Piper neesii (Miq.) P.K. Mukh., 2017

Mukherjee, Prasanta Kumar, 2017, Nomenclatural notes on Piper Linn. (Piperaceae) from India, Phytotaxa 289 (2), pp. 188-192 : 190

4. Piper neesii (Miq.) P.K. Mukh. , comb.nov.

Basionym: Cubeba neesii Miq. Syst. Piperac. 1: 292. 1843.

Piper pedicellosum Wall. ex C. DC. (1869: 343) , nom. illeg.

Type (lectotype designated here):— SINGAPORE, Wallich 6646 A ( K K001124404 image; isolectotype CAL! Accn no. 378927). Distribution : INDIA: Andaman Islands ; MALAYSIA.

Note: The name Cubeba neesii Miq. (1843) was based on a specimen collected from Singapore, and listed as Wallich 6646 A, under the unpublished name Piper pedicellosum Wall. . Later, C. de Candolle (1869) transferred the species to Piper as Piper pedicellosum Wall. ex C. DC. by restoring Wallich’s unpublished name. This action created a superfluous name because it included the type of Cubeba neesii Miq. (Art.52). The species is considered here under Piper and a new combination, Piper neesii (Miq.) P.K. Mukh. is proposed here. The specimen Wallich 6646 A at K is designated here as the lectotype as it has a complete plant in contrast to the one at CAL, which is preserved in a disintegrated state.

Piper neesii will not be a later homonym of Piper neesianum C. DC. (1869: 256) , a species from Mexico /Central America. The two epithets are similar, but different: “ neesii ” is a noun genitive, whereas “ neesianum ” is a neuter adjective and they do not constitute homonyms (Art. 53.3 Ex. 12). Hooker (1886: 81) recorded Piper pedicellosum Wall. ex C. DC. from the Andaman Islands, India. C. de Candolle (1914: 322) proposed a new forma ‘B’, an invalid name, and cited “Andaman: Goplakanbang (?), King’s Collector s.n. ”.