The International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms. According to the ICN, indication of the type is a requirement for valid publication of a name of a new species or infraspecific taxon that was published on or after 1 January 1958 . The type is either a single specimen or an illustration. For a taxon published before 1 January 1990, the type can be indicated using “typus” or “holotypus”, or its abbreviation, or its equivalent in a modern language. After 1 January 1958, a name of a new taxon is not validly published when two or more gatherings are simultaneously indicated as the type, or when no single gathering is indicated as the type when two or more gatherings are cited.

When checking names validly published in Jin’s edited book A Catalogue of type specimens (Cormophyta) in the herbaria of China, Dr. Wen-Bin Yu of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden（XTBG） and Prof. De-Zhu Li of Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) found that two gatherings (X.P. Gao 53542, f lowering, Fig. 1A; and X.P. Gao 54811, fruiting, Fig. 1B) were simultaneously indicated as the type of “Sarcococca longipetiolata” M.Cheng in Chinese, and only the flowering gathering was indicated as annotated by “typus” in the effective publication. Currently, “S. longipetiolata”, is widely taken as validly published by Cheng, which may follow indication of the type in Latin. However, the name is not validly published, because two gatherings were simultaneously indicated as the type in Chinese in the original description. Prof. P.-T. Li discovered that “Sarcococca longipetiolata” was not validly published; however, he failed to validate the name.

Finally, the name S. longipetiolatais got validly published in the study by Wen-Bin Yu and De-Zhu Li at the third time by designating the flowering sheet (IBSC barcode 0001088) of X.P. Gao 53542 as holotype.

The study entitled “Valid publication of the name Sarcococca longipetiolata (Buxaceae): Third time lucky” has been published in the Nomenclature Column of TAXON. Reviewers strongly recommend thee research to publish in TAXON, because the researchers addressed an interesting problem that was often overlooked, and the information presented in the study will be valuable for anyone working with publications of nomenclatural novelties where several languages are involved.

Fig. 1. Type specimens of Sarcococca longipetiolata M.Cheng (A. Holotype; B. Paratype)

(Image by YU Wenbin)