Plantago holosteum Scopoli (1772: 108)

Iamonico, Duilio, Hassemer, Gustavo, Rønsted, Nina & Pietro, Romeo Di, 2017, The intricate nomenclatural questions around Plantago holosteum (Plantaginaceae), Phytotaxa 306 (1), pp. 75-84 : 76-77

Plantago holosteum Scopoli (1772: 108)

Scopoli (1772: 108) described Plantago holosteum through a short diagnosis, and for this name he cited three synonyms; two of these were taken from Bauhin & Cherler (1651: 511, ”CORONOPVS MARITIMVS”, and ”CORONOPVS SERPENTARIA” omnium minima”) and the third from Bauhin (1623: 190, ”Holosteum [as ” HOLOSTEA ” by Scopoli (1772)] strictissimo folio”). Bauhin & Cherler (1651) provided images (both available at http://bibdigital.rjb.csic. es/ing/Libro.php?Libro=4182& Pagina =723) which are therefore to be considered part of the original material for the name Plantago holosteum.

According to Stafleu & Cowan (1985: 453), the Scopoli’s collection is deposited in the Herbaria LINN (set of plants received by Linnaeus), C (through M. Vahl), UPS, B (mainly destroyed), MPU (through Lapeyrouse), PAV, and possibly P. Unfortunately no specimens of P. holosteum that could be considered original material for this name were traced within these herbaria, so that the only original material available and usable for lectotypification purposes are the two illustrations provided by Bauhin and Cherler and cited by Scopoli (1772) in the protologue of the species. On the basis of the current knowledge on the morphological features of P. holosteum , just one (“CORONOPVS SERPENTARIA omnium minima”) out of the two available images could be identified as P. holosteum , whereas the

1 Moench (1794: 460) proposed his Plantago carinata as a new name for P. loeflingii Linnaeus (1753: 115) which was cited as synonym. Consequently, Moench’s name is superfluous and illegitimate (Art. 53.1).

2 Pourret (1788: 324) proposed Plantago gerardii for Gerard’s species n. 4 in Flora Gallo-Provincialis ( Gerard 1761: 333, “ Plantago foliis lineari-lanceolatis, pubescentibus, spica subrotunda, nuda, scapo sub angulato, foliis longiore”). The same Gerard’s polynomial was the basis for Chaix (1785: 72) to propose his P. argentea .

other (”CORONOPVS MARITIMVS”) in Bauhin & Cherler (1651: 511) is more properly referable to P. subulata . As a consequence, the “CORONOPVS SERPENTARIA omnium minima” illustration is here designated as lectotype of the name Plantago holosteum. According to the Art. 9.8 an epitype serving as an interpretative type, is here designated from a specimen deposited at HFLA (isoepitype: LJS 00899). The sheet bears four plants which belong to the same gathering. In Flora Carniolica no information is available about the possible sites of collection of P. holosteum . We have here designated the epitype using a specimen collected in the Planinsko polje/Planina, which is a locality included into the borders of the former Duchy of Carniola in the period when Scopoli was working for the second edition of Flora carniolica. The Planinsko polje is located close to the Carniolian city of Idria (Idrija in the current Slovenia), which is known to have been visited by Scopoli, as he himself reported in the Introduction of that Flora (“ Peregravi itaque ...Anno 1755 Montes et Sylvas Districtus Idriensis ”).