Sennikov • (2443–2448) Change author, etc. of five family names
TAXON 65 (3) • June 2016: 633–634
(2443–2448) Proposals to change the author, place, and date of publication of Actinidiaceae, Eucommiaceae, Lardizabalaceae, Melanthiaceae, Primulaceae and Theaceae Alexander N. Sennikov Botanical Museum, Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Unioninkatu 44, P.O. Box 7, 00014 Helsinki, Finland; and Herbarium, Komarov Botanical Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Prof. Popov str. 2, 197376 St. Petersburg, Russia;
[email protected] DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12705/653.19
Further research on older taxonomic literature has revealed a number of conserved familial names which were validly published before the dates listed in the entries in Appendix IIB of the ICN (Wiersema & al. in Regnum Veg. 157: 11–42. 2015). Some of these earlier dates were noted by Reveal (in Phytotaxa 6: 1–402. 2010), and this publication is already used in taxonomic literature in spite of the effect of Art. 14.15, protecting the places of publications (and consequently the dates and authorship) of conserved names of families. In one case the authorship is reassessed, and in another case a name was validly published in a later publication but earlier than previously believed. All these names of families are currently in use, in particular by the new version of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants (APG IV in Bot.
J. Linn. Soc. 181: 1–20. 2016). In APG IV, although the authorships conserved in App. IIB are retained, the earlier places of publications are discussed and preferred. Thinking of variable and unstable use of nomenclatural citations that occurs at present, and to prevent such in the future, I propose corrections to entries of conserved names of families as to reflect their actual protologues. (2443) Actinidiaceae Engl. & Gilg, Syllabus, ed. 9–10: 279. 6 Nov 1924, auct. et publ. emend. prop. Typus: Actinidia Lindl. Currently this name is conserved as Actinidiaceae Gilg & Werderm. (in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam., ed. 2, 21: 36. 30
Version of Record
633
Sennikov • (2443–2448) Change author, etc. of five family names
Jul 1925). In fact it was validly published earlier, accompanied with a description in German permitted prior to 1935 (Reveal, l.c.: 10). (2444) Eucommiaceae Engl., Syllabus, ed. 5: 139. Jul 1907, publ. emend. prop. Typus: Eucommia Oliv. Currently this name is conserved as Eucommiaceae Engl. (Syllabus, ed. 6: 145. Jun–Dec 1909), but it was actually published in the previous edition of the Syllabus (Reveal, l.c.: 65). (2445) Lardizabalaceae Decne. in Athenaeum (London) 535: 72. 27 Jan 1838, auct. et publ. emend. prop. Typus: Lardizabala Ruiz & Pav. The circumstances of valid publication of this familial name are rather extraordinary. Decaisne (in Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. 1: 185. 1839) studied this group, previously treated as a tribe of Menispermaceae, and described it as a separate family (“Lardizabaleae”). His extensive study was published in a periodical two years after the subject was read at the French Academy of Sciences in 1837. Meanwhile, a report of this lecture was published in The Athenaeum, a “Journal of English and foreign literature, science, and the fine arts”, on 27 January 1838. The family name was definitely accepted in the report, ascribed to Decaisne and accompanied with a brief description (“a distinct family, characterized by composite leaves, flowers with coloured envelopes, several ovaria, generally containing an indefinite number of ovula inserted on almost every part of their internal divisions, a very small embryo at the extremity of a very voluminous fleshy perisperm, and situated near the hilum”). This description was reported from the words of Decaisne, thus having been ascribed to him as required in Art. 46, so that the family name should be attributed to Decaisne, not to the editor of The Athenaeum. Reveal (l.c.: 91) noted that Brown (in Trans. Linn. Soc. London 13: 212. 23 Mai–21 Jun 1821) was the first to state that Lardizabalaceae is a separate family, and he decided that the descriptive matter provided by Brown is sufficient to validly publish the name. Brown made a passing note on this family in the following sentence: “The few cases of apparent exception, where the ovula are inserted over the whole or greater part of the internal surface of the ovarium, occur either in the compound pistillum, as in Nymphaea and Nuphar; or in the simple pistillum, as in Butomeae of Richard; and in Lardizabaleae, an order of plants sufficiently distinct in this remarkable character alone, and differing also in the structure of embryo and in habit, from Menispermeae, to which the genera composing it (Lardizabala and Stauntonia) have hitherto been referred.” This sentence contains no apparent descriptive matter: “the ovula are inserted over the whole or greater part of the internal surface of the ovarium” is said to be peculiar of three unrelated groups, not providing “a description or diagnosis of the taxon” as required by Art. 38.1; and there is no diagnostic state of characters defining “the structure of embryo and habit” (Art. 38.2, Ex. 4). Neither this publication by Brown, nor its preprint (Brown, Rafflesia: 12. Apr 1821) noted by Mabberley (in Blumea 44: 343–350. 1999), fulfill the conditions for valid publication of the name.
