These instructions are applicable especially to descriptions of new taxa, but most of them apply to all taxonomic papers. Disregarding the instructions will cause considerable delays in the editorial process.

Formal descriptions of taxa must be in English; consult recent issues of Annales Botanici Fennici for examples. The general instructions are available at this link.

• Introduction or background (can be short for simple descriptions of new species).
• Name of taxon + authors (figure numbers in parentheses).
• Citation of type specimen(s).
• Etymology (optional).
• Description in English.
• Notes and discussion.
• Specimens examined or other data sources of taxa with which the new taxon is compared. If the comparison(s) are presented in a table, the data sources must be cited in the table legend.

The same order (starting from the taxon name) should be followed if more than one taxon of same level is described or otherwise taxonomically and nomenclaturally treated.

In photographs, letters, numbers and/or scale bars with numbers and units (if present) should be placed on the background, not on the object depicted in the image.

The following should always be italicised:

1. Scientific names at the  genus level and below.
2. In author citations, ex and in.
3. Latin words, such as sensu, pro parte, non, etc.
4. In specimen citations, collector's name and collecting number (see examples below).

Common abbreviations

Genus novum: gen. nov.
Species nova: sp. nova
Combinatio nova: comb. nova
Nomen novum: nom. nov.
Synonymum novum: syn. nov.
Sine numero: s.n. (in specimen citations)
Sensu lato: s. lato
Sensu stricto: s. stricto

Author citations

Author citations should only be used when necessary for historical, nomenclatural or taxonomic reasons, and then they should only be used upon the first mentioning of the name in the body of the text (do NOT use author citations in the title of the article or in figure legends). Author abbreviations should be checked at www.ipni.org.

Acceptable names of new taxa

The Latin names must be grammatically correct. Attention must be paid to the gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) and, accordingly, correct endings of the generic names and species epithets. Advice and a list of names can be found in A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Names. Names that refer to the morphology or geographical provenance of the taxon are to be preferred, as are names that honour botanists or plant collectors relevant in the taxonomic context. However, taxa should not be named after politicians, ideologies, athletes, musicians, etc. that have nothing to do with botany or the taxon being described. Vernacular names should not be proposed.

Citation of type specimens

Citations should be as complete as possible.

Example:

Type: China. Yunnan Province, Diqing Prefecture, Zhongdian County, forested ridge above Na Pa Hai, N of Zhongdian, 27°55'N, 99°34'E, 3920 m a.s.l., steep mossy Abies/Rhododendron forest, on rotten Abies log, 12 June 1993 D. G. Long 24249 (holotype E; isotypes H, JE, KUN).

Citation of voucher specimens (and paratypes)

The citations should be concise, yet adequate to identify the specimens. Exact collecting dates should be included only when the specimens have no unique collecting numbers. Geographical coordinates are generally not necessary.

Examples:

Selected specimens examined. Malaysia. Sabah, H. Sipman & B. Tan 31026 (B). Papua New Guinea. Morobe Province, H. Sipman 15739b (B, U). Indonesia. Java, 3 June 1914 M. Fleischer s.n. (BO).

Example of nomenclatural section exactly as it should appear in manuscript

Pinnatella makinoi (Broth.) Broth.
Nat. Pflanzenfam. 1(3): 858. 1906. --- Porotrichum makinoi Broth., Hedwigia 38: 227. 1899. --- Lectotype (designated here): Japan. Shikoku, Kochi Prefecture, Tosa, 15 June 1887 Makino 301 (H-BR!; isolectotypes H-BR!, S).
Pinnatella luzonensis Broth., Philippine J. Sci. C 8: 81. 1913, syn. nov. --- Type: Philippines. Luzon, Bangued, above 1500 m, on limestone, May 1911 Merrill 7880 (holotype H-BR!; isotypes BM!, FH, GRO, NY!).
Pinnatella formosana Okam., J. College Sci. Tokyo Imp. Univ. 36(7): 45. 1916 ("Pinnatera" orth. err.). --- Type: Taiwan. Prov. Sinchiku-cho, Senseki, 1 December 1912 Sasaoka s. n. (holotype NICH!). --- Synonymized by Noguchi (1950).

Notes: (1) Do not use = or ≡ to indicate taxonomic or nomenclatural synonyms. (2) Exclamation mark (!) after herbarium acronym indicates that the author has seen that type specimen. Lack of exclamation mark means the specimen was not seen. When describing new taxa, do not use exclamation marks with their type specimens. (3) Names of months should be written in full.

Use of hyphens and n-dashes in descriptions

There is a clear difference in the meaning between a hyphen (-) and an n-dash (–). “Leaves ovate-lanceolate” (with a hyphen) refers to a consistent leaf shape, but “Leaves ovate–lanceolate” (with an n-dash) means that the leaves can be ovate, lanceolate or anything in between. Similarly “blue-green” means a certain, unvariable colour, whereas “blue–green” means a whole range of variation from blue to green. In a manuscript, n-dashes should be indicated with two hyphens (--).

Organisation of identification keys (always use this format):

1. Leaves acute, glossy, abaxial surface hairy ............... 2
1. Leaves obtuse, dull, abaxial surface not hairy ........... 3
2. Tubers lacking; corolla cream-coloured .................... Species XX
2. Tubers present; corolla light violet ............................ 4
3. Calyx lobes with serrate margins .............................. Species YY
3. Calyx lobes with entire margins ................................ Species XY
4. etc. .....

New taxon threat assessment according to IUCN threat categories

By default, all new species belong to the IUCN category DD (Data Deficient). All other threat assessments must be based on solid data including:

1. evidence that the described taxon was carefully searched for but not found outside of the type locality, and
2. evidence of an imminent threat to the taxon (e.g. agriculture, grazing by animals, land use for some purpose, road construction, urbanization etc.).

If the proofs of threat exist, it must be indicated how many individuals/populations are known, what is the geographic distance among the individuals/populations, and how many (if any) of the found individuals/populations were observed to reproduce sexually or asexually. In other words, simple reference to the IUCN criteria without solid supporting taxon-specific data presented in the paper will not suffice. A link to the most recent version of the IUCN criteria must be placed in the text and not cited in the reference list.