Gladiolus cunonia (L.) Gaertn.

Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part A), Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London: Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum, pp. 252-342 : 301

Antholyza cunonia Linnaeus , Species Plantarum 1: 37. 1753 .

"Habitat ad Cap. b. spei." RCN: 311.

Lectotype (Goldblatt in Jarvis & al., Regnum Veg. 127: 19. 1993): [icon] " Cunonia floribus sessilibus spathis maximis " in Büttner, Enum. Meth.: 211, t. 1. 1750 (see p. 113).

Generitype of Antholyza Linnaeus (vide Hitchcock in Amer. J. Bot. 10: 514. 1923).

Current name: Gladiolus cunonia (L.) Gaertn. ( Iridaceae ).

Note: There has been considerable confusion over the type choice for Antholyza . The earlier choice (Hitchcock in Amer. J. Bot. 10: 514. 1923; Prop. Brit. Bot.: 118. 1929) is of Anth. cunonia (now recognised as a species of Gladiolus ) into which Antholyza falls as a synonym. However, if Anth. cunonia is treated as the generitype, but as Anomalesia cunonia (L.) R. Br. , the latter genus would be displaced by Antholyza . A later choice is Anth. ringens (by Brown in Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Africa 20: 266. 1932), sometimes accepted in this genus but more recently (Goldblatt in S. African J. Bot. 56: 580. 1990) transferred to Babiana Ker Gawl. Goldblatt does not accept Anth. ringens as the generitype of Antholyza so there is no disruption. However, Index Nominum Genericorum (ING), noting Linnaeus’ comments in 1753 that Anth. cunonia probably belongs to a genus distinct from Antholyza , argues that it conflicts with the generic protologue, and accepts Anth. ringens as generitype. If this is accepted, and Anth. ringens is treated as a species of Babiana , Antholyza becomes the correct name for Babiana (as the latter is conserved only against Beverna Adans. 1763 ).