International Botanical Congress
History

-
Year
City
Country
Code
Major actions concerning nomenclature
I
1900
Paris
France
-
Decisions on nomenclature deferred.
II
1905
Vienna
Austria
Yes
First binding Rules of Nomenclature; French became the official language of the meeting; requirement for Latin plant descriptions from 1908 onwards (not enforced); end of the Kew Rule.
III
1910
Brussels
Belgium
Yes
Separate starting dates for nomenclature of fungi established.
IV
1926
Ithaca
United States
-
Decisions on nomenclature deferred.
V
1930
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Yes
The type method incorporated; Latin requirement deferred until 1932; "absolute homonym rule" accepted, or "once a later homonym always illegitimate (unless conserved)", which altered the status of many names, including many that had previously been conserved.
VI
1935
Amsterdam
Netherlands
-
English became the official language of the Congress, replacing French. No formal Code was published.
VII
1950
Stockholm
Sweden
Yes
Adoption of the first International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants; arbitrary dates defined for some foundational works; decision to hold future congresses every five years (except four years for the next one).
VIII
1954
Paris
France
Yes
Two additional principles added, II and III, dealing with types and with priority. Proposals to conserve or reject specific names were rejected, but a committee was established to find ways to improve the stability of names.
IX
1959
Montreal
Canada
Yes
Presentation of a completely reworked list of conserved and rejected names necessitated by changes made at the 1930 congress, but the list for species was not accepted.
X
1964
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Yes
No major changes to the code.
XI
1969
Seattle
United States
Yes
Established the International Association of Bryologists.
XII
1975
Leningrad
Soviet Union
Yes
Official versions of the code in English, French, and German (the English version to take precedence in case of discrepancy); rejection of species names allowed in a few special cases; organ-genera for fossil plants are eliminated, replaced by form-genera.
XIII
1981
Sydney
Australia
Yes
Official versions of the code in English, French, and German (the English version to take precedence in case of discrepancy); conservation procedure (and rejection) extended to species names "of major economic importance"; fungi starting date restored to 1753 with sanctioned name status established; the types of genera and higher categories become the types of species (i.e., the taxa themselves are no longer types, only specimens or illustrations).
XIV
1987
Berlin
Germany
Yes
Official version of the code only in (British) English; later translations in French, German, and Japanese; conservation extended to species names that represent the type of a conserved generic name.
XV
1993
Tokyo
Japan
Yes
Moves towards registration of plant names; extensive re-arrangement of the nomenclature code; official version of the code only in (British) English; later translations in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Slovak; conservation extended to all species names; rejection permitted for any name that would cause a disadvantageous nomenclatural change; epitype concept introduced.
XVI
1999
St. Louis
United States
Yes
Refinement of type requirements; illustrations as types mostly forbidden from 1958; morphotaxa for fossils. Proposals defeated included the BioCode and registration of plant names.
XVII
2005
Vienna
Austria
Yes
Morphotaxa and regular taxa for fossils; illustrations as types mostly forbidden from 2007; glossary added to the code of nomenclature.
XVIII
2011
Melbourne
Australia
Yes
Electronic publication permitted; registration of fungal names; English or Latin descriptions (or diagnoses) from 2012; the concepts of anamorph and teleomorph (for fungi) and morphotaxa (for fossils) eliminated.
XIX
2017
Shenzhen
China
-
-

Question: When and where were the first and two most recent International Botanical Congresses held?
Answer: The numbering system for the International Botanical Congress starts from the year 1900 with a congress in Paris; the XVIII IBC was held in Melbourne, Australia in 2011 and the XIX IBC was held in Shenzhen, China in 2017.