Type Specimens of the Linnaean Species of Picris L

TAXON 24(I): 113-116. FEBRUARY 1975

TYPE SPECIMENSOF THE LINNAEAN SPECIESOF PICRIS L. (COMPOSITAE)*

H. WalterLack**

Summary Picris echioides L., P. hieracioidesL., P. pyrenaica L. and P. asplenioidesL. are typified. The first and second retain their current meaning, although P. echioides L. should be placed in the genus Helminthotheca Zinn. P. pyrenaica L. has to be excluded from the genus Picris L.; the name P. asplenioidesis for the first time fully clarified.

Linnaeus included four species in the genus Picris as accepted by him in Species Plantarum 2: 792-793 (1753). For a revison of the genus currently undertaken by the present author (1,2) it has been necessary to consider their typification. For P. echioides Linnaeus gave a diagnosis taken from his Hortus Upsaliensis 241 (1748), but with "involucro maximo" instead of "involucro magno", replacing a differently worded one with essentially the same meaning which he had used in the Hortus Cliffortianus 387 (1738). It is represented in his herbarium at the Linnean Society of London by specimen 948.11 (LINN2!) which can be taken as the lectotype of P. echioides L.; it bears the inscription "echioides I" in Linnaeus's handwriting and there is no reason to doubt that he possessed it in 1753. This specimen and the specimen in the Hortus siccus Cliffortianus 387. no. 1 (BM!) agree with the current application of the name. Linnaeus's f3. Hieracium capitulis cardui benedicti. Herm. par. 185. t. 185 is identical with P. echioides according to the description and figure given by Hermann (3). In my opinion this species should be excluded from the genus Picris; its correct name then becomes Helminthotheca echioides (L.) Holub (Fol. Geobot. & Phy- totax. 8: 176. 1973). Linnaeus's diagnostic phrase-name (nomen specificum legitimum) for his P. hieracioides was taken directly from his Hortus Cliffortianus 387 (1738). The specimen typifying this in the Hortus siccus Cliffortianus 387. no. 2 (BM!) agrees perfectly with the current application of the name P. hieracioides L. Linnaeus's third species, P. pyrenaica, for which he gave a new diagnosis, is not represented in his herbarium under Picris, but has the name "Hieracium pyrenaicum blattariae folio, minus pilosum. Herm. parad. 184" as a synonym. Presumably Linnaeus knew the plant only from Hermann's description (3) and plate; in the absence of other evidence this illustration must be taken as the type of P. pyrenaica L. This shows a plant not belonging to the genus Picris since the achene, portrayed enlarged, bears a setose and not a plumose pappus. It probably belongs to the genus Crepis. The epithet pyrenaica based on Picris pyrenaica L. cannot, however, be transferred to Crepis on account of the existence of the name Crepis pyrenaica (L.) Greuter Exs. in Genav. 1: 15 (1970), based on Hieracium pyrenaicum L. (Sp. Pl. 2: 804. 1753).

* Financial support towards publication is gratefully acknowledged. Ed. ":"Botanische Abteilung, NaturhistorischesMuseum, Burgring 7, Postfach 417, 1014 Wien, Austria. 1 Numbers according to Savage, S., 1945, A Catalogue of the Linnean Herbarium. London. 2 Acronyms of herbariaaccording to Lanjouw and Stafleu (1964).

FEBRUARY1975 13

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Fig. i. Type specimen of Picris asplenioides L.; this specimen was collected in Egypt in 1704 by A. Lippi (1678-1705) and is conserved at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.

The protologue of P. asplenioides is marked with a t sign, indicating that this particular species was doubtful for Linnaeus himself. No specimen labeled "asplenioides" can be found under Picris in LINN. However, Linnaeus cites the following reference "Helminthotheca hispidosa, Asplenioides, succo sulphureo. Vaill. act. 1721. p. 206". Vaillant (4) gives the following description "9. Hel- minthotheca hispidosa, Asplenioides, succo sulphureo. Hieracium hirsutius, Asplenii divisur^ succo sulphureo. D. Lippi."

