Plantago commutata Gussone (1832: 46)

Lazzaro, Lorenzo, Mugnai, Michele, Ferretti, Giulio, Lazzeri, Valerio, Bräuchler, Christian & Foggi, Bruno, 2020, Lectotypification of the names Plantago weldenii and P. commutata (Plantaginaceae), Phytotaxa 429 (1), pp. 80-84 : 82

Plantago commutata Gussone (1832: 46)

Lectotype (designated here):— ITALY. ( Plantago coronopus [strikethrough text] var: ? commutata [subsequently added] [;] scapis folia, et spicas subaequantibus [;] spicis compactis cylindricis; bracteis mem = [;] branaceis acutis, non aristatis, calyce dimi = [;] dio brevioribus [;] Mag. Capo passero [manu Gussone]). [on additional label:] Aprile [;] Alicata [in Gussone’s hand]. (NAP!, specimen to the upper right; Fig. 1B ).

Notes: Gussone (1832) described P. commutata in the Supplementum ad Florae Siculae Prodromus premising that he was correcting (“sic corrigantur”) what he had written in his own Prodromus ( Gussone 1827) . There he had reported the two taxa P. coronopus ( Gussone 1827: 190 sub n. 11) and P. neglecta “Nob. ” ( Gussone 1827: 191 sub n. 12). In the Supplementum he specified that his n. 11 should be referred to the name P. commutata , further mentioning that this taxon should be referred to the concept of Smith in Sibthorp & Smith (1806; “ Smith fl. gr. Pr. 1. p. 101. ex herb. Sibth. ”) and not to P. coronopus L. In turn, he assigned the name P. coronopus L. as originally defined to taxon n. 12. This correction possibly roots in his visit to the Linnean herbarium between 1829 and 1831 ( La Valva 1993) where he studied the original material for P. coronopus L. His new species P. commutata Gussone (1832) thus is validated by reference to the description of P. coronopus in his Prodromus .

According to La Valva (1993), Gussone collections at NAP used for preparing the Prodromus are marked by labels without a date (named “type a) labels”). Among the specimens of P. commutata at NAP we found several exsiccata of this type. Of those the only individual unambiguously having been in Gussone´s hand when preparing the validating description is the lectotype chosen above. The other individuals mounted on the same sheet at the bottom (probably coming from Alicata, as written on an additional label) may be part of the original material or not.

A further herbarium sheet at NAP bears a label with the very phrase used in the Supplementum in Gussone´s hand (“11. Plantago commutata Nob. Suppl. p. 46 [;] Pl. coronopus Prodr. Fl. Sic. non Linn [;] Aprili, Majo. ʘ !! [;] In arenosis et herbosis maritimis”). This label matches with “ type d)” of La Valva (1993) classification of Gussone- Sicily collection in NAP, corresponding to “representation” labels written at a later time than the one of the collection and including the references to the Flora Sicula . Since it does not include an indication of the localities cited in the Prodromus , this specimen is not considered part of the original material.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lectotypes designated: A) Plantago weldenii from Reichenbach’s collection in W; B) Plantago commutata from Gussone’s collection in NAP (photo by R. Vallariello).