A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN). The purpose of formal name is to have a single name that is accepted and used worldwide for a particular plant or plant group. For an example, the botanical name Bellis perennis is used worldwide for a plant species, which is native to and has a history of many centuries use in most of the countries of Europe and the Middle East, where it has accumulated various names in the many languages of that area. Later it has been introduced worldwide, bringing it into contact with languages on all continents. English names for this plant species include daisy, common daisy, lawndaisy, etc.

The usefulness of botanical names is limited by the fact that taxonomic groups are not fixed in size; a taxon may have a varying . The group that a particular botanical name refers to can be quite small according to some people and quite big according to others. This will depend on taxonomic viewpoint or . The traditional view of the family Malvaceae includes over a thousand species, but in some modern approaches it contains over four thousand species. The botanical name itself is fixed by a type, the size and placement of the taxon it applies to is set by a taxonomist. Some botanical names refer to groups that are very stable (for example Equisetaceae, Magnoliaceae) while for other names a careful check is needed to see which circumscription is being used (for example Fabaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Urticaceae, etc).

Depending on rank, botanical names may be in one part (genus and above), two parts (species and above, but below the rank of genus) or three parts (below the rank of species):

in one part

Plantae (the plants)

Marchantiophyta (the liverworts)

Magnoliopsida (class including the family Magnoliaceae)

Liliidae (subclass including the family Liliaceae)

Pinophyta (the conifers)

Fagaceae (the beech family)

Betula (the birch genus)

in two parts

Acacia subg. Phyllodineae (the wattles)

Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)

in three parts:

Calystegia sepium subsp. americana (American hedge bindweed)

A name in three parts, i.e. the name of an infraspecific taxon (below the rank of species) needs a "connecting term" to indicate rank. In the Calystegia example above, this is "subsp." (for subspecies). In botany there are many ranks below that of species (in zoology there is only one such rank, subspecies, so that this "connecting term" is unnecessary there). A name of a "subdivision of a genus" also needs a connecting term (in the Acacia example above, this is "subg.", subgenus). The connecting term is not part of the name itself.

A taxon may be indicated by a listing in more than three parts: "Saxifraga aizoon var. aizoon subvar. brevifolia f. multicaulis subf. surculosa Engl. & Irmsch." but this is a classification, not a formal botanical name. The botanical name is Saxifraga aizoon subf. surculosa Engl. & Irmsch. (ICBN Art 24: Ex 1).

Generic, specific, and infraspecific botanical names are usually printed in italics. The example set by the ICBN is to italicize all botanical names, including those above genus, though the ICBN preface states: "The Code sets no binding standard in this respect, as typography is a matter of editorial style and tradition not of nomenclature". Most peer-reviewed scientific botanical publications do not italicize names above the rank of genus, and non-botanical scientific publications do not, which is in keeping with two of the three other kinds of scientific name; zoological and bacterial (viral names above genus are italicized, a new policy adopted in the early 1990s).

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