Question

Expand ICBN?

Answer 1

Hint: ICBN is the collection of rules and guidelines for naming plants, fungi and algae as it refers not only to plants as they are now described, but also to other species that botanists have historically studied.

Complete answer:
ICBN means “International Code of Botanical Nomenclature”.
It is the collection of rules and recommendations which are given to plants regarding the formal botanical names. Its goal is that each taxonomic group of plants ("taxon," plural "taxa") has only one correct name recognized worldwide. The value of a scientific name is that it is an identifier; it is not automatically, or even corrected, of descriptive meaning. Priority is given to guiding principle in botanical nomenclature. The ICBN sets the starting date for the formal plant nomenclature as of 1st May 1753, Linnaeus publishing Species Plantarum (or at later dates for specified classes and ranks).

Additional Information:
ICBN has important principles, some have been listed here. Such as, one type fixes a botanical name to a taxon. This is almost always dried plant material and is typically deposited in a herbarium and stored, although it may be an image. Any specimens of the sort can be viewed online at the herbaria websites in question. Both of these principles are regulated and limited. Conservation of a name is necessary in order to prevent adverse effects of priority. Very few hard rules exist above taxonomic family rank (e.g. see descriptive botanical names). In 1983 these principles were set up. The ICBN can be updated only by an International Botanical Congress (IBC), with the supporting infrastructure being provided by the International Association for Plant Taxonomy. This version is the Vienna Code (2006), based on Vienna 2005 decisions of the XVII IBC. This was followed by the Code of St Louis (2000) and the Code of Tokyo (1994), both available online. Each time new version replaces the previous editions and is retroactive back to 1753, except where specifically limited.

Note: ICBN refers not only to plants as they are now described but also to other species that botanists have historically studied. This includes oomycetes and slime moulds; photosynthetic protists, cyanobacteria (blue-green algae); fungi, including taxonomy-related chytrids, and non-photosynthetic groupings.