. Haglund’).  Use auct. non to qualify misapplied authorities. Include any diacritic glyphs (e.g. á) – the easiest way to do this is usually to copy-paste the name from a source such as IPNI. Use ampersand (‘&’) rather than ‘and’ or ‘et’. Omit publication year designations unless these are necessary to disambiguate the name.For autonyms (infra-specific whose epithet duplicates the parent clade, e.g., Carex nigra subsp. nigra) the authority should be left blank.Aggregate concepts should not be assigned an authority (except perhaps for ‘agg.’ concepts where an author has explicitly defined the aggregate).
  
• Taxon code can be used to specify codes that apply to this taxon in other checklists. The useful options that should be included are:
  • IPNI id – The code assigned to the taxon in the Internation Plant Name Index (http://www.ipni.org/ipni/plantnamesearchpage.do) Search for the taxon on the IPNI website and note the Id, e.g. for Carex nigra this is ‘301208-1’ (http://www.ipni.org/ipni/idPlantNameSearch.do?id=301208-1)
  • World Flora Online – include the wfo- prefixed code if you have it readily available.
  • NBN Taxon Key – an NBN TVK, these can be searched for on the NBN Atlas website or using the Natural History Museums private list of taxon concepts. Filling this in is optional and is only worth doing if an exact match (name and authority) exists and is readily available.
  • BRC Taxon Concept – new style BRC code, using a text abbreviation for the group, followed by an underscore and taxon number, e.g. Vas_1234. BRC concepts are no longer maintained, so no new codes will be created.
    
  Of these, only IPNI should be seen as required for new entries, if available.
  There are other Taxon Code options, but these are deprecated and should be ignored for new entries.
  
• Parent Clade – this specifies the immediate parent of the taxon, which is used to construct the full binomial name of the taxon and controls how search results are aggregated hierarchically. Parent Clade can additionally be used to explicitly mark the taxon as part of an aggregate. Aggregate parents should only be specified if they cannot be inferred automatically from the taxon hierarchy.All taxa up to class level (i.e. -opsida) must have a parent taxon.
  
• Vernacular name – where available please specify a common name for the taxon concept. The name should be unique and specific to this taxon concept (never use an over inclusive description such as ‘A dandelion microspecies’). Multiple names can be specified but for each language only a single name should be marked as ‘preferred’.Vernacular names assigned to genera should be plural, e.g. Euphorbia => “Spurges”. At family level ‘family’ should be included in the name, e.g. Euphorbiaceae => “Spurge family”A vernacular name can be marked as ‘not for entry’ to exclude it from the choices offered in a recording app etc. This should be applied if use of the name might be misleading or over-specific. A notorious example is “Common Dandelion” – which refers to a rare species rather than Taraxacum agg. More generally, any vernacular name that you suspect is likely to lead to mistaken data entry should be flagged as not-for-entry (including rare taxa for which an expert would always use a Latin name, but that might confuse an amateur). 
  
• Attributes – for new taxon entries this should usually be ignored.Many entries with include a range of status codes as attributes, these should be left if editing an existing entry, but not added for new entries.
  
• Notes – can be used to provide a comment about the taxon. Leave blank for most taxa.
  
• Synonym – use the default ‘accepted name, not a synonym’ for valid accepted names.  For synonyms or alternative names use either ‘synonym’ or ‘other alias’, the other options have either been applied inconsistently or deprecated.‘Synonym’ should be used if the taxon being edited is a non-accepted name. The accepted taxon name to prefer should be entered here.
  ‘Other alias’ is occasionally useful to note orthographic (spelling) variants of names. The preferred version of the name should be linked here. Please avoid adding misspelled name variants to the DDb except for cases where the spelling is in widespread use.Taxa cannot be set as a synonym if the entry is already linked to as the accepted name of other entry - any linked entries need to be edited first.
  
• Reference – at present, please ignore this field for new taxa, as it has been used inconsistently and needs to be reviewed.
  
• Dataset – ignore this field for new taxa.
  
• Absent from British Isles – select this option for taxa that are thought never to occur in the British Isles (in wild situations or in mainstream horticulture).  In general, such taxa wouldn’t be added to theIf the parents of a hybrid are known then these should be entered in the hybrid name field, i.e. to specify Salix alba x Salix babylonica enter ‘alba x babylonica’ in the hybrid names field. Enter the nothoname, without the ‘x’ prefix in the epithet field. i.e. the full specification of Salix x sepulcralis should be:DDb, but this option exists mainly to flag miss-applied names that have been recorded against incorrectly.
  
• Curation – occasionally it can be useful to add suspect taxonomic concepts whose provenance and meaning may be doubtful or ambiguous.  In general, it is better to avoid such names altogether and, when importing data, to refer back to the data provider to clarify what valid concept was intended.  If (having explored and ruled out the alternative options) a name may be marked ‘taxon concept may not meet data quality standards’. Such entries can be used for occurrence records in the DDb, but the linked data will not be available on public maps, exported to the NBN Atlas or included in BSBI taxon lists.  A typical use might be to note 19th Century infra-specific names that cannot be readily synonymised to a valid modern name, but which do not deserve treatment as aggregates.
  
• Validation Rules – can be used to include warnings on names that are commonly misapplied.  Warnings will be shown by the taxon matching tool used by data-importers and may be flagged up on occurrence records in the future. A common use would be to highlight cases where a broad sense rather than strict name might be more correct.

Hybrids

Hybrids are specified by choosing one of the hybrid taxon ranks (genus hybrid, species hybrid, nothosubsp, nothovar).  Selection of one of these ranks subdivides the name field options into ‘epithet’ and ‘hybrid names’:

If the parents of a hybrid are known then these should be entered in the hybrid name field, i.e. to specify Salix alba x Salix babylonica enter ‘alba x babylonica’ in the hybrid names field.

Enter the nothoname, without the ‘x’ prefix in the epithet field. i.e. the full specification of Salix x sepulcralis should be:

There are complications if the ranks of the parent taxa differ. e.g. Salix x sepulcralis nothovar chrysocoma is a hybrid between Salix alba var vitellina and Salix babylonica.

For DDb purposes, the rank of this taxon concept is based on the higher rank of the two parents. As Salix babylonica is at species level the hybrid is entered as a ‘hybrid species’ rather than as a nothovariety.  For this mixed-rank taxon the epithet field should contain ‘sepulcralis nothovar. chrysocoma’ and the hybrids names: ‘alba var. vitellina x babylonica’.

The parent taxon is ‘Salix x sepulcralis’ rather than Salix, so as to maintain a consistent taxon hierarchy (i.e., ‘Salix x sepulcralis’ denotes a super-set that includes both nothovar sepulcralis and nothovar chrysocoma along with occurrences that are not diagnosed to nothovariety-level).

For inter-generic hybrids the order of the species-level parents needs to match the order of the genus level parents. i.e., ‘fuchsii x borealis’ to match with ‘Dactylorhiza x Gymnadenia’. Otherwise, except for cases where the sex of parents is specified explicitly, the order of the parent names is not significant.

‘x’ should be used for the hybrid symbol. The system will automatically convert this to a typographically correct ‘×’ multiplication sign where relevant.