Preliminary Study on the Selecting/Formulating Rules of Chinese Names of Chinese Gesneriaceae

During the last decade,the number of known and reported species of Gesneriaceae from China had increased sharply to 719 species (including infraspecies, until Jan. 2019),and there were a large number of newly discovered and published taxa. However, a considerable number of these newly published species had been published in relevant academic journals abroad, lacking the formulation of Chinese names,and many new species had not been interpreted the etymology of their Latin names even at the time of publication. At the same time, due to the great changes in the level of the genus under the background of molecular systematics in recent years,when the journals of different disciplines in China published some articles related to the plants of Gesneriaceae, there were certain lags and obstacles in the correct application of the scientific names. At the same time, the change of the old and new Chinese names and the randomness of the Chinese classification of the new taxonomic groups in recent years had also brought certain difficulties to the species diversity and related research of Chinese Gesneriaceae. Therefore,this paper attempts to review and normalize the naming rule for the Gesneriaceae species’ Chinese name,which can facilitate the research and practical application of the biodiversity of Chinese Gesneriaceae plants. The establishment of this specification is not only suitable for the latest classification of Gesneriaceae which has been basically completed,but also adapts to future classification if the genera will have to revise again in the future. All in all,this specification can help later researchers to better understand the taxonomical and revised history of Chinese Gesneriaceae.