The startingpoint is the data from which names of taxa can be validly published. All names from before the starting point are invalid.

Untill 1982 the startingpoint for the fungi was Fries' Systema Mycologicum (1821). At the botanical congress in 1982 the mycological startingpoint was changed to be the same as for the plants : Linnes Species Plantarum (1753). The early works of Fries and Persoon has since been regarded as sanctioning works in fungal nomenclature.