How IAPT Supports Nomenclature Governance and International Events

The International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) supports nomenclature governance by serving as the publisher and custodian of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants (the Code), and it supports international events by organizing symposia at meetings around the world and online, including nomenclature workshops. If you need to know where nomenclatural rules are maintained or where the taxonomic community gathers, IAPT is the central body for both.

Nomenclature governance: publishing and maintaining the Code

IAPT describes the Code as "the internationally agreed set of rules and recommendations governing botanical, phycological and mycological nomenclature." Its governance role rests on two concrete functions:

• Publisher and custodian. IAPT publishes the Code and maintains it as the standing reference for naming algae, fungi, and plants.
• Venue for amendments. TAXON, IAPT's journal, is the only place to publish proposals to amend the Code or to publish nomenclatural proposals. This means changes to the rules do not happen in scattered outlets — they enter through one journal.

A practical consequence: if your work involves describing a new species, proposing a name, or challenging an existing one, the rules you follow and the route for changing them both run through IAPT. A recent example of the Code's reach is the French translation of the Madrid Code, announced as Code de Madrid — showing that the governance output is not only maintained but also disseminated in multiple languages.

International events: congresses, symposia, and workshops

IAPT organizes symposia at international meetings, both in person and online. Two upcoming items from its news illustrate the scale:

The Botanical Congress is the large periodic gathering of the botanical community; IAPT's involvement connects its governance work to that audience. The nomenclature workshop is a more focused, training-oriented format — the kind of specialist event IAPT lists among member services, alongside symposia.

Why the two functions reinforce each other

Governance and events are not separate activities. The Code is only useful if people know how to apply it, and workshops are where that application is taught. Conversely, proposals to amend the Code surface through TAXON and are debated by the same international community that meets at congresses and symposia. For a student or early-career researcher, this means the path from learning the rules (workshop) to contributing to them (proposal in TAXON) runs through IAPT's event and publication channels.

How to engage, depending on your goal

• If you need the rules themselves: the Code is the authoritative source, published and maintained by IAPT.
• If you want to propose a change to the rules: TAXON is the only publication route for amendment proposals.
• If you want training in applying the rules: watch for nomenclature workshops such as the 2026 edition.
• If you want to meet the community: IAPT symposia at international meetings, including the 2029 Cape Town congress, are the main venues.

Membership is open to everyone, and IAPT describes its community as nearly 1,000 colleagues across more than 60 countries. A plans and pricing page exists on the site, so membership terms should be checked there rather than assumed.