{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T15:13:37Z","timestamp":1791904417367,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]],"date-time":"2026-04-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776816000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784505600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":89,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sci Rep"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    Botanists use accepted scientific names from authoritative databases to standardise taxonomic classifications. As taxonomic understanding evolves, these databases are updated, causing accepted names to change over time. A key decision when creating datasets about plants is whether to store the scientific names as originally recorded in a data source or to resolve them to currently accepted names. This decision partly depends on the\n                    <jats:italic>transitivity<\/jats:italic>\n                    of name resolution across taxonomic database versions: if name A resolves to B as the \u2018accepted\u2019 name in one version, and B to C in a later version, will A also resolve to C in that later version? Using the World Checklist of Vascular Plants and World Flora Online, we demonstrate that this transitivity fails for approximately 1% and 6% of names, respectively, and that the number of these discrepancies increases as new taxonomy versions are released. We recommend that botanical datasets store verbatim names as found and resolve them to accepted names as close to the point of end-use as possible, using the most recent taxonomic database.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-026-47142-0","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]],"date-time":"2026-04-22T03:27:50Z","timestamp":1776828470000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Storing accepted scientific names alone can lead to misinterpretation of botanical data"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Adam","family":"Richard-Bollans","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bob","family":"Allkin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francesco","family":"Civita","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kristina","family":"Patmore","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rafa\u00ebl","family":"Govaerts","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"47142_CR1","unstructured":"Allkin, B. & Patmore, K. Why names matter: Demystifying the nomenclature of plants and herbal substances. American Botanical Council, 44\u201367 (2025). https:\/\/www.herbalgram.org\/resources\/herbalgram\/issues\/142\/table-of-contents\/hg142-feat-nomenclature\/."},{"key":"47142_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"78","DOI":"10.1145\/2629489","volume":"57","author":"D Vrande\u010di\u0107","year":"2014","unstructured":"Vrande\u010di\u0107, D. & Kr\u00f6tzsch, M. Wikidata: A free collaborative knowledgebase. Commun. ACM 57, 78\u201385 (2014).","journal-title":"Commun. ACM"},{"key":"47142_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"566","DOI":"10.1055\/s-2006-960207","volume":"57","author":"H-M Liu","year":"1991","unstructured":"Liu, H.-M., Wu, B., Zheng, Q.-T. & Feng, X.-Z. New indole alkaloids from Amsonia sinensis. Planta Med. 57, 566\u2013568 (1991).","journal-title":"Planta Med."},{"key":"47142_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"319","DOI":"10.1016\/0305-1978(82)90006-0","volume":"10","author":"M Massias","year":"1982","unstructured":"Massias, M., Carbonnier, J. & Molho, D. Chemotaxonomy of gentianopsis: Xanthones, C-glycosylflavonoids and carbohydrates. Biochem. Syst. Ecol. 10, 319\u2013327 (1982).","journal-title":"Biochem. Syst. Ecol."},{"key":"47142_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"373","DOI":"10.1111\/2041-210X.12861","volume":"9","author":"BS Maitner","year":"2018","unstructured":"Maitner, B. S. et al. The Bien R package: A tool to access the Botanical Information and Ecology Network (BIEN) database. Methods Ecol. Evolut. 9, 373\u2013379. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/2041-210X.12861 (2018).","journal-title":"Methods Ecol. Evolut."},{"key":"47142_CR6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2105-14-16","volume":"14","author":"B Boyle","year":"2013","unstructured":"Boyle, B. et al. The taxonomic name resolution service: An online tool for automated standardization of plant names. BMC Bioinform. 14, 1\u201315 (2013).","journal-title":"BMC Bioinform."},{"key":"47142_CR7","unstructured":"MPNS. Medicinal Plant Names Services, Version 12 (2023). www.kew.org\/mpns."},{"key":"47142_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1111\/gcb.14904","volume":"26","author":"J Kattge","year":"2020","unstructured":"Kattge, J. et al. TRY plant trait database-enhanced coverage and open access. Glob. Change Biol. 26, 119\u2013188 (2020).","journal-title":"Glob. Change Biol."},{"key":"47142_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1038\/s41597-021-00997-6","volume":"8","author":"R Govaerts","year":"2021","unstructured":"Govaerts, R., Nic Lughadha, E., Black, N., Turner, R. & Paton, A. The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Sci. Data 8, 1\u201310 (2021).","journal-title":"Sci. Data"},{"key":"47142_CR10","unstructured":"World Flora Online (2025). http:\/\/www.worldfloraonline.org. Published on the Internet http:\/\/www.worldfloraonline.org Accessed 16 May 2025."},{"key":"47142_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1687","DOI":"10.1111\/nph.18961","volume":"240","author":"D Schellenberger Costa","year":"2023","unstructured":"Schellenberger Costa, D. et al. The big four of plant taxonomy: A comparison of global checklists of vascular plant names. New Phytol. 240, 1687\u20131702. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/nph.18961 (2023).","journal-title":"New Phytol."},{"key":"47142_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Richard-Bollans, A. wcvpy: 1.3.3 (2025). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5281\/zenodo.14774385.","DOI":"10.5281\/zenodo.14774385"},{"key":"47142_CR13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"The World Flora Online Consortium. World Flora Online Plant List https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5281\/zenodo.7460141 (2024).","DOI":"10.5281\/zenodo.7460141"},{"key":"47142_CR14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"WFO Consortium. World Flora Online Taxonomic Backbone https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5281\/zenodo.7460142 (2018).","DOI":"10.5281\/zenodo.7460142"},{"key":"47142_CR15","unstructured":"The World Flora Online Consortium et al. World Flora Online Plant List December 2024 (2024). