Primula davidii Franch.

Kovtonyuk, Nataliya & Durand-Andro, Véronique, 2019, Typification of Primula L. taxa names (Primulaceae), described by A. Franchet in 1886 from China and Eastern Tibet, Adansonia (3) 41 (9), pp. 75-89 : 76-78

Primula davidii Franch.

( Fig. 1 )

In Bulletin de la Société botanique de France 33: 66 (1886). — Franch., Nouvelles Archives du Muséum d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, sér. 2, X: 56, pl. 14, fig. A (1887). — Smith & Fletcher, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 61: 309 (1944). — Hu & Kelso, Flora of China 15: 142 (1996). — Richards, Primula : 162 (2003). — In protologue: [ China, West Sichuan] “Thibet oriental, Moupine, dans les parties fraîches des hautes montagnes, fin d’avril 1869 (Arm. David)”.

HOLOTYPUS. — China. West Sichuan, “Moupine, Thibet or., fin d’avril 1869. Primula , fl. violettes, haute forêt fraîche”, David s.n. (holo-, P[P00649650]!) .

REMARK We found three herbarium sheets of P. davidii in P Herbarium, only one of them with the handwritten label which has almost full equal to protologue and collected by Armand David in April 1869, according to ICN, art. 9.1, this herbarium sheet may be holotype.

COMMENTS

The herbarium sheet of P. davidii P00649651, marked as “ type ” in P Herbarium database, has not handwritten label and date “ avril 1869 ”, so it cannot be type specimen. The third herbarium sheet P04571715 without date and place is not type too. Herbarium specimen from the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew:“Herb.Mus. Paris, Chine (Tibet Oriental), Prov. de Moupin , Hautes prairies fraiches, mars 1869, M l’Abbé David”, K000750146! was collected in March 1869, so it cannot be type, as its photocopy in Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh E 00024321 !

W. W. Smith & H. R. Fletcher (1944: 309) wrote: “[…] the paucity of material of P. davidii in any herbarium is unfortunate […] Franchet has given two descriptions and a figure: it is founding in moist shady alpine woods; it is ‘planta speciosisima’, it is one of the most ornamental species in the genus by reason of its large violet-purple flowers; its leaves recall those of P. petiolaris and calyx that of P. obconica . The data in this review are based on the statements of Franchet and on the co-type in the Kew Herbarium (the term “cotype” is not being used in ICN now, it is the old name for paratype and syntype – comment authors), which is, however, somewhat meager when compared with the Franchetian figure. It may be noted here that specimens collected by Farges and referred at Paris to P. davidii will be found under P. fagosa […]”.

Figures

FIG. 1. — Holotype of Primula davidii Franch. (P00649650).