Thierry Lamant
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l1~ternational Oaks ' ' •• e Probl by Thierry Lamant Office National des Forets Conservatoire de Resources Genetiques Ardon, France and Guy Sternberg Starhill Forest Arboretum NAPPC Oak Reference Collectioit Petersburg, Illinois USA he nomenclature of the genus Quercus is a nightmare for non-taxonomists. It can be very difficult even for skilled scienti. ts to navigate the jungle of Latin names and conflicting authors and some may find their research results, botanical collections, herbaria, or nursery catalogs con1promised by confusion. Here is an overview of the situ ation, presented by non-taxonomists for the benefit of other non-taxonomists. One of the main difficulties encountered with oak name involves different authors applying the sa1ne name to differ ent species. An exan1ple can be found 1n the trees for1nerly known as Q. prinus L. in the United States. This old name covered at ]east two different species (Q.n1ontana Willd. in common usage, but perhaps more correctI y by priority of publication Q.michauxii Nuttall). It is not clear which speci- lnterncztional Oaks tnen Linna eus used for his type. In cur rent literature, the name Q. prinus is be ing discarded for thi s reason. These species have a close relative, the dwarf chestnut oak Q. prinoides L. Among other names, it has been cal1 ed Q. prinus var. pu1nila Michx. Q. prinus var. hun1ilis Marshall, and Q. prinus var. chincapin F.Michx. But since Q. prinus itself is a confu ·ed name where does Foliage of 1he Texas oak specie\· Quercus buckelyi Nixon and Dorr (fo rmerly known tf\· Quercus texana) this leave the dwarf chestnut oak? It at rhe New Mexico tv/ i /ita r.v lnstitut e in Roswell, seems closest to the yellow chestnut oak Ne\1' M e.ri('O. Q. 1nuh/enhergii Engehn. (some try to pell it Q. n1uehlenbergii, or even Q. n1iihlenhergii). This larger species once '"0 was thought to be a variety of the dwarf t.. 0 ~ t.. species. Luckily, the point is n1oot be ~ ~ :::J ,,; co cau e dwarf chestnut oak is now recog >-t.. t.. 0 nized as a distinct species. __.) >- .D 0 Another ca e involves the confused +- 0 _c narne Q. texana Buckley. The name, at u. one taxono1nic level or another, conl Fviit;ge r~{ Quercus nuttall i1 £ ../ . Palmer (renamed monly is applied to a small Shutnard-like Quercus texana Buckley due 10 nm}itsion over the type specimen) near Ta.vlm; Adansos. oak found in Texas(= Q. shunzardii var. or subsp. texana). The name also has extending west acros .. the Texas border. been used for Q. gravesii Sudworth, This obviously was not Buckley's intent, another Texas species. Either application and applying Q. texana to this species seetns logical to the casual observer serves only to increa ·e confusion. In since these both are predominantly such cases we son1etin1cs serve the rules, Texas trees. But, again, there was confu regardless of logic or consequences, sion regarding the type specimen . The rather than having the rules serve us. unfortunate result is that Q. texana (a Occasionally those n1les n1ay be inter attlibuted to Buckley) now has been 'cor preted in seen1ing defiance of their un rected" in a narrow-viewed interpreta derlying purpose, perhaps by an over tion of the rules of nomenclature to ap enthusiastic taxonon1i st seduced by the ply to Nuttall oak con1monly known in satisfaction of renan1ing a plant. More the literature as Q. nuttallii E.J.Palmer. likely, some taxonon1ists still re1nain in- A native of the Mi ssissippi River Valley, Nuttall oak is not a Texas tree, barely contd. on pg . 8 No.1 0 .1 Spring 2000 Page 7 International Oaks • • • contd. from pg. 7 tent upon following blindly the rule of plant taxonomists, vvhile such vvork priority of publication, regardles of the continues, to avoid displacing well-es re ultant displacement of established tablished names for purely noJnencla names. turcll reasons, whether by change in Recent recon11nendations (e.g. at the their application or by resurrection of Tokyo International Botanical Congress) long-forgotten ncunes... " fortunately discourage such a narrow Perhaps a more appropriate solution view. For example, one resolution of the in this particular example would have Tokyo Congress stated in part, 'Con been to conserve the established name sidering the great in~portan ce o.f a for Nuttall oak as No1n en Sp ec ~fi c unl stable systent o.f sc ient~fic na1nes of Conservandum. Hopefully, Q. nuttallii plants for use in the pure and applied will indeed be con erved during the next sciences and in many other do1nains o.f IBC, and poor old Q. texana will be re public life and econonty; noting with jected as a nonten COfl:fusum and laid to satisfaction recent important ilnprove rest. Many people will wonder what be Jnents in the International Code o.f Bo canle of Q. texana, whatever species that tanical Nomenclature and ongoing ef- name meant to them. But at least Q. forts to explore new avenues for in nuttallii and the new name for Texas creased stability and security in the Shumard oak (Q. buckleyi) are discrete application o.f plant names; the XV In and will not be used interchangeably for ternational Botanical Congress urges the sa1ne species. 