Myriophyllum spicatum L., 1753

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 : 687

Myriophyllum spicatum Linnaeus , Species Plantarum 2: 992. 1753.

"Habitat in Europae aquis quietis." RCN: 7198.

Lectotype (Ghazanfar in Nasir & Ali, Fl. W Pakistan 113: 4. 1977): Herb. Linn. No. 1123.1 ( LINN) .

Generitype of Myriophyllum Linnaeus (vide Green, Prop. Brit. Bot.: 188. 1929).

Current name: Myriophyllum spicatum L. ( Haloragaceae ).

Note: Aiken & McNeill (in Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 80: 216-218. 1980) provided a very thorough investigation of the original materials for this name, illustrating most of them, and concluded by designating Herb. Burser VII (1): 79 ( UPS) as lectotype. However, they were evidently unaware of Ghazanfar’s earlier choice of material in LINN as type. Aiken & McNeill identified the material on Ghazanfar’s type sheet as mixed, the two specimens to the left being M. exalbescens Fernald , and only the right specimen being M. spicatum . Restriction of the type to the latter specimen appears to be highly desirable.