During some identification sessions, I stumble upon observation where the observer (or more rarely another identifier) added a comment containing a species name which is not available on iNat. In some cases, that’s due to a typo, or iNat uses a synonym, or the species can be automatically imported …

[image] bernhard_hiller: Which means that POWO is NOT the “original source of truth” for plant taxa, but IPNI. this is not quite true. Other users will be able to give better/more detailed answers here, but note the distinction between the two per IPNI’s FAQs: IPNI is a nomenclatural databa…

@thebeachcomber has already explained that IPNI is a nomenclatural database only. This means that they add all published species names and explain whether they are valid or not. A valid name in botanical nomenclature is a validly published name, that meets all the required criteria. IPNI will expla…

(Personal opinion here, not speaking for the site…) For a newly published species that seems fairly obvious and non-controversial (i.e., not an extreme splitting situation, etc.), I personally think it’s fine to flag the genus for curation, cite the publication, and tag a few other curators and top…

One way to look at it: IPNI contains names that are published and indicates which names are validly published and therefore available to use. POWO makes a judgement call about which of the available synonyms (or other confusing names) should be used, which splits or lumpings should be accepted. B…

That’s right, IPNI are names, POWO are taxa, two different disciplines of science. To assess if a name applies to a taxon, the literature needs to be read and experts consulted so that is not instant and POWO probably wants to see how the wind blows before considering something accepted or a synonym…

New plant taxa: POWO vs. IPNI

General

Topic		Replies	Views
POWO accepting unpublished names - reassess our POWO implementation? Curators curation	19	1847	March 24, 2024
Adding new taxon species by using only POWO Curators powo	3	319	September 16, 2024
Time, when actual POWO nomenclature is updated in iNat General	3	199	December 14, 2024
Tracking down the rationale for POWO synonymization Curators	25	1992	February 25, 2022
How far goes the overlap between the iNaturalist taxonomic backbone for plants and POWO as of now? General question , taxonomy	7	642	September 30, 2023

New plant taxa: POWO vs. IPNI

Related topics