Mimosa pigra L., 1755

Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part M), Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London: Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum, pp. 651-689 : 673

Mimosa asperata Linnaeus , Systema Naturae, ed. 10, 2: 1312. 1759.

["Habitat in Jamaica, Vera cruce."] Sp. Pl., ed. 2, 2: 1507 (1763). RCN: 7687.

Lectotype (Brenan in Hubbard & Milne-Redhead, Fl. Trop. E. Africa, Leguminosae 1: 43. 1959): Herb. Linn. No. 1228.32 ( LINN) .

Current name: Mimosa pigra L. ( Fabaceae : Mimosoideae ).

Note: Brenan treated 1228.32 (LINN) as the holotype, and was followed in this by authors such as Wijnands (Bot. Commelins: 151. 1983) and Howard (Fl. Lesser Antilles 4: 368. 1988). With this typification, Brenan treated M. asperata as a synonym of M. pigra L. (1755) . However, Barneby (in Tan, Davis & Hedge Festschr.: 140. 1989) rejected Brenan’s choice in favour of Miller’s t. 182, f. 3 (1760), wrongly believing the material to post-date the protologue. There appears to be no evidence for this. The Miller plate is identifiable as M. berlandieri A. Gray which, if accepted as the type, would result in M. asperata being the earliest name for this taxon, and it is in this sense that Barneby uses M. asperata , as does Bässler (in Feddes Repert. 96: 599. 1985). There appear to be no grounds for rejecting Brenan’s earlier choice of type. However, in a further complication, Barneby (in Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 65: 437. 1991) argues that Brenan’s type is identifiable as M. pellita Humb. & Bonpl. , rather than M. pigra sensu stricto. While it seems clear that the type of M. asperata must be 1228.32 (LINN), differences of opinion over its identity mean that M. asperata may be treated either as a synonym of M. pigra , or as the correct name for what has been known as M. pellita . This is particularly unfortunate because Barneby uses M. asperata in a different sense, that of M. berlandieri .