Biscutella mauritanica

Vicente, Alicia, Alonso, Ángeles, Thiébaut, Mélanie & Crespo, Manuel B., 2015, Lectotype designation for three North African names of Biscutella (Brassicaceae) published by Claude Thomas Alexis Jordan, Phytotaxa 212 (3), pp. 236-242 : 239

Biscutella mauritanica Jordan (1864: 325)

Lectotype (designated here):— ALGERIA. Moissons à Batna, M. Joinnon 1858 (LY-0003909! the plant on the right side of the sheet, excluding the one on the left). Fig. 2 .

In the protologue of B. mauritanica , no specific material was mentioned by Jordan (1864). However, it was said to grow “in arvis regionis mauritanicae; Batna; etc.”, this latter being the only precise locality he cited. No other collection data were mentioned. He also included “ B. auriculata DESF. Flor. atl. 2, p. 73” in synonymy, but no concrete sites neither herbarium material were mentioned in the description of Desfontaines (1798: 73).

No vouchers of B. auriculata Linneaus (1753: 652) appear to exist at P-Desf (“ Flora Atlantica herbarium”) (S. Gerbault pers. comm.). However, contrarily to Raffaelli (1992), a sheet ( Fig. 2 ) has been found in Jordan’s herbarium at LY, which includes two plants corresponding to two different gatherings, both labelled B. mauritanica in Jordan’s handwriting. They were collected prior to publication of the species name and their morphological characters match the protologue. The specimen on the left side of the sheet LY-0003909! was collected in Oran ( Algeria) in 1852, whereas the one on the right was collected in Batna ( Algeria) in 1858.

According to Art. 40 Note 2 of the ICN, “mere citation of a locality does not constitute mention of a single specimen or gathering. Concrete reference to some detail relating to the actual type, such as the collector’s name or collecting number or date, is required.” Therefore, both cited specimens cannot be considered syntypes but original material, and the one from Batna is selected here as lectotype of B. mauritanica .

Although B. mauritanica is accepted at the species rank by some authors ( Raffaelli 1992), it is mostly regarded as synonym of B. auriculata ( Grau 2002, Greuter et al. 1986, Le Floc’h et al. 2010, Marhold 2011, The Plant List 2013), or is included as merely a variety ( Battandier & Trabut 1888, Jahandiez & Maire 1932, Maire 1967, Pottier-Alapetite 1979) of the latter species.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Lectotype of Biscutella mauritanica Jordan (LY-0003909): the plant on the right side. Reproduced with permission.