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Lectotypification of the Enigmatic Sagina fontinalis (Caryophyllaceae) Richard K. Rabeler* and Anton A. Reznicek University of Michigan Herbarium–EEB, 3600 Varsity Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108-2228
ABSTRACT Examination of the protologue of Sagina fontinalis (Caryophyllaceae) revealed that at least two gatherings were mentioned, making it necessary to select a lectotype. Key words: Caryophyllaceae, lectotype, nomenclature, Robert Peter, Sagina.
INTRODUCTION Charles W. Short and Robert Peter published A Supplementary Catalogue of the Plants of Kentucky (Short and Peter 1836) in which they included a description of Sagina fontinalis Short & R. Peter. During an examination of Peter collections from the US National Arboretum (NA) that had been borrowed for a study of herbarium materials of Zina Pitcher, author Reznicek noted pronounced differences between the Peter collection of S. fontinalis housed at NA and the one included in the type collection at MICH. A consultation of the protologue revealed that two localities were noted, and a type was not specified. Most of the attention given to this plant has been directed to either protecting it, locating additional populations, or trying to determine into which genus it should be placed. The plant is known only from limited wet areas of the Interior Low Plateau in Kentucky and Tennessee (Kral 1983). Morton (2005) summarized the situation succinctly when he wrote ‘‘Stellaria fontinalis [Short & R. Peter (B.L. Rob)] is a very rare and poorly known species of uncertain affinity’’ (p. 105). Although described as a species of Sagina L., combinations exist in five other genera. Dietrich (1840) included it in his broad concept of Spergula L. (Spergula þ Spergularia (Pers.) J. & C. Presl þ Sagina). Robinson (1894) transferred it to Stellaria L., noting it was distinct from Stellaria crassifolia Ehrh., the other name that appears on some of the Short collections. Later in the same year, Britton (in Britton et al. 1894) published a *email address:
[email protected] Received February 11, 2016; Accepted May 5, 2016. DOI: 10.2179/16-088
combination in Alsine L. to include the species in a checklist where Alsine was used incorrectly to refer to what Robinson (and most current authors) treat as Stellaria. Shinners (1962) made a combination in Arenaria L. and it was included by Wofford (1981) in a study of seed morphology of Arenaria species in the southeastern United States. While Crow (1978) did not include it in his monograph of Sagina in North America, McNeill (1980) did not consider it to be a species of Arenaria; S. fontinalis is not among the Arenaria species native to the southeast that he transferred to the genus Minuartia L. Recently, Dillenberger and Kadereit (2014), in a broad study of the genus Minuartia, found S. fontinalis to be included in the genus Sabulina Rchb., clustering apart from most of the native Minuartia species, which now are better placed in the genus Mononeuria Rchb. In spite of this nomenclatural attention, typification remains incomplete. Short and Peter’s protologue (1836) noted the plant ‘‘On the cliffs of the Kentucky River and Elkhorn creek. . . Flowers in April and May’’ (p. 600). MacFarlane (2001), in her detailed study of Robert Peter manuscripts and collections, cited the text for Sagina fontinalis from Peter’s handwritten Catalogue of Plants of Kentucky, ‘‘725[a] Sagina fontinalis. ‘‘Wet, on cliffs in places where springs flow over the rocks, near Rogers.’’ Ap[ri]l, 1834. May 3, found it on Elkhorn in spring on cliffs’’ (p. 288). The two localities are those noted in the protologue and by Robinson (1894). However, the five specimens included in JSTOR Plant Biology (http://plants.jstor.org) that are labeled as type specimens are each annotated as ‘‘isotypes.’’ As we will show, we believe
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these five specimens are part of three different gatherings. Dillenberger and Kadereit (2014) may have noted this discrepancy since they list these five specimens, in our opinion more correctly, as ‘‘syntypes’’ in the publication of the combination in Sabulina. However, the name Sagina fontinalis has not been lectotypified. We assembled what we believe to be a comprehensive representation of extant Short and Peter collections of Sagina fontinalis via the specimen loan from NA, the specimen at MICH, and 13 other specimens available as images via JSTOR Plant Biology (https://plants. jstor.org/). Peter’s herbarium was given to the University of Kentucky but was destroyed by fire in 1948 (MacFarlane 2001). MacFarlane determined that the set of approximately 300 duplicates that Peter had sent to Douglass Houghton and was given to MICH as part of his herbarium is the most complete extant set. She also checked with curators at all institutions that had included a listing for Robert Peter collections in Vegter (1983); her listing of S. fontinalis collections matches what was available to us.
