Bistorta pergracilis (Hemsl.) Gross (1913: 16)

Jin, Jingwan, Li, Derong, Chen, Shaofeng & Li, Bo, 2018, A common Bistorta was misidentified as a novel species in Fagopyrum (Polygonaceae): the confirmation of the taxonomic identify of F. hailuogouense by morphological and molecular evidences, Phytotaxa 348 (3), pp. 221-228 : 225

Bistorta pergracilis (Hemsl.) Gross (1913: 16) ( Figs. 1 & 2 ) ≡ Polygonum pergracile Hemsl. in Forbes & Hemsley

(1891: 344)

Type (lectotype, here designated):— CHINA. Sichuan: Mount Omei, December 1887, E.Faber 839 ( K 000830498! [image available at http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/ K 000830498], isolectotype NY 00323895!).

= Fagopyrum hailuogouense J.R.Shao, M.L.Zhou & Qian Zhang in Zhou et al. (2015: 222), syn. nov.

Type:— CHINA. Sichuan: Moxi Ancient Town, Luding County, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze, in thick growth of weeds & maize fields on slopes, 3100–3300 m, 24 August 2011, Shao, Zhou & Zhang 4325 (holotype SAU!, isotype SAU!).

Typification of Polygonum pergracilis : —Hemsley in Forbes & Hemsley (1891: 344) reported, after the diagnosis of P. pergracile , “Szechuen: summit of mount Omei (Faber!). Herb. Kew.” as the type in the protologue. According to International Code of Nomenclature ( McNeill et al. 2012) and the considerations by McNeill (2014), despite we found only one specimen (at K) collected by Faber (barcode no. K 000830498), we cannot be sure that it is that used by Forbes & Hemsley (l.c.) to describe the species and it is not considered here as the holotype of P. pergracile since Hemsley had not designated it as the holotype. Thus we here designate the Kew specimen as the lectotype of P. pergracile in accordance with Art. 9.2 of ICN. We also traced a duplicat of the lectotype at NY (isolectotype).

Note: — Bistorta pergracilis is an easily distinguishable species that frequently occurs in mountain regions of E-Asia from 1,200 m to 4,000 m a.s.l., and grows always on grassy slopes, near wet valleys, and under subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests. Fagopyrum hailuogouense represents merely an ordinary population of B. pergracilis in Sichaun Province, but it was not only misidentified as a Fagopyrum , but also successfully published as a “new species”. Such a mistake should have been avoided since Zheng (2012) and Zhang (2013) have obtained sequences from the sample. It is an easy and convenient method to roughly identify the unknown taxa by running the nucleotide blast program in the National Center for Biotechnology Information. However, based on such a fake new species, two master’s theses and a peer-reviewed publication have been produced.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Morphology of Fagopyrum hailuogouense. A. line-drawing illustration (from Zhang 2013); B. leaves and inflorescences (from Zheng 2012).

FIGURE 2. Morphology of Bistorta pergracilis. A. habit; B. rhizome; C. sessile and clasping cauline leaves, and terminal and axillary spicate inflorescences; D. axillary infructescence with achenes exceeding from persistent perianth. A, D photographed by Bo Li, and B, C provided by Xing-xing Zhu.