Echites antidysentericus

Turner, Ian M., 2015, The botanical legacy of Thomas Hardwicke’s journey to Srinagar in 1796, European Journal of Taxonomy 108, pp. 1-25 : 7

Echites antidysentericus

Hardwicke’s entry for this species is as follows:

“ Echites Antidysentricum Rox. — A small tree in the forests about Hurdwar. Leaves opposite, half or subpetioled, ovate, oblong, pointed, entire, waved, smooth, shining, one nerved, with many pairs of lateral, parallel, ribs. The Linnean characters of the fructification, do not strictly agree with this plant. The nectary is here wanting. Anthers almost at the bottom of the tube, filaments, scarcely any. The follicles agree with those of Nerium Antidysentricum. The seeds are in great repute among the natives of Hindustan as a vermifuge.”

Hardwicke provided a reasonable description that clearly applies to the plant now known as Holarrhena pubescens Wall. ex G.Don. However , he also cited Nerium antidysentericum L. as a synonym. Linnaeus confounded two taxa in describing this species ( Panigrahi 1987) – the Sri Lankan endemic, now referred to as Wrightia antidysenterica (L.) R.Br., and Holarrhena pubescens , which is widespread across East Africa and Asia (De Kruif 1981). As Hardwicke did not explicitly exclude Linnaeus’s type or name from his Echites antidysentericus , it has to be considered a new combination based on Nerium antidysentericum . This represents an earlier publication of the combination than that by Fleming (1810).