Capitals for some species names (as used in e.g. some of Arthur Lee Jacobsen's books) are no longer permitted - compare Art. 60, Rec. 60F: In the old St Louis Code: http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/nomenclature/code/SaintLouis/0065Ch7OaGoNSec1a60.htm And in the new Vienna Code: http://www.ibot.sav.sk/karolx/kod/0065Ch7OaGoNSec1a60.htm where the relevant sentence has been removed:
"Recommendation 60F 60F.1. All specific and infraspecific epithets should be written with an initial lower-case letter."
To just what extent a "Recommendation" concerning orthography must be followed is something of a thorny question in the ICBN. Note this Article (not a Recommendation) . . . "60.2. The words "original spelling" mean the spelling employed when the name was validly published. They do not refer to the use of an initial capital or lower-case letter, this being a matter of typography (see Art. 20.1 and 21.2, Rec. 60F)." It concerns the cases in which a name, as originally published, may have its orthography corrected. But what it makes clear is that capitalizing is a matter of typography, not orthography. If anyone wishes to defy this Recommendation in its latest version and capitalize some specific epithets, there is absolutely nothing to stop them -- with the possible exception in the case of published work of editors who enforce style guides which stipulate that botanical names must comply with the ICBN. If you self-publish or put something up on a website you can do what you like. The ICBN does not have any legislative force, but is complied with voluntarily by most botanists.