0) 1... +- l\) c ..0c 0 1... E l\) 0 +- -l V) 1... 1... J: l\) +- ·- -o·- J: w f- >- ~ ..0 >- 0 :::::1 +- (!) 0 J: (g) 0... Quercus castanci folia C. A. !Vley. at the British Na Quercu. afares Pomel at the National Arboretun1 des tional Oak Reference Collection, Sir Harold Hillier 8 fu-res, France. Arboretum, Hampshire, EnM iand. International Oaks The name Q. serrata similarly has been applied by different authors to several species, including one, Castanopsis in O'l t.. ~ ..0 dica (Roxb. ex Lindl.) A.D.C., that is not s:: t.. ~ even an oak! The rules of priodty have + V) _c caused it to be assigned officially to the +- -o·- UJ Asian species most of us outside of J a a(:S > ::J pan know as Q. glandulifera Blume. This <...!) frequently cultivated oak now must be © Quercus hboensis Z. K. Zhou (::iyn. Cyclobalanopsis named Q. serrata Thunb., thus confus pseudoglauca Y. K. Li er X.M. Wang) at the National ing it with Q. acutissilna Carruth. and Q. Arboretum des Ban·es, France. variabilis Blume, two species which also ( = Q. aegilops Boiss. and Q. aeg ilops are found in Asia and have shared the var. vallonea A. Camus), Q. brantiiLindl., Q. serrata homony1n epithet. If sufficient Q. ithaburensis Decne. var. ithaburensis protest is raised, perhaps Q. serrata also ( = Q. look Kotschy ), Q. ithaburensis var. might be retired as nomen confusun~ and 1nacrolepis Boiss. (= Q. mac rolepis the familiar Q. glandulifera Blu1ne res Kotschy, Q. g raeca Kotschy, Q. UITected and conserved. But then again, aegilops Lam. and even Q. ithaburensis the Japanese, who have used the name subsp. macrolepis Hedge & Yaltirik). Q. serrata for years, might have cause This last usage was included in Flora of· to become upset and it is their tree, Turkey and Aegean Islands in 1981. In after all. this list also could be found Q. aegilops Asia also is home to the Scop. and Q. aegilops Griseb. Q. Cyclobalanopsis group (the ring aegilops Scop. is simply a synonym of cupped oaks). Discussions have per Q. cerris L. (One of its other synonyms sisted for decades regarding the status is Q. lanuginosa Lam., but be careful, of this group, previously considered by because Q. lanuginosa Thuill. is a syn some to be a separate genus, but now, onym of Q. pubescens Will d.!) Q. by most, to be a subgenus of Quercus. aegilops Griseb. is in reality Q. trojana So if we find a species listed in old litera Webb. (= Q. 1nacedonica DC. and Q. ture as Cyclobalanopsis pseudoglauca grisebachii Kotschy). Y.K.Li etX.M.Wang, how many readers Some taxa are so close} y related that will recognize it as Quercus liboensis their species status is in dispute. For ex Z.K.Zhou, corrected in 1998 by Dr. ample, Q. haas Kotschy (= Q. robur var. Zhekun Zhou in a paper published in haas DC.) is close to Q. robur L. (but International Oaks issue number 8? don't confuse it with Q. haas Wenzig). We might turn to Q. aegilops L. as a The subspecies Q. robur subsp. classic example of a nomen conj'usu1n. This name covered Q. vallonea Kotschy contd. on pg. 10 No.1 0 I Spring 2000 Page 9 International Oaks • • • contd . from pg. 9 pedunculiflora K.I<och (Menitsky) (= Q. North Ametican b1u ~j ack oak Q. incana peduncu/(flora K.Koch, and Q. rhodopea W.Bartram is a ho tnon ym ~ not closely Vel. ) also is very close to Q. 1vbur L. These connected either taxonoinjcally or geo taxa forn1 a geographic continuutn \Vith graphically with the Himalayan species Q. robur fro tn Southeaster11 Europe to the Q. incana Roxb. (con·ectly known as Q. Transcauca us. They are regarded by leucotrichophorn A . Cam u ~ ). Q. various autbo1ities as deserving vcui ous dalechan1pii Ten. ( = Q. aurea Wierzb.), degrees of taxonon1ic rank. In such cases, a species related to Q. petraea Liebl. (per local botanists often see1n to notice con haps closer to Q. puhescens Wi lld.), also sistent di ffcrences between such taxa. has a homonym: Q. da/echarnpii Wenz. Perhaps because they live among thetn This one is in reabty Q. virgi!iana Ten. throughout the season . and thus they another Mediten·anean oak. often consider thern as distinct species. Nearby, in North Africa, li ves the spe Distant botanists working only fron1 her cies known as Q.