International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the location rotating between different continents. The current numbering system for the congresses starts from the year 1900; the XVIII IBC was held in Melbourne, Australia, 24–30 July 2011,[1] and the XIX IBC will be held in Shenzhen, China, 23-29 July, 2017.[2]
The IBC has the power to alter the ICN (International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants), which was renamed from the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) at the XVIII IBC. Formally the power resides with the Plenary Session; in practice this approves the decisions of the Nomenclature Section. The Nomenclature Section meets before the actual Congress and deals with all proposals to modify the Code: this includes ratifying recommendations from sub-committees on conservation. To reduce the risk of a hasty decision the Nomenclature Section adopts a 60% majority requirement for any change not already recommended by a committee.
The first International Botanical Congress to consider matters of nomenclature was organized by la Société botanique de France, and took place in Paris in August 1867, with one of its principal purposes to establish laws of botanical nomenclature.[3] The laws adopted were based on those prepared by Alphonse de Candolle. A second meeting took place in Genoa in 1892, which made some small changes to the laws of nomenclature.[4] Subsequent meetings are as follows:
| [5][6] | Year | City | Country | Major actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 1900 | Paris | France | Decisions on nomenclature deferred |
| II | 1905 | Vienna | Austria | First binding Rules of Nomenclature; French became the official language of the meeting; requirement for Latin plant descriptions from 1908 onwards |
| III | 1910 | Brussels | Belgium | |
| IV | 1926 | Ithaca | United States | Decisions on nomenclature deferred |
| V | 1930 | Cambridge | United Kingdom | The type method incorporated; Latin requirement deferred until 1932 |
| VI | 1935 | Amsterdam | Netherlands | |
| VII | 1950 | Stockholm | Sweden | |
| VIII | 1954 | Paris | France | |
| IX | 1959 | Montreal | Canada | |
| X | 1964 | Edinburgh | United Kingdom | |
| XI | 1969 | Seattle | United States | |
| XII | 1975 | Leningrad | Soviet Union | |
| XIII | 1981 | Sydney | Australia | |
| XIV | 1987 | Berlin | Germany | |
| XV | 1993 | Tokyo | Japan | Moves towards registration of plant names; extensive re-arrangement of the nomenclature code |
| XVI | 1999 | St. Louis | United States | Refinement of type requirements; illustrations as types mostly forbidden from 1958; morphotaxa for fossils. Proposals defeated included the BioCode and registration of plant names |
| XVII | 2005 | Vienna | Austria | Morphotaxa and regular taxa for fossils; illustrations as types mostly forbidden from 2007; glossary added to the code of nomenclature |
| XVIII | 2011 | Melbourne | Australia | Electronic publication permitted; registration of fungal names; English or Latin descriptions from 2012; the concepts of anamorph and teleomorph (for fungi) and morphotaxa (for fossils) eliminated |