At intervals it hands down decrees, declaring that Zauschneria californica (a common plant in rock gardens) 它不时下达命令，宣布从今以后加州倒挂金钟（一种普通的假山庭园植物）

is to be known henceforth as Epilobium canum or that Aglaothamnion tenuissimum may now be regarded as conspecific with Aglaothamnion byssoides, 要被称做柳叶菜；丛毛草现在可以被视为织丝柳叶草的

but not with Aglaothamnion pseudobyssoides. 而不是伪织丝柳叶草的同一种类。

Normally these are small matters of tidying up that attract little notice, 在通常情况下，这些都是归拢归拢的小问题，不会引起多少注意。

but when they touch on beloved garden plants, as they sometimes do, shrieks of outrage inevitably follow. 但是，要是他们有时候触犯了人们心爱的庭园植物，就不可避免地会引发一片愤怒的尖叫声。

In the late 1980s the common chrysanthemum was banished (on apparently sound scientific principles) 20世纪80年代末，普通的菊花（根据表面看来是合理的原则）

from the genus of the same name and relegated to the comparatively drab and undesirable world of the genus Dendranthema. 被逐出了同名的属，归到了不大有意思的山菊属。

Chrysanthemum breeders are a proud and numerous lot, 种植菊花的可是一批自尊心很强的人，而且人数很多。

and they protested to the real if improbable-sounding Committee on Spermatophyta. 他们向种子植物委员会提出抗议。这个委员会听上去很别扭，但实际上是存在的。

(There are also committees for Pteridophyta, Bryophyta, and Fungi, among others, （别的还包括蕨类植物委员会、苔藓植物委员会和真菌委员会，

all reporting to an executive called the Rapporteur-General; this is truly an institution to cherish.) 都对所谓“总报告人”的执行官负责；这样的机构真是值得爱惜的。）

Although the rules of nomenclature are supposed to be rigidly applied, botanists are not indifferent to sentiment, and in 1995 the decision was reversed. 虽然关于命名的一些规定应该严格遵守，但植物学家们对情绪不是无动于衷的，于1995年撤消了那个决定。

Similar adjudications have saved petunias, euonymus, and a popular species of amaryllis from demotion, 由于类似的情况，碧冬茄属、卫矛属植物，以及一种常见的朱顶兰属没有遭受降格的命运。

but not many species of geraniums, which some years ago were transferred, amid howls, to the genus Pelargonium. 但是，许多种老鹳草属植物不在其列，几年以前，在一片抗议声中，那些植物被转到了天竺葵属。

The disputes are entertainingly surveyed in Charles Elliott's The Potting-ShedPapers. 这些争论在查尔斯·埃利奥特的《盆栽棚文献》一书中都得到了有趣的描述。