602 & Ramella, Checklist Flora del Paraguay. 2005 (www.ville-ge .ch/cjb/bd/checklist/index.php); Sistema de información de biodiversidad, Administración de Parques Nacionales, Ar- gentina (www.sib.gov.ar); The New York Botanical Garden, Virtual Herbarium (sciweb.nybg.org/science2/VirtualHerba- rium.asp) and a number of Brazilian web sources. The name Juncus micranthus E. Mey. (1823) is consid- ered a well-established name in frequent use. However, it is a later homonym of J. micranthus Desv. (1818). The latter name applies to the hybrid between J. articulatus L. and J. acutiflorus Ehrh. ex Hoffm. (according to one specimen at G-DEL from the original material [Kirschner & al., l.c. 2002: 264]) or to J. acutiflorus. The name has never been used as an accepted name since the time of its publication and seldom appears, mostly as a synonym of J. acutiflorus, in floras and checklists. We face a situation when, for purely nomenclatural rea- sons, a name locally in frequent use is to be abandoned as a result of homonymy (and the earlier homonym has not been and will never be used for any taxon). In order to maintain nomenclatural stability we propose that the name Juncus micranthus Schrad. ex E. Mey. be conserved (Art. 14) against its earlier homonym, J. micranthus Desv. A note on Juncus validus Coville. — In addition to Juncus micranthus and other names previously considered (cf. Taxon 50: 1189–1197. 2001 and 56: 259. 2007), it was anticipated during the preparation of a monographic account of the Juncaceae for the Flora of the World series (Kirschner 1994; Iwatsuki in Iwatsuki & al., Fl. Japan 1: 242. 1995; Nooteboom in Blumea 42: 294. 1997; Bosman & al., Fl. Mal- esiana, ser. 2, 3: 90. 1998; Thaweesakdi Boonkerd & Rossarin Pollawatn, Pterid. Thailand: 279. 2000; Shi in Lin & al., Fl. Reipubl. Popul. Sin. 6(2): 215. 2000; Verdcourt in Beentje, Fl. Trop. E. Africa – Polypod.: 21. 2001; Germishuizen & Meyer, Pl. S. Africa (Strelitzia 14): 79. 2003; Hovenkamp in Shafer-Fehre, Rev. Handb. Fl. Ceylon 15B: 325. 2006. It is perfectly possible that Link intended to use Microso- rium, but Art. 60.1 states that “the original spelling of a name … is to be retained, except for the correction of typographical or orthographical errors …” and there is no evidence in Link’s Hortus Regius Botanicus Berolinensis that the spelling there was a typographical error, being used both in the text and the index. As both “ Microsorum” and “ Microsorium” seem perfectly acceptable constructions (from having small sori) neither can be considered an orthographic error. So an ortho- graphic conservation is the best solution for maintaining the usage of Microsorium. We therefore propose that Microsorium be conserved as the correct spelling of Link’s generic name in order to maintain common and continued usage and contribute to nomenclatural stability in pteridophytes. Acknowledgments We thank Dr. John McNeill (E) and Dr. John Wiersema (BARC) for providing references and valuable comments on the manuscript. Dr. Hans P. Nooteboom and Dr. Peter Hov- enkamp (Leiden) are thanked for providing references. This work was partly supported by foundation for the Construc- tion of Germ Plasm Bank of Tropical and Subtropical Plants in Guangdong Province and Guangzhou (2005B60301001), Guangdong Key Laboratory of Digital Botanical Garden. (1773) Juncus micranthus Schrad. ex E. Mey., Syn. Luzul.: 31. 1823 [ Monocot.: Junc. ], nom. cons. prop. Typus: Brazil, Rio Belmonto, Neuwied (BR). (H) Juncus micranthus Desv., Obs. Pl. Angers: 82. Jul 1818, nom. rej. prop. Typus: non designatus. The name Juncus micranthus Schrad. ex E. Mey., based on a collection from Brazil by Prince Maximilian of Wied- Neuwied, refers to a species of Juncus sect. Ozophyllum Du- mort., quite widely distributed in meadows and along rivers in a large region from Bahia and Minas Gerais in Brazil to Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and NE Argentina. Older floras and monographs treat this species under the name Juncus scirpoides var. meridionalis Buchenau (e.g., Buchenau in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 12: 324. 1890; in Engler, Pflanzenr. IV. 36 (Heft 25): 189. 1906; Barros in Darwiniana 10: 423. 1953), and the varietal name was also elevated to species rank as J. meridionalis (Buchenau) Herter (in Rev. Sudamer. Bot. 9(7–8): 201. 1956), a combination not used later. In modern checklists and floras, the name Juncus mi- cranthus E. Mey. has been quite frequently used, and almost completely dominates the internet sources. The most impor- tant publications using the name J. micranthus E. Mey. are Balslev (in Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 68: 135. 1996), Kirschner & al. (Juncaceae 2, in Sp. Pl., Fl. World 7: 201. 2002), and Zuloaga & Morrone (Cat. Pl. Vasc. Repúbl. Argentina 1: 221. 1996). The most important internet sources include Spichiger (1773) Proposal to conserve the name Juncus micranthus Schrad. ex E. Mey. against J. micranthus Desv. ( Juncaceae ), with a note on J. validus Jan Kirschner & Lenka Drábková Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences, 25243 Průhonice 1, Czech Republic. kirschner@ibot.cas.cz (author for correspondence) Kirschner & Drábková • (1773) Conserve Juncus micranthus TAXON 56 (2) • May 2007: 602–603