Jepson Flora: Abbreviations and Symbols Used in The Jepson Manual, Second Edition

Abbreviations

The abbreviations used in TJM2 were selected because they saved considerable space, were relatively unambiguous, and were easily remembered, but primarily for the first reason. Therefore, with the exceptions listed below, they are not used in the eFlora, primarily because space is not an issue here. Words not appearing below are not abbreviated, except that the official, two-letter, postal abbreviations for states in the United States are used. Abbreviations that appear in both lowercase and capital letters are indicated. Periods are used only where their absence could cause confusion. Entries referring to parts of California are marked with asterisks and discussed more fully under Geographic Subdivisions of California.

* = abbreviation that perhaps should be retained/reinstated as abbreviation, because of more than one meaning and examples of problems with expansions in the eFlora
# = example of standard abbreviation that occurs in eFlora but will not be included on this list
? = in Symbols, places where I could/did not include the actual symbol


*Am = Americas (w hemisphere), America(n)
ambig. (or nom. ambig.) = nomen ambiguum, ambiguous name; name commonly used by mistake for more than one taxon

#BC = Before Christ

*c = central
*C.Am = Central America(n)
cm = centimeter, 0.01 meter
Co. = County
cos. = counties
*cult
cv. = cultivar, cultivated variety

diam = diameter
dm = decimeter, 0.1 meter

*e = east(ern)
*e-c = east-central
*exc = except, excluded, excludes, excluding

f. = form, forma; son of (L.f. means son of Linnaeus, see Authors of Plant Names)
*fl, fls (FL, FLS) = flower(s), floral, flowering
FNANM = Flora of North America North of Mexico

*gen = generally, mostly, usually, over half (e.g., petals gen red in genus description means over half of subordinate taxa have red corollas, with the rest requiring that petal color be addressed)
*geog = geographic(al, ally), geography

illeg. (or nom. illeg.) = nomen illegitimum, illegitimate name; name validly published but otherwise not conforming to the rules
*incl = included, includes, including
ined. (or nom. ined.) = nomen ineditum, unpublished name; name not published or not validly published
inval. (or nom. inval.) = nomen invalidum, invalid name; name not validly published according to the rules

m = meter
misappl. = misapplied; name used incorrectly for a CA plant, through misidentification and other means
mm = millimeter, 0.001 meter (µm, a micrometer, is 0.0001 meter, reviously also called a micron)

*n = north(ern)
*n-c = north-central
*N.Am = North America(n)
*ne = northeast(ern)
notho- = prefix indicating that a taxon is the result of hybridization, when at least one of the parental taxa involved is known or can be postulated, affixed to the term denoting the rank at which that taxon is recognized; e.g., nothosubspecies
nud. (or nom. nud.) = nomen nudum, naked name; name naked usually in the sense of lacking a description with its publication
*nw = northwest(ern)

orn = ornamental
orth. var. = orthographic variant; variant spelling of a name

rej. (or nom. rej.) = nomen rejiciendum, rejected name; name prohibited by legislation

*s = south(ern)
*s-c = south-central
*se = southeast(ern)
sect(s). = section(s) (abbreviated only as taxonomic rank)
s.l. = sensu lato, in the broad sense; broad circumscription of a taxon
sp. = species (singular)
spp. = species (plural)
s.s. = sensu stricto, in the narrow sense; narrow circumscription of a taxon
subg. = subgenus, subgenera
subsect(s). = subsection(s)
subsp. = subspecies (singular)
subspp. = subspecies (plural)
superfl. (or nom. superfl.) = nomen superfluum, superfluous name; name for a taxon that has an earlier, legitimate name
*sw = southwest(ern)

temp = temperate(s), temperate zone(s)
TJM (1993) = The Jepson Manual, 1993 edition
trop = tropical, tropic(s), tropical zone(s)

var. = variety
vars. = varieties
vs = versus

*w = west(ern)
*w-c = west-central


Symbols

The following symbols are used whenever possible. Most are quantitative, referring to number, height, length, width, etc., while "±" may be qualitative as well, referring to color, fusion, symmetry, etc. Note that "<<", "<", "=", ">", and ">>" do not include the concepts of "greatly exceeded by", "exceeded by", "held at the same level as", "exceeding", and "greatly exceeding", respectively, as defined in TJM (1993). Here, these concepts are expressed in words. The symbols "<<", "<", "=", ">", and ">>" are restricted in meaning to "much less than", "less than", "equal to", "greater than", and "much greater than", respectively, in length, or height (or width or diameter if qualified as such). Those symbols also may be used in the sense of "fewer than" (rather than "less than") or "more than" (rather than "greater than") if qualified as referring to counts rather than dimensions. Use of these symbols to include the ideas of "exceeding" or "exceeded by" confuses the concepts of absolute length and what it means for one structure to exceed another or not.

