Commidendrum robustum (Roxb.) DC., Prodr.

Turner, Ian M., 2022, FROM ACACIA TO ZIZIPHUS: PLANT NAMES COMMEMORATING THE BOTANIST WILLIAM ROXBURGH, Edinburgh Journal of Botany 79 (1911), pp. 1-102 : 37-38

Commidendrum robustum (Roxb.) DC., Prodr. 5: 344 (1836). – Conyza robusta Roxb. ,

Tracts St. Helena 304 (1816). – Aster roxburghii Hook.f. , Hooker’s Icon. Pl. 11: 45,

sub t. 1057 (1870). – Type: St Helena, Longwood, 15 ix 1815, Burchell s.n. (neotype K [ K000212758 ], designated by Cronk, Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus . Bot. 25: 96 [1995]; isoneotype G-DC [ G00457615 ]) .

Aster roxburghii Hook. f. represents a legitimate name for Conyza robusta Roxb. in the genus Aster . However, this placement is not generally accepted today.

Commiphora caudata (Wight & Arn.) Engl., Monogr. Phan. 4: 27 (1883). – Protium caudatum Wight & Arn., Prodr. Fl. Ind. Orient. 1: 176 (1834). – Type : India, Herb. Wight propr. n. 552 (lectotype E [ E00174884 ], designated here; isolectotype E [ E00174344 ]).

Amyris acuminata Roxb., Fl. Ind. 2: 246 (1832). – Protium roxburghianum Wight & Arn., Prodr. Fl. Ind. Orient. 1: 176 (1834), as ‘Roxburghiana’, nom. illegit., superfl. – Balsamodendrum roxburghianum Wall. ex Voigt, Hort. Suburb. Calcutt. 150 (1845), nom. illegit., superfl.

– Protium acuminatum (Roxb.) Wall., Numer. List n. 8495 [p. 287] (1847). – Protium caudatum var. roxburghianum A.W.Benn. in Hooker, Fl. Brit. Ind. 1(3): 530 (1875), as ‘roxburghiana’. – Commiphora caudata var. roxburghiana (A.W.Benn.) Engl., Monogr. Phan. 4: 28 (1883). – Type: [unpublished illustration] Icones Roxburghianae 1831 (lectotype K, designated here).

Amyris acuminata Roxb. is the oldest name for this species, but its transfer to Commiphora is blocked by C. acuminata Mattick.

Commiphora madagascariensis Jacq., Pl. Hort. Schoenbr. 2: 66, t. 249 (1797). – Amyris commiphora Roxb., Fl. Ind. 2: 244 (1832), nom. illegit., superfl. – Balsamodendrum roxburghii Arn., Ann. Nat. Hist. 3: 86 (1839), as ‘Balsamodendron’, nom. illegit., superfl. – Balsamea commiphora Engl., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 1: 42 (1880). – Type: [published illustration] Jacquin, Pl. Hort. Schoenbr. 2: t. 249 (1797) (lectotype designated by Wild, Bol. Soc. Brot. 33: 77 [1959]).

Roxburgh cited Commiphora madagascariensis Jacq. as a synonym of Amyris commiphora , thus making it superfluous. Walker-Arnott renamed Amyris commiphora Roxb. as Balsamodendrum roxburghii but did not exclude the Jacquin type, so it is also superfluous.

Commiphora wightii (Arn.) Bhandari, Bull. Bot. Surv. India 6: 327 (1965). – Balsamodendrum wightii Arn., Ann. Nat. Hist. 3(15): 86 (1839). – Type : India, Bellary, R. Wight s.n. [Herb. Wight propr. 2426] (lectotype E [ E00179453 ], designated by Abedin & Ali in Nasir & Ali, Fl. W. Pakistan 26: 4 [1972]).

Balsamodendrum agallocha Wight & Arn. ex Voigt, Hort. Suburb. Calcutt. 150 (1845). – Balsamodendrum roxburghii Stocks, J. Asiat. Soc. Bombay 2: 391 (1847), nom. illegit., superfl., non B. roxburghii Arn. (1839) . – Commiphora agallocha (Wight & Arn. ex Voigt) Engler, Monogr. Phan. 4: 11 (1883). – Commiphora roxburghii Engl., Nat. Pflanzenfam. 3(4): 253 (1896), nom. illegit., superfl. – Type: [unpublished illustration] Icones Roxburghianae 1053 (lectotype K, designated here).

Balsamodendrum mukul Hook. ex Stocks , Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 1: 259, t. VIII (1849). – Commiphora mukul (Hook. ex Stocks) Engl., Monogr. Phan. 4: 12 (1883). – Type : [ Pakistan], Scindh, J.E. Stocks 440 (lectotype K [ K000651690 ], designated here).

As noted above, Roxburgh’s Amyris commiphora was made superfluous by citation of Commiphora madagascariensis Jacq. in synonymy. Voigt was the first to exclude the Jacquin type and renamed the Roxburgh element Balsamodendrum agallocha . A Roxburgh drawing is here selected as lectotype for this name, as no Roxburgh specimens have been found. Stocks published Balsamodendrum roxburghii again and did exclude the Jacquin type, but of course it was an illegitimate later homonym. He also cited Balsamodendrum agallocha Wight & Arn. ex Voigt in synonymy, making his name superfluous also. Engler proposed Commiphora roxburghii as a new combination for Stocks’s Balsamodendrum roxburghii . However, as an illegitimate later homonym, it cannot act as a basionym, and Commiphora roxburghii is therefore a superfluous renaming of Balsamodendrum agallocha also. Hooker evidently corrected this problem by changing the epithet to ‘mukul’ in reprinting Stocks’s account but omitting Stocks’s synonyms. A Stocks specimen in K is here selected as lectotype for Balsamodendrum mukul Hook. ex Stocks.

The earliest legitimate name for the guggul tree is Balsamodendrum wightii Arn. , which provides the basionym for the accepted name Commiphora wightii (Arn.) Bhandari.