634
TAXON 65 (3) • June 2016: 633–634
(2446) Melanthiaceae Batsch, Syn. Univ. Anal. Gen. Pl. 2: 384. 1794, auct. et publ. emend. prop. Typus: Melanthium L. This family name is currently conserved as Melanthiaceae “Batsch ex Borkh., Bot. Wörterb. 2: 8. 1797”, assuming that the original appearance of this name in Batsch (Dispos. Gen. Pl. Jenens. 1786) does not constitute valid publication because of having been published prior to 4 August 1789 (Art. 13.1). However, Batsch published another work after 1789, in which he accepted a number of families described in 1786, including Melanthiaceae (as “Melanthia”). Although Batsch (Syn. Univ. Anal. Gen. Pl. 1793–1794) provided no descriptions of the families and no direct or indirect references to previously published descriptions next to the family names, he indirectly referred to the diagnosis and description of “Melanthia” in Batsch (l.c. 1786: 30, 50) via a general statement in the preface: “In dispositione generum plantarum jenensium systema foemineorum florum, necessarium esse declaravi…” (l.c. 1786: [iv]), thus linking the two publications altogether. (2447) Primulaceae Batsch, Syn. Univ. Anal. Gen. Pl. 2: 395. 1794, auct. et publ. emend. prop. Typus: Primula L. The current entry reads “Primulaceae Batsch ex Borkh., Bot. Wörterb. 2: 240. 1797”. Similarly to Melanthiaceae, this name was validly published earlier as “Primulae” with an indirect reference to the corresponding diagnosis and description in Batsch (l.c. 1786: 32, 59). (2448) Theaceae Ker Gawl. in Bot. Reg. 2: ad t. 112. 1 Mai 1816, auct. emend. prop. Typus: Thea L. [= Camellia L.] The current entry reads “Mirb. in Bot. Reg.: ad t. 112. 1 Mai 1816.” Ker Gawler, who compiled the text for the Botanical Register, published this family name as “Nat. Ord. Theaceae. Mirbel in nouv. Bulletin. 3. 382”, assuming a direct reference to the effectively but invalidly published designation “Théacées” in Mirbel (in Nouv. Bull. Sci. Soc. Philom. Paris 3(75): 382. 1813) associated with a description in French. Throughout the Botanical Register, plant names (scientific and horticultural) and descriptions are accompanied with references to previous publications, one to several per each name or description. The format of those references is regularly like “Name A. Author B in Publication C. Author D in Publication E”. This format apparently assumes a reference but not ascription as required by Art. 46. For this reason I suggest to treat new familial names appearing in this work, which are accompanied with references to previously published names, as unascribed and to determine their authorship according to Art. 46.3 Note 3. Alternatively this reference can be treated as a formal error because Mirbel used a designation different from the name published by Ker Gawler (with a French rather than a Latin termination).
Version of Record
