Bocconea 27(2): 3-132 doi: 10.7320/Bocc27.2.003 Version of Record published online on 17 December 2015 P. Cuccuini, C. Nepi, M. N. Abuhadra, L. Cecchi, H. Freitag, E. Luccioli, M. Maier Stolte, R. Marcucci, L. Peruzzi, L. Pignotti, A. Stinca., B. Wallnöfer & J. Wood The Libyan Collections in FI (Herbarium Centrale Italicum and Webb Herbarium) and Studies on the Libyan Flora by R. Pampanini – Part 1 -Historical and Museological Notes -The original material of new taxa conserved in the herbarium -Proposals for typification and documentation of typifications already made (Filices and Phanerogams, families from A to M) Abstract Cuccuini, P., Nepi, C., Abuhadra, M. N., Cecchi, L., Freitag, H., Luccioli, E., Maier Stolte, M., Marcucci, R., Peruzzi, L. Pignotti, L., Stinca., A., Wallnöfer, B. & Wood J.: The Libyan Collections in FI (Herbarium Centrale Italicum and Webb Herbarium) and Studies on the Libyan Flora by R. Pampanini – Part 1. — Bocconea 27(2): 3-132. 2015. — ISSN: 1120-4052 printed, 2240-4538 online. Some exceptional collections of Libyan Flora are conserved in the Herbarium Centrale Italicum and Webb Herbarium, for the most part collected by Renato Pampanini and R.E.G. Pichi Sermolli in the 20th century, but also by other great botanists both Italian and of other nationalities. Their studies led to the descriptions of a remarkable number of new taxa, whose names only in small measure were subjected to typification and generally only spo- radically. In this contribution we have dealt with the museological aspect of the original collections, taking into account that most of them are actually unknown. Moreover we approached the question of typification when material for the new taxa was available and furnished bibliographical data for those already typified. This investigation concerned in particular the material held in the Florentine Herbaria (FI and FI-W) but in some cases also PAD, PORUN, K, G, P, MPU, ULT and B. The work proved to be extremely complex and so we decided to divide it into two parts. In this first part, which we now publish, typifi- cation concerns taxa belonging to families from the letter A to M inclusive, as well as the Filices. A total of 240 new taxa have been indexed and 194 typified; all the material in the original collections has also been listed under the relative ranks. We have proposed taxo- nomic updates for each taxon. Key words: Museology, nomenclature, taxonomy, typification, Flora of Libya, N. Africa. 4 Cuccuini & al.: The Libyan Collections in FI (Herbarium Centrale Italicum ... Introduction Some of the authors of this paper began to study the Libyan Herbarium several years ago, when it was a separate collection in the Herbarium Centrale Italicum (FI), today in the Botanical Section of the Museum of Natural History. This is a very large collection estab- lished by Renato Pampanini (1875-1949); this article will illustrate his specimens and studies on the Libyan Flora. Pampanini held many cultural interests and during his life truly devoted himself to many sci- entific problems, particularly those associated with the world of botany, to the extent that his greatest admirers criticized him, in our opinion wrongly so, for not dedicating himself exclu- sively to phyto-geography and ecology, the sciences in which he had proved to excel. Among other things, Pampanini was a great scholar of botanical collections that he himself had assembled and which today are held in the H.C.I. (Herbarium Centrale Italicum), but he studied also other collections, both in the H.C.I. and various public and private herbaria of the time. Among the former, those regarding the Libyan Flora definitely deserve mention. Pampanini went to Libya three times: in 1913 to Tripolitania, as botanist in the Franchetti Expedition, in 1933 to Cyrenaica on behalf of the Ministry of Colonies and Government of Cyrenaica for a “Mission on Agricultural Studies” and, in 1934 to Cyrenaica again for the same Ministry, accompanied by Rodolfo E. G. Pichi Sermolli (1912-2005). This treatise exclusively concerns various aspects of the phanerogams and ferns, although the cryptogams are sometimes mentioned for documentary purposes. Before speaking about this herbarium in particular, today no longer an autonomous enti- ty, and about the others in Florence, it should be remembered that before Pampanini assem- bled his own collection, many other Italians had already completed small collections them- selves, or offered description of the flora and/or vegetation from various parts of the coun- try. These include A. Cervelli (1811-12 in Cyrenaica), P. Della Cella (1817 in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica), M. Camperio (1881 in Cyrenaica), G. Haimann (1881 in Cyrenaica), P. Mamoli (1881-82 and 1887 in Cyrenaica), R. Spigai (1895 in Tripolitania), G. Laganà (1905 in Tripolitania), but none of them had followed a precise scientific project. When Italy occupied Libya (1911), until then an autonomous province (vilayet) of the Turkish Empire, the Italian scholars began their first serious scientific investigations into both the flora and vegetation, especially during the first years of occupation. The collections con- cerned both Tripolitania and part of the Cyrenaican coast. The better–known collections are those prepared by A. Andreucci (1913 in Tripolitania), A. Béguinot (1911 in Cyrenaica), A. Borzì (1912 in Cyrenaica). Many soldiers stationed in Libya also made their contributions following the war, as well as civil servants, expecially those linked to the Agricultural Offices in Cyrenaica, under the new administration. Among the soldiers there was A. Vaccari, who served along the entire Libyan coast (1911-14). A naval medical Major, he studied the Flora of the country with famous botanists such as Béguinot and A. Trotter (1912, 1913 together with F. Grande 1914 in Tripolitania and northern Fezzan), Antonetti (1913 in Tripolitania), Crocivera (1812-13 in Tripolitania), I. Abatino (1913 in Tripolitania and 1914 in Cyrenaica), R. Nannizzi (1913 ? in Tripolitania), R. De Vita (1914 in Cyrenaica) and finally E. D’Albertis, A. Franchini, M. Longa, C. Manetti, B. Minola, G. Ragazzi, A. Soati, G. Triulzi and T. Testi all in 1912 in Cyrenaica (with Testi also in 1913). Bocconea 27(2) — 2015 5 The Libyan Herbarium and studies on the Libyan Flora by R. Pampanini This herbarium, consisting exclusively of phanerogams and vascular cryptogams, was organized independently in the H.C.I., most probably under the wishes of Giovanni Negri (1877-1960), Director of the Botanical Institute, although no documents exist to authenti- cate this assumption. It was kept in two glass cabinets on the second floor of the ex-Botanical Museum together with the Xylological collection. In 1988/89 the herbarium became part of the H.C.I. although the specimens could be recognized by the special covers which were always placed at the end of any foreign material. Furthermore, each specimen was stamped with the words “Herb. Univ. Florentinae-Herb. Libycum ”. Today all the Libyan material is to be found in a cover called Africa-Libya (Afr.-Li) following the subdivision of foreign material in the H. C. I. But to understand even better the genesis of this collection we must refer back to the historical events of our country linked to the development of Italian colonialism in Africa and Libya in particular. Indeed, until then any Libyan collections in the Florentine Herbarium were few and far between. The work by Parlatore “Les Collections Botaniques” (Parlatore 1874), already testified the total lack (later proved to be false) of any collections originating from the country in the H.C.I. (or indeed in the Webb Herbarium). The first specimen we know coming from Libya arrived at the H.C.I. with the Groves Herbarium in about 1891. This was a phanerogam, “Medicago hispida Urban”, collected by a German Botanist, G. F. Ruhmer, in 1883 near Bengasi in Cyrenaica (Fig. 1). It was a duplicate from his collection which he had donated to Henry Groves (1835-1891). Other specimens of Ruhmer came to Florence through other accessions, for example the Levier Herbarium, but only in later years. Only much later, through the studies of Pampanini, further Libyan material was found to exist both in the Webb and H. C. I. (Pampanini 1914b, 1920, 1925a). This is worth remembering because the Webb Herbarium already held specimens collected by J. Dickson, Medical Officer in the Royal Navy, in the surrounds of Tripoli in 1827, and which Parlatore had overlooked (Fig. 2). Pampanini tells us that Webb received this material from R. Graham of the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens (Pampanini 1914b). It was Pampanini who, on checking the material in the Webb Herbarium, identified most of them, saying he had found 130 specimens belonging to 90 species, although he believed there should have been many more. The Pampanini Collections Renato Pampanini was by far the most remarkable of all the collectors and researchers. In 1913 he was appointed as a botanist in the Franchetti Scientific Expedition to Tripolitania.. It is through him, although not exclusively, that the Libyan collections took shape and provided the bases for the constitution of the “Libyan Herbarium”. These her- borisations continued from 14th February to 9th May of 1913 and their study led to the sig- nificant work “Plantae Tripolitanae” (Pampanini 1914e). Starting from the work by Durand and Barratte (1910), which summarised all the botanical knowledge of Libya 6 Cuccuini & al.: The Libyan Collections in FI (Herbarium Centrale Italicum ... Fig. 1. The first Libyan specimen to arrive in the FI Herbarium in 1881 (Medicago hispida Urban, Bengasi, 1883, leg. G. F. Ruhmer). Bocconea 27(2) — 2015 7 Fig. 2. One of the oldest Libyan specimens in the Florentine Herbaria (H-Webb: Ifloga spi- cata Sch. Bip., Tripoli, 1824, leg. J. Dickson). 8 Cuccuini & al.: The Libyan Collections in FI (Herbarium Centrale Italicum ..