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5281\/zenodo.14538251."},{"key":"47142_CR16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"72","DOI":"10.2307\/1412159","volume":"15","author":"C Spearman","year":"1904","unstructured":"Spearman, C. The proof and measurement of association between two things. Am. J. Psychol. 15, 72\u2013101 (1904).","journal-title":"Am. J. Psychol."},{"key":"47142_CR17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"SciPy 1.0: fundamental algorithms for scientific computing in Python. Virtanen, P. et al.  Nature Methods 17, 261\u2013272 (2020).","DOI":"10.1038\/s41592-019-0686-2"},{"key":"47142_CR18","unstructured":"Brummitt, R.\u00a0K., Pando, F., Hollis, S. & Brummitt, N. World geographical scheme for recording plant distributions 2 edn (International working group on taxonomic databases for plant sciences (TDWG), Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, 2001)."},{"key":"47142_CR19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"829","DOI":"10.1080\/01621459.1979.10481038","volume":"74","author":"WS Cleveland","year":"1979","unstructured":"Cleveland, W. S. Robust locally weighted regression and smoothing scatterplots. J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 74, 829\u2013836 (1979).","journal-title":"J. Am. Stat. Assoc."},{"key":"47142_CR20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Seabold, S. & Perktold, J. Statsmodels: Econometric and statistical modeling with python. In Proceedings of the 9th Python in Science Conference 92\u201396 (2010).","DOI":"10.25080\/Majora-92bf1922-011"},{"key":"47142_CR21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/ppp3.10642","author":"N Obiar","year":"2025","unstructured":"Obiar, N., Eckert, I., Baker, J., Moerman, D. & Pollock, L. J. Bridging biodiversity and ecosystem services through useful plant species. Plants, People, Planet https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/ppp3.10642 (2025).","journal-title":"Plants, People, Planet"},{"key":"47142_CR22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"797","DOI":"10.1111\/nph.19592","volume":"242","author":"SP Bachman","year":"2024","unstructured":"Bachman, S. P., Brown, M. J. M., Le\u00e3o, T. C. C., Nic Lughadha, E. & Walker, B. E. Extinction risk predictions for the world\u2019s flowering plants to support their conservation. New Phytol. 242, 797\u2013808. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/nph.19592 (2024).","journal-title":"New Phytol."},{"key":"47142_CR23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"225","DOI":"10.1038\/s41477-022-01100-6","volume":"8","author":"A Cantwell-Jones","year":"2022","unstructured":"Cantwell-Jones, A. et al. Global plant diversity as a reservoir of micronutrients for humanity. Nat. Plants 8, 225\u2013232 (2022) https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41477-022-01100-6.","journal-title":"Nat. Plants"},{"key":"47142_CR24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/2041-210X.13802","author":"M Greni\u00e9","year":"2022","unstructured":"Greni\u00e9, M. et al. Harmonizing taxon names in biodiversity data: A review of tools, databases and best practices. Methods Ecol. Evolut. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/2041-210X.13802 (2022).","journal-title":"Methods Ecol. Evolut."},{"key":"47142_CR25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"207","DOI":"10.3897\/zookeys.550.9546","volume":"550","author":"D Remsen","year":"2016","unstructured":"Remsen, D. The use and limits of scientific names in biological informatics. ZooKeys 550, 207\u2013223 (2016) http:\/\/zookeys.pensoft.net\/articles.php?id=6234.","journal-title":"ZooKeys"},{"key":"47142_CR26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kennedy, J.\u00a0B., Kukla, R. & Paterson, T. Lud\u00e4scher, B. & Raschid, L. (eds) Scientific Names Are Ambiguous as Identifiers for Biological Taxa: Their Context and Definition Are Required for Accurate Data Integration. (eds Lud\u00e4scher, B. & Raschid, L.) Data Integration in the Life Sciences, 80\u201395 (Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2005).","DOI":"10.1007\/11530084_8"},{"key":"47142_CR27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"645","DOI":"10.3233\/SW-160220","volume":"7","author":"NM Franz","year":"2016","unstructured":"Franz, N. M. et al. Names are not good enough: Reasoning over taxonomic change in the Andropogon complex1. Semantic Web 7, 645\u2013667. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3233\/SW-160220 (2016).","journal-title":"Semantic Web"},{"key":"47142_CR28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"992","DOI":"10.1111\/ele.12624","volume":"19","author":"C Meyer","year":"2016","unstructured":"Meyer, C., Weigelt, P. & Kreft, H. Multidimensional biases, gaps and uncertainties in global plant occurrence information. Ecol. Lett. 19, 992\u20131006 (2016).","journal-title":"Ecol. Lett."},{"key":"47142_CR29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"R1066","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2015.10.002","volume":"25","author":"ZA Goodwin","year":"2015","unstructured":"Goodwin, Z. A., Harris, D. J., Filer, D., Wood, J. R. & Scotland, R. W. Widespread mistaken identity in tropical plant collections. Curr. Biol. 25, R1066\u2013R1067 (2015) https:\/\/linkinghub.elsevier.com\/retrieve\/pii\/S0960982215012282.","journal-title":"Curr. Biol."},{"key":"47142_CR30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Richard-Bollans, A. SciNameTransitivity: 1.0.2 (2025). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5281\/zenodo.18082410.","DOI":"10.5281\/zenodo.18082410"}],"container-title":["Scientific Reports"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-026-47142-0","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-026-47142-0.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-026-47142-0.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T00:04:01Z","timestamp":1784505841000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-026-47142-0"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]]},"references-count":30,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,12]]}},"alternative-id":["47142"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41598-026-47142-0","relation":{},"ISSN":["2045-2322"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2045-2322","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]]},"assertion":[{"value":"12 November 2025","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"30 March 2026","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"22 April 2026","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","label":"Competing interests","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}}],"article-number":"22651"}}