Even if the reference/date started with contributors who are recommending name changes, that's a start. Then, as users browse through the database, they could easily update a plant's reference/date/synonyms. I suspect that collectors of particular kinds of plants have that info readily at hand also.
My problem with on-line general data bases (not ITIS, etc) is that I feel that I have to validate each name by checking several sources. I'd love to know exactly what reference was used for the plant's name, how recently that reference was accessed and the synonyms attached to the plant. With the ever-increasing use of DNA analyses rather than morphology to separate or combine genera, and even families, names are changing at a brisk pace.
Of course, this doesn't work well with cultivars because not all cultivars are registered with the ICRAs, and some putative cultivars really aren't - they're marketed by growers to look as if the plant was a cultivar - in effect making a new "common name". But that's for another rant...
Monica
