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In the biological nomenclature codes, an anagram can be used to name a new taxon.

Wordplays are one source of inspiration allowing organisms to receive scientific names. In the binomial nomenclature, as scientists have latitude in naming genera and species, a taxon name can therefore be an anagram, provided it remains pronounceable. For example, in the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, a new generic name can be taken from the name of a person by using an anagram or abbreviation of it.

William Elford Leach was among the first naturalists to use taxonomic anagrams, and, in 1818, he described several isopod genera that were each other's anagrams of 'Caroline' : Conilera, Lironeca, Nerocila, Olencira, and Rocinela.

List in botany

Notes

1. ^ The two genus names are synonyms.
2. It is also an anadrome (reverse spelling).
3. ^ This anagram is imperfect.

References

1. ^ Jozwiak, Piotr; Rewicz, Tomasz; Pabis, Krzysztof (2015-07-16). "Taxonomic etymology – in search of inspiration". ZooKeys (513): 143–160. Bibcode:2015ZooK..513..143J. doi:10.3897/zookeys.513.9873. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 4524282. PMID 26257573.
2. Mortenson, Philip B. (2004). This is not a weasel: a close look at nature's most confusing terms. John Wiley & Sons. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-471-27396-7.
3. McNeill, J.; et al., eds. (2012). International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Melbourne Code), Adopted by the Eighteenth International Botanical Congress Melbourne, Australia, July 2011 (electronic ed.). Bratislava: International Association for Plant Taxonomy.
4. ^ Burkhardt, Lotte (2018-06-06). Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen - Erweiterte Edition. Index of Eponymic Plant Names - Extended Edition. Index de Noms éponymiques des Plantes - Édition augmentée (in German). Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2018. ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5. S2CID 187926901.
5. Hyam, R.; Pankhurst, R.J. (1995). Plants and their names : a concise dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866189-4.
6. Robinson, George L.; Wunderlin, Richard P. (2005). "Revision of Siolmatra (Cucurbitaceae: Zanonieae)". SIDA, Contributions to Botany. 21 (4): 1961–1969. ISSN 0036-1488.

• Taxonomic lists
• Taxonomy (biology)
• Anagrams
• Lists of things named after people
• Biological nomenclature
• Nomenclature codes