Veronica polifolia Benth.

Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis 10:473 (Bentham 1846).

TYPE CITATION. — “in Olympo Bithynico, monte Tauro et Armenia (Aucher! N. 1958, 1964, 2594), Mesopotamia (Kotschy! N. 290) in Syria (Labillardière!)”.

LECTOTYPE (designated here). — “In Mte Tauro Aucher-Éloy-Herbier d’Orient no. 1964 ”(likely collected 1834), G[G00768509*].

ISOLECTOTYPE (designated here). — K[K001070221*, K001070222*], P[P03529805*, P03529806*, P03529810*], FI(not seen) .

SYNTYPES. — “ 2594 in Armena M. Aucher-Éloy 1838” (likely collected 1835), G[G00674162*]; “No. 290 Pl. Mesopot., Kurdistan & Mossul Kotschy 1841” (likely collected 1835), K[K001070221*, K001070222*]; “ Syria Labill .”, G[G00674161*, G00768507*].

Nomenclatural note. Veronica polifolia in its current sense (Fischer 1978, 1980) is a caespitose, suffruticose plant distributed in the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains and north into Central Anatolia. Bentham (1846) named three collections of Aucher-Éloy, one of Kotschy, and one of Labillardière as syntypes of Veronica polifolia . Aucher-Éloy no. 1958 is from “Olympo Bithynico”, no. 1964 from “monte Tauro” and no. 2594 from “ Armenia ”. Kotschy no. 290 is from “ Mesopotamia ” and Labillardière from “ Syria ”. Bentham further stated that he saw specimens in “herb. Hook.” (K) and “DC.” (G). Specimens from all collections except Aucher-Éloy no. 2594 can be found in either herbarium or both. I assume that Aucher-Éloy no. 2594, which also cannot be found in Paris, is actually a different species and has been stored under a different name unnoticed. Also, Aucher-Éloy no. 1958 (K001070226) is not V. polifolia in the strict sense but according to M.A. Fischer (on the label) V. multifida and V. cinerea . Of the remaining three collections, only Aucher-Éloy no. 1964 are complete plants, showing fruits and flowers. Although the locality “mt.Tauro” is not precise, it is clear from his travel itinerary (Aucher-Éloy 1843) that he travelled extensively in the Eastern Taurus where V. polifolia is relatively common. Of the two specimens, the specimen in G is in better condition and alone on the sheet.