From Simon Grove
Kalimantan, Indonesia
Unlike the colourful cooperation seen in some multiple authorships
(Letters, 8 February, p 51 and
22 March, p 54), there is ample evidence for competition
amongst taxonomists and nomenclaturists, with the scientific names of plants and
animals frequently changing to better reflect who first thought up the
definitive name for the species in question.
One of the more colourful of these examples, and my favourite because of the
look of disbelief it caused on the faces of some Ugandan foresters I once had
the pleasure to work with, is an African rainforest tree of the genus
Celtis, which for a long time was given the name C. brownii but
then suddenly changed colour and became C. wightii.
