Iris lactea Pallas (1776: 713) f. lactea

Boltenkov, Eugeny V., 2018, Taxonomic notes on Iris ser. Lacteae (Iridaceae) with typifications of fifteen names and one new combination, Phytotaxa 383 (3), pp. 283-292 : 284

1. Iris lactea Pallas (1776: 713) f. lactea

≡ Eremiris lactea (Pall.) Rodionenko (2006: 1708) ≡ Limniris lactea (Pall.) Peruzzi et al. (2014: 276)

Protologue citation:—“Observaui in desertis aridis circa lacum Tarei Davuriae”. Type (neotype, designated by Boltenkov in Boltenkov et al. 2018: 235):— RUSSIAN FEDERATION. [Zabaykalsky Krai], ad Tarei Nor, [fl.], [May 1772], [Pallas] s.n. (BM000958418!, right-hand side specimen).

– Iris lactea f. typica Kitagawa (1940: 114) , nom. inval.

– I. ensata auct., non Thunberg (1794: 328).

Notes:— Iris lactea was described by Pallas (1776) based on plants that he observed in the vicinity of Torei lakes (Barun-Torei and Zun-Torei lakes) in Zabaykalsky Krai, Russian Federation. According to Sytin (2014), Pallas was in this region in late May 1772. Grubov (1970) noted that the type material for this taxon either was not preserved or was deposited at BM. At this herbarium, as well as at LE, LECB, LINN, and MW, the author of the present study could not find any Pallas specimens identified by him as I. lactea . The specimen BM000958418 was collected by Pallas in the I. lactea type locality and appears to belong to the typical form; therefore, it was designated as the neotype of this name ( Boltenkov et al. 2018). The characteristic feature of I. lactea f. lactea is the milky white flower colour. This form is sometimes present in mixed populations along with the predominant form having light-blue or pale-purple flowers, which was noted by Pallas (1776). He provisionally attributed the predominant form to “ Iris an spuria L.?” and noted that I. lactea is very similar to the latter. In addition, our data ( Boltenkov et al. 2016, 2018) have confirmed the belonging of these forms to the same species, I. lactea .