Pentaphyllum Hill 1756

Eriksson, Torsten, Persson, Nannie L. & Smedmark, Jenny E. E., 2022, What is Potentilla? A phylogeny-based taxonomy for Potentillinae (Rosaceae), TAXON 71 (3), pp. 493-505 : 497

Pentaphyllum Hill 1756 , nom. illeg.

Eight species were listed in this pre-Linnaean genus when redescribed by Hill (1756). It is relevant to examine the species Hill assigned to genera, even though the species names (as mentioned above) in themselves are considered not validly published. It is clear that Hill preferred to use the name Pentaphyllum instead of Potentilla for the genus, and it is therefore a superfluous and illegitimate name, in which we agree with the interpretation of Dandy (1967). The type of Potentilla ( P. reptans ) is the first species listed under Pentaphyllum by Hill (as “ Pentaphyllum vulgare ”), and he wrote under the genus heading: “Linnaeus places this among his icosandria polyginia.” Rydberg (1910) argues that its type should have been Potentilla reptans because illustrations cited by pre-Linnaean authors of Pentaphyllum depict that species. Nieuwland (1915) and Lunell (1916) combined a number of existing species into the illegitimate Pentaphyllum .