Comments on nomenclature of the order Rhododendro tomentosi-Laricetalia gmelinii and validation of the alliance Pino sibiricae-Laricion sibiricae

Abstract

Zonal light-coniferous forests are widespread on long-frozen soils in Southern Siberia. Their individuality was first recognised in 1982 by Guinochet, who proposed a new suballiance for them, Pino-Laricenion sibiricae, within the alliance Vaccinio-Piceion. Later, attempts were made to raise the suballiance to the rank of an alliance. However, they failed to publish the name Pino sibiricae-Laricion sibiricae validly according to the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature (ICPN). Therefore, the name is validated here after discussing the reasons for rejecting all previous proposals. The validity of the corrected and mutated syntaxon names Rhododendro tomentosi-Laricetalia gmelinii and Rhododendro tomentosi-Laricion gmelinii, which are related to the alliance Pino sibiricae-Laricion sibiricae, is confirmed. Corrections and mutations of two association names are also performed. Taxonomic reference: World Flora Online Plant List (WFO) (https://wfoplantlist.org/) [accessed 28 July 2024]. Abbreviations: ICPN = International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature (Theurillat et al. 2021); WFO = World Flora Online Plant List.