<<much less than (or much fewer than, if qualified as numeric)
< less than (or fewer than, if qualified as numeric)
? less than or equal to (or fewer than or equal to, if qualified as numeric)
= equal to, equal, equals (e.g., "sepals = petals" or "blade = petiole", but not "sepals equal" in the sense of sepals all equal to each other)
? greater than or equal to (or more than or equal to, if qualified as numeric)
> greater than (or more than, if qualified as numeric)
>> much greater than (or much more than, if qualified as numeric)
0 none, absent
1 solitary, in context of arrangement of sporangia, cones, flowers, or inflorescences
+ 1) after a number or range of numbers, it means "or more" (e.g., "6--10+ mm" means "6 to 10 or more mm"); 2) between words (e.g., plant structures, word elements in etymologies) it means "plus" (e.g., "tube + throat 12--16 mm" means that the tube and throat taken together are 12--16 mm)
± more or less, approximately, nearly, rather, slightly, somewhat (e.g., ± sessile may include sessile)
?degree of angle, compoundedness, or branching
× multiplication sign, meaning "times" or indicating hybridity when used with taxon names; meaning "cross" when used in plant descriptions (e.g., ×-section)
- hyphen, for: compound adjectives (e.g., 5-lobed, saucer-shaped, needle-like, red-brown, glandular-hairy, ovate-elliptic); in common names that are inconsistent with current taxonomy (e.g., Douglas-fir because Pseudotsuga is not currently included in Abies, fir), or in common names that are used as adjectives (e.g., lodgepole-pine forest, but not forest of lodgepole pine); to indicate (as a double hyphen or en-dash) quantitative ranges (e.g., "lvs 5—8 mm"); and to indicate intermediacy in condition (e.g., "lvs ovate-elliptic" means the leaves are intermediate between ovate and elliptic). Qualitative (non-quantitative) ranges are expressed with the word "to": "lvs ovate to elliptic" means the leaves range in shape from ovate to elliptic, possibly including ovate-elliptic
[ ] 1) square brackets enclose information in descriptions pertaining only to members of a taxon (but not necessarily to all members of that taxon) occurring outside of California, in addition to delimiting pertinent literature and nomenclatural/taxonomic synonyms; 2) in descriptive parts of keys, square brackets are sometimes used to delimit information that provides additional clarification or explanation, where use of parentheses might be confusing; 3) square brackets enclosing names in keys refer to taxa (generally waifs) with descriptions that appear only online
( ) parentheses enclose information in keys and descriptions that is only rarely to uncommonly true [e.g., tree (2)4—10 m]; less frequently, they enclose explanations of, elaborations of, or exceptions to foregoing descriptive information; if the word "rarely" appears within parentheses, it is because without it the enclosed information could be interpreted in one of these other ways
µmmicrometer, 0.0001 meter (previously also called a micron)


The following three picture symbols (star, diamond, and broken diamond), are also used as a space saving convention.

Native Taxa of Special Concern. A star symbol is applied to taxa as recognition of their inclusion in the California Native Plant Society's (CNPS's) Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California (8th Edition), lists 1-4. That set of lists includes all vascular plant taxa that are legally listed as rare, threatened, or endangered by the State of California or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A limited number of taxa, proposed for inclusion in the CNPS Inventory, also received the star symbol.

Invasive Non-native Taxa. The diamond symbol is applied to taxa as recognition of their inclusion in (1) the Pest Ratings of Noxious Weed Species and Noxious Weed Seed, developed by the State of California, Department of Food and Agriculture, Division of Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services (July, 2010) and/or (2) the 4500 Noxious Weed Species list from Section 5004 of the Food and Agricultural Code. All names with an internal rating of A, B, C, or Q were considered. The diamond symbol is applied to taxa that occur in California or are considered to be of probable risk of establishment in the state. Some taxa included in the above-mentioned lists are not treated here because they either do not occur in California or their arrival and/or naturalization in the state is unlikely. The broken diamond symbol is applied to taxa not included in the above-mentioned state or federal lists, but included in (1) the California Invasive Plant Inventory Database (December 2010) developed by the California Invasive Plant Council (Cal- IPC) and/or (2) the Priority Species List of the Bay Area Early Detection Network (December 2010). Neither diamond nor broken diamond symbol is applied to native taxa.