Kohekohe used to be Dysoxylum spectabile, now it’s Didymocheton spectabilis.
There are usually valid reasons why certain scientific names have been changed, but regardless of whether this is necessary, new names can have significant repercussions for those who use them. The time needed to stay abreast of new names imposes real economic costs on our industry and causes confusion for retailers, gardeners and landscape architects.
Though it is incorrect to continue using the familiar synonyms, change means work and time: learning new names, changing documents, databases, labels and tags, updating references, and cross-referencing old names until new ones become widely used and accepted.
All our native beech species used to be classified under Nothofagus, now they’re split into Lophozonia and Fuscospora. Hebes used to be Veronicas until botanists Leonard Cockayne and H H Allen officially renamed them in 1929, and we’ve called them Hebes ever since. Now modern botanists using molecular studies have turned all the Hebes back into Veronicas again. Some are happy about the changes, others resist it, while others feel the old names were so good they don’t want them to be lost.
As an industry, we need to figure out how we can help ourselves adapt. Let our Technical and Biosecurity Manager Kathryn Hurr know if you would like NZPPI to develop further guidance about this issue, and whether you would value an online session with botanists from Te Papa to tell us about the reasons for plant name changes?