Sesleria argentea ( Savi 1800: 48 ) Savi (1808: 68)

Alonso, Alicia, Acedo, Carmen, Pietro, Romeo Di, Iamonico, Duilio & Llamas, Félix, 2016, Typification of some names in the genus Sesleria (Poaceae), Phytotaxa 253 (3), pp. 191-200 : 191-195

1. Sesleria argentea ( Savi 1800: 48) Savi (1808: 68)

Basionym: Festuca argentea Savi (1800: 48) .

Lectotype (designated here):―[Icon] Festuca argentea in Savi (1800: Tab. I, fig. I, image available at http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/ Libro.php?Libro=2081&Pagina=158).

Epitype (designated here):― ITALY. Tuscany, 1700‒1730, Micheli s.n. (PI!) ( Fig. 1 ).

= Cynosurus cylindricus Balbis (1801: 86) ≡ Sesleria cylindrica (Balb.) DC. in Lamarck & Candolle (1806: 134).

Lectotype (designated here):― ITALY. Pedimont, La Briga, 1800, Balbis s.n. (TO!) (Fig. 2).

= Sesleria argentea var. hispanica Sennen & Pau in Sennen (1908: 467) ≡ S. argentea subsp. hispanica (Sennen & Pau) V. & P. Allorge (1941: 232) ≡ Sesleria cylindrica subsp. hispanica (Sennen & Pau) M. Laínz (1976: 42) .

Lectotype (designated here):― SPAIN. Burgos : Pancorbo , Valverde, brousailles et rochers, 1906, Fres. Sennen et Elias (MA-9072!, image available at http://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.ma9072) . Isolectotype at WU-1907-00145151! (Image available at http://herbarium.univie.ac.at/database/detail.php?ID=256929).

Notes:—The name Festuca argentea was proposed by Savi (1800: 48) who provided a short diagnosis of this species (“ Festuca spicata , spiculis quadrifloris, valvis aristatis, scariosis, argenteis, foliis planis”), together with a detailed description including also the provenance (“in Alpibus Lucensibus” = SE slopes of the Apuan Alps), and an illustration (“Tab. I. fig. I”) which is part of the original material (image available at http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/Libro.php?Li bro=2081&Pagina=158). Poa nana Savi (1800: 49) , which was described in the same publication, is illustrated in the same Table I as fig. 2.

There is one sheet at PI that bears three plants and two labels. The first label (on bottom-left, “ Sesleria argentea β. elongata . … 19 Luglio … 1841”) is probably referred to the two plants pinned on the left, while the label on bottom-right is clearly associated to the plant of the right side of the sheet. The label on the bottom-right is original and it reports the following annotation by G. Savi: “ Sesleria argentea | Ex Herb. Micheliano | Festuca argentea . Savi. Ann. Ust.”. Although this label lacks the date of collection, the specimens to which it corresponds are certainly an ante-1800 addition to the Savi’s collection.

According to Amadei (1987: 125), the script “Ex Herb. Micheliano” reveals that the specimen belongs to Micheli’s collection (Pier Antonio Micheli, December 1679 ‒ January 1737). When Micheli died his collection was bought by his disciple Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti who conserved it up to 1845 when the family Targioni-Tozzetti sold it to the Museo Botanico Fiorentino in Florence. At the end of the eighteenth century, however, some specimens of the Micheli collection were donated by O. Targioni Tozzetti to G. Savi, who was using them to make comparisons, and these specimens are precisely those which are currently conserved in the PI herbarium. Amadei (1987) also indicated that all the Micheli’s specimens deposited in PI were all collected in the period 1700‒1730.

It is highly probable, therefore, that G. Savi had the possibility to observe the Sesleria specimen belonging to the Micheli’s collection before the description of his new Festuca argentea . However, the hand-written label that Savi himself associated to the Micheli’s specimen reports the name Sesleria argentea (first row) and the name Festuca argentea with the abbreviated reference of the original publication (third row). This would appear to suggest that Savi affixed this label to the specimen not only after he had already described Festuca argentea but also after he had replaced this name with Sesleria argentea . If things were really so, it is evident that the Micheli’s material cannot be considered original material for the name F. argentea . This specimen holds nonetheless a great importance, because being identified directly by Savi, it may be regarded as the closest thing we have available to what the author had in mind as regards his new species.

All things considered, we have here preferred to designate the icon of F. argentea ( Savi 1800: Tab I, Fig. I) as the lectotype for the name Festuca argentea and to designate the above mentioned specimen (ex Herbarium michelianum) deposited in PI as the epitype for this name, this latter serving as interpretative type of the lectotype (art. 9.8 of ICN) too. In fact, the specimen selected as epitype shows a good resemblance to the icon as regards the diagnostic macro-characters of the species (e.g. the length and the width of the spike). In addition, it is extremely adherent to the protologue as regards those diagnostic micro-characters (e.g the shape of the lemma and the palea or the awn length) that cannot be directly deduced from the icon itself.

Cynosurus cylindricus was described by Balbis (1801: 86) with a short diagnosis (“ C. [ Cynosurus ] bracteis integerrimis, corollis aristatis spica cylindrica unciali ”); with some localities listed as well (“ …montium Tendae, et Ormeae…locis montium maritimorum…in rupibus Villafranchae Nicaeensis… ”). In the Balbis’ collection, at TO, there are two specimens reporting the name C. cylindricus . The first specimen bears some plants collected in the Pesio valley, a locality that was not cited in the protologue. The date of collection was not reported. As a consequence, this specimen cannot be considered as part of the original material for this name. The second specimen was collected in “La Briga”, a locality of the Maritime Alps (Pedimont region) located near Tenda, and has the year of collection (“1800”). All the plants mounted in the latter sheet belong to the same gathering and exhibit morphological features matching the Balbis’ diagnosis. This specimen can be considered as original material and is here designated as the lectotype for the name C. cylindricus . Based on observations in the type material and other specimens, we assure that the names C. cylindricus and Festuca argentea can be considered heterotypic synonyms, the Savi’s name having nomenclatural priority on the Balbis’ one.

Sennen & Pau in Sennen (1908: 467) proposed the new var. hispanica to distinguish forms of Sesleria argentea characterized by wider leaves longer spikelets and glumes of different size. Two specimens of original material were found at MA (barcode 9072) and W (barcode 1907-0014515), both bearing plants collected in Pancorbo (Province of Burgos, Spain), which is a locality reported in the protologue. The specimen housed at W also bears a recent label by L. Pignotti (year 2011) who stated “ isotype ”. Since no publication was made (L. Pignotti pers. comm.), this label cannot be considered as an effective typification (art. 7.9 of ICN). Both sheets (MA, and W) are part of the original material, and can be considered syntypes (art. 9.5 of ICN). We here designated the specimen at MA as the lectotype of the name Sesleria argentea var. hispanica , while the specimen at W is an isolectotype. Although the Pancorbo populations are near the western limit of the whole S. argentea s.l. ranges, there were no significant morphological variations to recognize them as a different variety. As a consequence, on the basis of the current knowledge and our personal observations, both the lectotype and the isolectotype of S. argentea var. hispanica fall inside the variation range of S. argentea Savi and to this latter name are to be reported.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Epitype (specimen on the right marked with an arrow) designated for Festuca argentea Savi, the basionym of Sesleria argentea (Savi) Savi, conserved in the herbarium of the Università di Pisa PI (Herbarium Michelianum).