TYPIFICATION As they were co-authors, and often collected together, either Peter or Short collections would seem to be eligible for selection as lectotype. However, of the six sheets examined that were apparently collected by Short, none were dated, and it is therefore not certain that they played a role in creating the original description. These sheets are (herbarium abbreviations follow Thiers 2016): C.W. Short, Kentucky, no location, no date (GH00037834 [photo! – left plant], NY00342597 [photo!], NY00546752 [photo!], PH00022247 [photo!], PH00022249 [photo!], PH00022250 [photo!]). The two NY sheets had been annotated as isotypes by Ronald L. Stuckey (NY00342597) and John K. Morton (NY00546752), respectively. An additional sheet, ex Herb Short (PH00022248 [photo!]), but also undated and with no attribution, consists of a single plant, with a manuscript name (‘‘Sagina maritima?’’), some morphological notes, and notes about both the Elkhorn Creek location and a location not cited in the protologue (wet cliffs of the Kentucky River at Boon’s Creek). Although these could be syntypes, we are reluctant to choose any of these sheets as lectotype since all lack a date, and may well represent more than one gathering. Among Peter’s collections, one set has the complete data: ‘‘Sagina fontinalis n.s., Wet
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places on the cliffs of Kentucky River, ‘‘Apl.’’ [April] 1834, Robert Peter’’ (K000723569 [photo!], K000723571 [photo!], MICH1259008!, NY00342598 [photo!]); two of these collections had been annotated as isotypes by Raymond Cranfill (MICH1259008) and Ronald L. Stuckey (NY00342598), respectively. A specimen at PH (PH00022251 [photo!, lower left plant]) is not dated and lacks an original label, but may be from the same gathering. MacFarlane (2001) expanded on these data, based on notes in Peter’s unpublished Catalogue: ‘‘Where springs flow over rocks near Rogers’ at the Richmond Road. Ap[ri]l [5] 1834’’ (p. 311). Another gathering, in fruit and clearly made later in the season, is represented by two collections attributed to Peter, but with no data except ‘‘Kentucky’’ (GH00037834 [photo! - right plant], NA0081216!). These are both ex Herb. Zina Pitcher (see Meyer and Elsasser 1973), and presumably represent Peter’s gathering made on May 3 [1834] – ‘‘Elkhorn [Creek] in springs on cliffs’’, as noted in Peter’s Catalogue of Plants of Kentucky (see note on MICH sheet cited above). Three additional collections, with no data or attribution to collector appear to represent the same gathering: a sheet originally from the Torrey Herbarium (NY00546753 [photo!]), a specimen at Kew (K000723570 [photo!]), mounted on the same sheet as one of the Peter April collections, and one at PH (PH00022251 [photo – right plant!]), also mounted together with a probable Peter April collection. One of these specimens, NY00546753, was annotated as an isotype by John Morton. The two Peter gatherings are more clearly syntypes. Of all of these collections, only the April 5 gathering has a label in Peter’s own hand, with a date, and a locality (‘‘Cliffs of the Kentucky River’’) cited in the protologue. We choose the MICH collection of this locality as lectotype, based on the fact that the MICH set was sent to Douglass Houghton by Peter in the fall of 1834 (MacFarlane 2001) and is the largest set of Peter collections extant. Sagina fontinalis Short & R. Peter. Transylvania J. Med. Assoc. Sci. 9 (n.s. 1): 600. 1836. Lectotype (designated here): Cliffs where springs flow over rocks, Kentucky River near Rogers’ at the Richmond Rd, Fayette Co., 5 April 1834. Robert Peter (MICH1259008!; isolectotypes: K000723569 [photo!], K000723571 [photo!], NY00342598 [photo!]; probable isolectotype:
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RABELER, REZNICEK: LECTOTYPIFICATION OF SAGINA FONTINALIS
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Figure 1. Lectotype of Sagina fontinalis (Peter s.n., in MICH). The collection at GH that Morton refers to in the annotation on this sheet is the undated Short collection on the left side of GH sheet GH00037834.
PH00022251 [photo! - lower left plant]). For image of lectotype, see Figure 1.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank John McNeill for his review comments, Robert Webster and Alan Whittemore for hospitality during
Reznicek’s visit to NA and for loaning specimens to MICH, and Mackenzie Caple for helping find and pull selected historical specimens. The Edward G. Voss Endowment Fund of the University of Michigan defrayed expenses of the visit.
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LITERATURE CITED Britton, N.L., J.M. Coulter, H.H. Rusby, W.A. Kellerman, F.V. Coville, L.M. Underwood, and L.F. Ward. 1894. List of Pteridophyta and Spermatophyta growing without cultivation in Northeastern North America. Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 5:5–377.
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America, with 11 new combinations in Minuartia. Rhodora 82:495–502. Meyer, F.G. and S. Elsasser. 1973. The 19th century herbarium of Isaac C. Martindale. Taxon 22:375–404.
Crow, G.E. 1978. A taxonomic revision of Sagina (Caryophyllaceae) in North America. Rhodora 80:1–91.
Morton, J.K. 2005. 22. Stellaria. p. 96–114. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 5. Magnoliphyta: Caryophyllidae, part 2. Oxford University Press, New York, New York.
Dietrich, D.N.F. 1840. Synopsis Plantarum. Volume 2. B.F. Voigtii, Vimariae, Germany.
Robinson, B.L. 1894. The North American Alsineae. Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 29:273–313.
Dillenberger, M.S. and J.W. Kadereit. 2014. Maximum polyphyly: multiple origins and delimitation with plesiomorphic characters require a new circumscription of Minuartia (Caryophyllaceae). Taxon 63:64–88.
Shinners, L.H. 1962. New names in Arenaria (Caryophyllaceae). Sida 1:49–52.
Kral, R. 1983. A report on some rare, threatened, or endangered forest-related vascular plants of the south. USDA Forest Service Technical Publication R8-TP 2. Volume 1. U.S. Forest Service, Atlanta, Georgia.
Thiers, B. 2016 [continuously updated]. Index Herbariorum: a global directory of public herbaria and associated staff (http:// sweetgum.nybg.org/science/ih/, 22 May 2016). New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.
MacFarlane, R.B.A. 2001. The botanical activities and correspondence of Robert Peter, M.D. (1805–1894). Contr. Univ. Michigan Herb. 23: 271–332. McNeill, J. 1980. The delimitation of Arenaria (Caryophyllaceae) and related genera in North
Short, C.W. and R. Peter. 1836. A supplementary catalogue of the plants of Kentucky. Transylvania J. Med. Assoc. Sci. 9:598–600.
Vegter, I.H. 1983. Index Herbariorum, Part II (5). Collectors N-R. Regnum Veg. 109:577–803. Woffford, B.E. 1981. External seed morphology of Arenaria (Caryophyllaceae) of the southeastern United States. Syst. Bot. 6:126–135.
