Introduction

The internationally renowned "List of Names of Woody Plants" and "List of Names of Perennials" contain the preferred botanical names and common synonyms and trade names of over 30,000 woody nursery plants and 18,500 herbaceous perennials available in Europe and largely also USA. The prime goal is to achieve worldwide uniformity in the nomenclature of these plants. Using the preferred botanical name is important, to simplify communication between all partners in the production chain. For this reason it is gratifying that the ENA (European Nurserystock Association) has recognized both the "List of Names of Perennials" and the "List of Names of Woody Plants" as the standard European publications for the nomenclature of nursery products. The "List of Names of Perennials" has also been recognized as the official standard publication by the ISU (Internationale Stauden Union) and the PPA (Perennial Plant Association – in the U.S.A.).

The challenge faced by these Lists of Names is to be accepted both by the scientific community and the nursery business. On the one hand, the Lists must comply with internationally agreed scientific conventions, but on the other hand, they must be user-friendly for commercial purposes. A new edition of the Lists of Names appears every five years. It incorporates the names of new products and a few urgent corrections. Every ten years, all broadly accepted taxonomic revisions are incorporated. This was previously done in the 1995 edition. This 2005 edition again includes many name changes resulting from taxonomic revisions.

The most important differences between this edition and the previous one are:

• Editing and publication is done under the supervision of the European Nurserystock Association.
• The list is edited, supplemented and supported by ENA’s “European Plant Names Working Group”.
• Approximately 13,000 preferred botanical names of woody plants (including 3400 new fruit-names and 800 conifers) and 4,500 of herbaceous perennials have been added.
• Many new South European (subtropical) and East European products have been included.
• Over 3000 synonyms and trade names of woody plants and 600 of perennials have been added.
• About 700 names of woody plants and 165 names of perennials have been changed, to correct spelling errors and interchanges of names and to incorporate new taxonomic views.
• Trade names are easier to find by printing them in a different font.
• At the request of the owners, protection by Plant Breeders Rights in Europe has been indicated by PBR.
• At the request of the owners, protected trade marks in Europe have been indicated by ®.
• A star (*) indicates a name that does not comply with ICNCP rules (see below).
• Seed origin is indicated with (SO) behind the name.
• If cultivars belong to a subspecies (subsp.), variety (var.) or form (f.), this is indicated in the right column.
• In fruit cultivars, different plant types which are distinguished within a cultivar are mentioned.
• Improved access: on-line search options are available at: www.internationalplantnames.com.

To update the nomenclature many new reference works have been consulted. An elaborate list of recent literature is included in the back of this List of Names. The background information and justification for each addition or change mentioned above has been recorded in a database. Furthermore, the new guidelines in the "International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants" (ICNCP), which appeared in 2004, have been followed (see "Editorial decisions”).

M.H.A. Hoffman, MSc (taxonomist)