Plantago weldenii Reichenbach (1831a: 396)

Lazzaro, Lorenzo, Mugnai, Michele, Ferretti, Giulio, Lazzeri, Valerio, Bräuchler, Christian & Foggi, Bruno, 2020, Lectotypification of the names Plantago weldenii and P. commutata (Plantaginaceae), Phytotaxa 429 (1), pp. 80-84 : 81-82

Plantago weldenii Reichenbach (1831a: 396)

Lectotype (designated here):— CROATIA. ( Plantago parvula mihi [;] an den Salinen von [;] Stagno [;] blt im April [flowers in April; all in Welden´s hand] [;] exs. a Welden [in Reichenbach´s hand]). [on additional label:] Plantago weldenii Rchb. [in Reichenbach´s hand]. (W-Rchb. 1889-0213839!; Fig. 1A ).

Remaining original material: “Ad Salinas prope Stagno ubi detexit F. Neumayer, et cl. Weldenio mihique communicavit” ( PAD barcode HDO2358!).

Notes: Reichenbach (1831a: 396) described P. weldenii based on specimens originally ascribed to Franz Ludwig von Welden (1782–1853), soldier in the Austrian Army and amateur botanist ( Stafleu & Cowan 1983), at “[...] Dalmatien, im Thale der Narenta an den Salinen von Stagno”. The name “ P. parvula mihi” informally used by von Welden was not available due to the existence of P. parvula Roemer & Schultes (1818: 125) . In consequence, Reichenbach (1831a) introduced the new name commemorating the assumed collector. In the same year Reichenbach (1831b) published his Iconographia Plantae Criticae (cent. 9, 2–3), where he reproduced the same description and a table (Tab. DCCCVI, 1088–1090, a,b,c,d) including illustrations of three individuals. These were also reproduced later by his son in Icones Florae Germanicae et Helveticae ( Reichenbach 1855). Although Reichenbach´s herbarium to a large part was destroyed in the Zwinger fire at Dresden on 06.05.1849 ( Stafleu & Cowan 1983), the part surviving was passed on to his son and now is at W. Included therein are many plants illustrated in the Icones ( Wallnöfer 2003). The corresponding specimen for P. weldenii was traced at W (W-1889-0213839). It has Welden´s label with his informal name and the type locality as well as another label by Reichenbach bearing the name “ Plantago Weldenii ”. It contains exactly the three individuals illustrated in Tab. DCCCVI.Although we searched all other herbaria housing von Welden´s collections (including REG, where his private herbarium is integrated) we were not able to trace any duplicates. Reichenbach (1831) only mentions von Welden´s name and this is the only name included on the lectotype designated here. In a later publication ( Reichenbach 1855) his son stated that the species has been detected by Neumayer and distributed to de Visiani and von Welden. The latter in turn communicated to Reichenbach the father without indicating the original collector.

De Visiani (1847) provided an expanded description of P. weldeni based on the duplicate received by him ( PAD barcode HDO2358!). Although not seen by Reichenbach (1831), that specimen forms part of the original material, since according to what was published and summed up above it stems from the same gathering as the specimen in Reichenbach´s herbarium at W. Although Reichenbach (1855) stated that Neumayer communicated the specimen to de Visiani directly, the label of the specimen at PAD indicates this as also sent by von Welden.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lectotypes designated: A) Plantago weldenii from Reichenbach’s collection in W; B) Plantago commutata from Gussone’s collection in NAP (photo by R. Vallariello).