Abstract
DIFFICULTLES of expression by written word are great, even when words have exact literary meanings. The words of a new science like plant pathology have been coined by practical growers in different places and under varying conditions, so it is not a matter of wonder that much confusion has resulted. The second edition of the “List of Common Names of British Plant Diseases” (Cambridge: University Press. Pp. 95. 2s. 6d. net) represents a serious attempt to standardise nomenclature of disease symptoms and causal agents. It has been compiled by the Plant Pathology Committee of the British Mycological Society. The list is in two columns—first the common name and then tho name of the parasite. Synonyms are given where necessary, but the volume is a well-regulated attempt to establish one name for each disease. Many synonyms are being discouraged, whilst in one or two cases fresh names have been introduced for the sake of clarity. The host plants are grouped conveniently into vegetables, cereals, fruit, ornamental plants, etc., whilst the causal agents are listed in the order Viruses, Bacteria, Myxomyoetes, Phycomycetes, Ascomyeetes, Basidiomycetes, Fungi Imporfecti, and Non-parasitic, Foreign names are also given where possible. The comprehensive orderliness of the list should commend it for universal adoption.
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Common Names for Plant Diseases. Nature 136, 216–217 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136216d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136216d0