Veronica villosula Nakai

Botanical Magazine (Tokyo) 29: 4 (Nakai 1915). — V. longifolia var. sessilifolia Bonati, nom. inval. (Art. 30.1; herbarium name).

TYPE CITATION. — South Korea, Jejudo: “Hab. In Quelpaert: in herbidis (Faurie n. 928, T. Mori n. 123) in monte Hallaisan 1500 m. 14.VIII.1912 (T. Ishidoya n. 36)”.

LECTOTYPE. — Designated by Nakai (1943: 162): TI (not seen).

DUBIOUS ISOLECTOTYPE. — “Habitat in herbidis Quelpaert. 928 Oct. 1906 Leg. U. Faurie ”, P[P03555962*; Fig. 3].

Nomenclatural note. Whereas V. ovata and V. rotunda are currently accepted species (Iwatsuki et al. 1993), V. villosula was usually considered a synonym of V. linariifolia (e.g., https://powo.science.kew.org), which is in line with the description with velutionous indumentum and small oblanceolate leaves. However, based on the specimen in Paris having broad leaves, synonymization with V. linariifolia is dubious. Both, no. 786 and no. 928, have sessile, large leaves and long inflorescences (Table 1) and have been labelled in Paris by Bonati as V. longifolia var. sessilifolia . The syntypes of V. villosula, collected by T. Mori and T. Ishidoya, are filed under V. kiusiana in TI, considered a subspecies of V. ovata by Govaerts et al. (2021). It appears that the specimen Faurie no. 928 in TI used by Nakai (1915) belongs to a different species than the specimen Faurie no. 928 in P. Also, the variation in V. ovata / V. kiusiana definitely deserves further study.