114 TAXON VOLUME 24

This content downloaded from 62.122.73.17 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 20:26:21 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions During a visit to Paris I found a specimen (fig. 1) which represents in all probability the plant on which Vaillant's diagnosis is based. The label (fig. 2) reads "Hieracium succo D. Aegyptium, hirsutius,' Asplenii divisura, ' sulphureo. Lippi. p. 55. n'. 110. cal. canele chaton plac. vas., ovaires cour de plume. herbier de Vaillant." This plant was collected in Egypt by Augustin Lippi (1678- 1705), physician and naturalist, who traveled in 1704 with a French mission to the Negus of Abyssinia (5,6). The adnotation "Lippi. p. 55. n'. 110" refers to Lippi's catalogue, the original of which has been lost (6). Lippi's specimen (fig. 1), which must be accepted as the type of P. asplenioides L., is well preserved. A detailed study of leaves, hairs, achenes ana pappi revealed that a number of more recent names given to this species from Egypt are in fact synonymous with P. asplenioides L. The type specimens of Crepis radicata Forsskil (Fl. Aegypt. 145. 1775, type: "circa pyramides" C!), Leontodon coronopifolium Desf. (Fl. Atl. 2: 229. 1800, type: "prope Cafsam" P! FI!) and Picris pilosa Delile (Descr. Egypte, Hist. Nat. 2: 260. 1813, type: "' Alexandrie" MPU!) have been studied and found to be identical with P. asplenioides L. Although the identity of some or all of the names listed above has been known to some students of this genus, e.g. to Cosson and Kralik (7), the name P. asplenioides L. has never been accepted for this plant and remained ambiguous to all authors. Furthermore, it seems that the type specimens of the three species listed above have never before been compared. For many years Crepis rhagadioloides L. (Mant. 108. 1767) was thought to belong to Picris; Persoon created the combination P. rhagadioloides (L.) Persoon (Syn. 2: 370. 1807), which is accepted by a number of students of this genus. Linnaeus, however, clearly described the pappus as "pilosus", thus this particular species cannot belong to Picris, but must be assigned to another genus of the Cichorieae. Unfortunately Linnaeus does not give a habitat and cites "H.U." as source. In LINN and the Stockholm collections (8), however, no specimen labeled "rhagadioloides" could be found under Crepis, nor in the 18th century collections of cultivated plants in BM. Babcock (9), who does not seem to have studied the Linnaean types, refers Crepis rhagadioloides L. to Picris. On looking through the material of Chondrilla L. in LINN a specimen (951.5!) was found bearing the label "Chondrilla simplex" in Linnaeus's handwriting and representing a poorly developed Picris altissima Delile (Descr. Egypte, Hist. Nat. 2: 260. 1813). The name Chondrilla simplex L. was, however, never published by Linnaeus, but listed many years later by Jackson (10) as a nomen nudum. There are two conflicting views on the type species of the genus Picris L.:

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Fig. 2. Label on type specimen of Picris asplenioides L.

FEBRUARY 1975 115

This content downloaded from 62.122.73.17 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 20:26:21 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Britton and Brown (11) proposed P. asplenioides L., a species which Linnaeus never saw and regarded as obscure and which consequently could not have provided the details given in his generic description (Gen. P1. 237 no. 612. 1737, ed. 5th 347 no. 812. 1754); Hitchcock and Green (12), on the other hand, proposed P. hieracioides L. as type species of the genus. Although Britton and Brown's typification has priority, the typification of Picris by P. hieracioides L., as proposed by Hitchcock and Green, has to be accepted.

Acknowledgements I thank H. Riedl, Wien and W. T. Stearn, London for help in solving some nomen- clatural questions and for carefully reading the manuscript;I am grateful to curators of C and P for sending me on loan valuable type specimens.

References

(I) LACK,H. W. 1973 - Die Gattung Picris L., sensu lato, im ostmediterran-westasiatischen Raum. Dissertation. UniversitditWien. (2) LACK,H. W. 1975 - Die Gattung Picris L. sensu lato. Eine Revision. In preparation. (3) HERMANN,P. 1698 - Paradisus Batavus, Lugduni Batavorum. (4) VAILLANT,L. 1723 - Suite de l'establissement de nouveaux caracteres de plantes a fleures composees. Hist. Acad. Roy. Sci. Paris, 1721: 174-224. BONNET,E. - Nouveaux documents relatifs a l'ambassade Lettres de (5) 1890 d'Ethiopie. Lenoir du Roule et d'Augustin Lippi, Bull. Geog. Hist. Descr., Paris 1890: 437-447- (6) BONNET,E. 1891 - Une mission frangaise en Afrique au debut du dix-huitieme siecle; Augustin Lippi, ses observationssur la flore d'Egypte et de Nubie, Mem. Soc. Nat. Science. Nat. Math. Cherbourg 27: 257-280. (7) COSSON,E. et KRALIK,L. 1857 - Notes sur quelques plantes rares ou nouvelles de la regence de Tunis, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 4: 360-370. (8) STEARN, W. T. - personal communication. (9) BABCOCK, E. B. 1947 - The Genus Crepis, Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot., 21-22. (10) JACKSON,B. D. 1912 - Index to Linnean Herbarium, London. (ii) BRITTON,N. L. and BROWN,A. 1913 - An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, 2nd ed., New York (n.v.). (12) HITCHCOCK,A. S. and GREEN, M. L. 1930 - Int. Bot. Congr. Cambridge, Nom. Prop., p. 111-199.

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