Iris sibirica Linnaeus (1753: 39)

Altinordu, Fahim & Crespo, Manuel B., 2016, Nomenclatural type designation of four Linnaean names in Iris sensu lato (Iridaceae), Phytotaxa 268 (4), pp. 296-300 : 297

2. Iris sibirica Linnaeus (1753: 39) [≡ Limniris sibirica (L.) Fuss (1866: 637)].

Type (lectotype, designated here):—Herb. Linnaeus No. 61.20 ( LINN [photo!])

Linnaeus cited the diagnosis “ IRIS corollis imberbibus, germinibus trigonis, caule tereti, foliis linearibus” from his Hortus Cliffortianus ( Linnaeus 1738: 19), also cited via Linnaeus (1748: 17), van Royen (1740: 78), Haller (1742: 280) and Gmelin (1747: 28). Furthermore, he added the polynomial “ Iris pratensis angustifolia non foetida altior” from Bauhin (1623: 32, 1658: 597) as a synonym. Three herbarium sheets and one illustration were examined from the original material cited by Jarvis (2007).

There are two sheets at LINN (Nos. 61.19 and 61.20) that were mentioned as possible types by Mathew (1984: 388). On the one hand, the sheet No. 61.19 ( LINN; image available at http://linnean-online.org/817/) corresponds to num. 4 of Amman’s collection, marked “9 sibirica ” by Linnaeus, explicitly referring to the number of the species account in Linnaeus’s protologue, and it is therefore acceptable as original material. It bears a complete plant heavily damaged by insects, and shows an additional label with data perfectly matching the protologue. On the other hand, sheet no. 61.20 ( LINN; image available at http://linnean-online.org/818/) also includes material of this species with the annotations “ sibirica 9” and “ HU ” (Hortus Upsaliensis) by Linnaeus and is original material for the name. The fragments on the sheet are perfectly preserved and fit the protologue .

In the Clifford Herbarium at BM there is one sheet of original material (No. 19, Iris 8, barcode BM 000557647; image available at: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources/research-curation/projects/clifford-herbarium/lgimages/ BM 000557647.JPG) bearing two well-preserved flowering fragments, which fit the original description and the current concept of this species.

Bauhin (1658: 597) provided an illustration (available at http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/ing/Libro.php?Libro=3057&Pagina=31 1) cited in the Linnaean protologue, which matches Linnaeus’s diagnosis and is also useful for typification purposes.

Because the specimen LINN 61.20 bears better preserved and representative fragments of the species, this sheet is selected here as lectotype for Iris sibirica .