Lycopodium gnidioides L. f.

Callmander, Martin W., Mazumdar, Jaideep & Jarvis, Charles E., 2019, Typification and nomenclature of the western Indian Ocean islands ferns and lycophytes described in Linnaeus filius’s Supplementum plantarum, Candollea 74 (2), pp. 223-234 : 232

Lycopodium gnidioides L. f. , Suppl. Pl.: 448. 1782.

≡ Phlegmariurus gnidioides (L. f.) A.R. Field & Bostock in PhytoKeys 20: 40. 2013. ( Lycopodiaceae )

Lectotypus (designated here): MAURITIUS: “nº 13. Lycopodium de l’Isle de France ”, s.d., Commerson s.n. ( LINN-HS nº 1649.38 image seen ; possible isolecto-: MPU [ MPU1066139 , MPU1066140 ]!) .

Notes. – A single specimen of original material seen by Linnaeus f. is preserved in LINN-HS. Thouin’s handwritten label with the number “13” is complemented by Linnaeus f.’s annotation “gnidioides”. This collection is here designated as lectotype and its identity corresponds with the current usage of the name.

Two collections originating from Thouin’s herbarium and collected by Commerson in Mauritius are extant in MPU [MPU1066139, MPU1066140]. None bears Thouin’s numbering but “ Isle de France Con” is present in Thouin’s hand. Both are very likely duplicates of original material and considered here as possible isolectotypes.

ROUX (2009) mentioned a specimen collected by Commerson from Mauritius at P [P00677322] as a possible isotype (“?iso.”) which is not considered as original material here (see above).

Lycopodium gnidioides has been classically accepted in the genus Huperzia Bernh. ( BARDÉ, 2002b; ROUX, 2009; RAKOTONDRAINIBE, 2015). A recent molecular phylogeny focusing on Madagascar showed that Malagasy Huperzia species should now be accepted in the Southern Hemisphere genus Phlegmariurus (Herter) Holub. ( BAURET et al., 2018).

Phlegmariurus gnidioides is known in continental Africa from South Africa to Malawi, São Tomé and Príncipe, the Comoro islands, Réunion, Mauritius and Madagascar ( BADRÉ, 2002b).