Language: Multilingual in English, Dutch, German and French
The internationally renowned List of Names of Woody Plants and List of Names of Perennials contain the preferred botanical names and common synonyms and trade names of almost 45,000 woody nursery plants and 30,000 herbaceous perennials available in Europe and largely also USA. In total more than 95.000 names are registered. The prime goal is to achieve worldwide uniformity in the nomenclature of woody plants and perennials. Using the preferred botanical name is important, to simplify communication between all partners in the production chain. For this reason it is gratifying that the ENA (European Nurserystock Association) recognises both the List of Names of Perennials and the List of Names of Woody Plants as the standard European publications for the nomenclature of nursery products. The List of Names of Perennials has also been recognized as the official standard publication by the ISU (Internationale Stauden Union) and the PPA (Perennial Plant Association – in the U.S.A.).
The challenge faced by these Lists of Names is to be accepted both by the scientific community and the nursery business. On the one hand, the Lists must comply with internationally agreed scientific conventions, but on the other hand, they must be user-friendly for commercial purposes. A new edition of the Lists of Names appears every five years. It incorporates the names of new products, small corrections and broadly accepted taxonomic changes of names.
To update the list, many new reference works have been consulted. An elaborate list of recent literature is included in the back of this List of Names. The background information and justification for each addition or change mentioned above has been recorded in a database. Furthermore, the new guidelines in the "International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants" (ICNCP), which appeared in 2016, have been followed.
Many other individuals and organisations have made a large or small contribution to this new edition of the Lists of Names.