Formerly, the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature included a general statment that it should be "founded on considerations sufficiently clear and forcible for everyone to comprehend and be disposed to accept." This statement was removed from the present edition as being superfluous. Perhaps it should be reinstated, in view of the appearance of a recent revision of Alisma, in which the author was disposed to follow neither the Code nor customary practices in presenting taxonomic information. ... Although the chief function of the present note is to call attention to the adoption and publication of illegitimate and inaccurate names and the failure clearly to indicate which varieties are typical, a few other observations are in order. ... Alisma still remains a genus about which we await the clarification which is quite probably obtainable from an application of modern taxonomic techniques and a careful and accurate presentation of the results.