Mammillaria perezdelarosae ssp andersoniana in the guide

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iann
Posts: 17184
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:10 pm
Location: England

Mammillaria perezdelarosae ssp andersoniana in the guide

Post by iann »

At https://cactiguide.com/cactus/?genus=Ma ... zdelarosae, the straight-spined subspecies is referred to as ssp andersonii. I'm fairly sure this is wrong and it should be ssp andersoniana.
--ian
DaveW
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Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:36 pm
Location: Nottingham, England/UK

Re: Mammillaria perezdelarosae ssp andersoniana in the guide

Post by DaveW »

Hi Ian,
The generally accepted spelling seems to be as you say "andersoniana", although Llifle gives that for the basionym whilst referring to it as andersonii in the text? The only legitimate reason for changing the original name is if it is obviously a spelling mistake or incorrect gender. I do not know if that would apply in this case as "ae" is a feminine ending (perezdelarosae) whereas Anderson was a man? Does the gender of the specific name therefore affect the gender of all infraspecific names below since "andersonii" would seem to be the usual masculine ending?

Thank god we do not have to bother with genders for names in English, but unfortunately do in Latin! Interesting is what would happen if somebody split the subspecies off as a separate species would the specific name then have to have a masculine ending instead? LOL

http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACT ... 2fedaee009

Not sure this makes it much clearer.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1222983#:~ ... 515bec5677

Rather messes up any simplistic idea that all hooked spined Mammilaria's are now Cochemia's and straight ones still Mammillarias! LOL
iann
Posts: 17184
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:10 pm
Location: England

Re: Mammillaria perezdelarosae ssp andersoniana in the guide

Post by iann »

The ending -iana is an adjectival form that takes the gender from the genus even if it originates from a man's name. A person name can also be used in genitive form, in which case it takes the gender of the person rather than the genus, and would be andersonii. Either can be used, but in this case it was published as andersoniana, an adjectival form matching the feminine Mammillaria. In either case, it would stay the same at species level. For example, schumannii is the genitive form for Schumann, a man, and morganiana is the adjectival form from Morgan, incidentally a woman although it would be the same for a man.
--ian
DaveW
Posts: 7376
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:36 pm
Location: Nottingham, England/UK

Re: Mammillaria perezdelarosae ssp andersoniana in the guide

Post by DaveW »

Thanks for the clarification Ian.
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