[News Today] Lost name of Korean plant restored

[LEAD]
When a new plant is discovered, the discoverer's name is included in its scientific name. But during Japan's colonial rule, even plants found by Korean botanists were registered under Japanese names. Now, marking the 80th anniversary of liberation, the Korea National Arboretum is working to set the record straight.

[REPORT]
Chung Tai-hyun is Korea's first plant taxonomist.

He collected thousands of plant specimens from all across the Korean Peninsula from the early 20th century to post-liberation years.

He even published the first illustrated book of plants written in Korean.

This is 'Rosa silenidiflora Nakai', a new plant discovered by Chung. But its scientific name includes a Japanese name.

The name used there is Taigen Kawamoto. The Korean botanist had to change his name to a Japanese one during the Japanese colonial period.

This is why most of the new plants found by Chung were regarded as the discoveries of a Japanese botanist for a long time.

Jang Gye-seon / Korea Nat'l Arboretum
There is a Japanese name and then there's Korean name Chung Tai-hyun written in Korean underneath. This is proof that Taigen Kawamoto was Chung Tai-hyun.

In marking the eightieth anniversary of Korea's liberation, the Korea National Arboretum decided to correct the names of the new plants he had discovered.

Rosa silenidiflora Nakai ex T. Kawamoto is now changed to T. H. Chung and internationally recognized as such.

Lim Young-seok / Director, Korea Nat'l Arboretum
The members unanimously agreed to changing scientific name. We posted on the Int'l Plant Name Index the name change process and its rationality according to the Int'l Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

The KNA plans to make additional name changes as soon as more data is gathered.

The arboretum will also bring back after a century, fifteen indigenous Korean plant species that were taken outside the country during the Japanese colonial period.