Camellia caudata Wallich (1832: 36)

Zhao, Dongwei, Parnell, John A. N. & Hodkinson, Trevor R., 2017, Typification of names in the genus Camellia (Theaceae), Phytotaxa 292 (2), pp. 171-179 : 172

Camellia caudata Wallich (1832: 36)

Lectotype (designated here):— INDIA. [Meghalaya: Khasia Hills], the district of Sylhet , November 1827, H. Bruce s.n. in Wallich 978 ( K barcode K001110475 ! right-hand specimen, image of the lectotype is available at http://apps. kew.org/herbcat/getImage.do?imageBarcode= K001110475 ).

Notes:—The name C. caudata was published by Wallich (1829) without a description or a diagnosis or a reference to a former one (and thus is a nomen nudum), and according to Art. 38.1 of the ICN it was not validly published. The name was validated later by Wallich (1832) providing a Latin description ( Chang & Bartholomew 1984, Ming & Bartholomew 2007).

Wallich (1832) cited in the protologue “Cat. Herbar. Ampl. Procur. Britan. Ind. Orient. n. 978” and stated that C. caudata was native to “the mountains bordering on the district of Sillet”. Clark C.B. thought that the locality recorded by Wallich was indicating “Khasia” of India ( Anonymous 1913) and Sealy (1958) followed this deduction.

Another frequently recorded locality for the syntypes of C. caudata is Pundua, which is indicated as “Pundua ~ Bangladesh ” on The Wallich Catalogue website (http://wallich.rbge.info/node/11472). Moreover, an anonymous article on Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh website (http://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/5029) has a comment “…Pundua could be modern day Companiganj, or close to it, and not to be confused with Pandua in W Bengal”. However, the current Companiganj in Bangladesh is an alluvial plain and its elevation is generally below 50 m. Camellia caudata is usually distributed in the montane evergreen forest between 200 m and 2200 m ( Ming 2000) and it is therefore unlikely to occur in the low alluvial plain in Companiganj. Clark further commented that “…all the collections marked ‘Pundua’ came (certainly to me) from Khasia—no collector at Pundua would attempt collecting southward thence in the swamps…” ( Anonymous 1913). Therefore, Clark’s deduction of the locality ( Anonymous 1913) is followed here.

The lectotype (specimen on the right side of K001110475) has mature flowers. Wallich 978 is a set of heterogeneous collections that were collected by different collectors at different times, so the other specimens of Wallich 978, excluding the lectotype, are not treated as isolectotypes but recognized as syntypes here (Arts. 8.2, 8.3 and 9.5 of the ICN).

Additional specimens examined (syntypes):— INDIA. Wallich 978 ( A barcode 00024746 [digital photo!], G barcode G00354806 [digital photo!], P barcodes P04500104 ! and P04500138 !) ; [Meghalaya: Khasia Hills], Pundua, Wallich 978 ( BM!, E barcodes E00273841 ! and E00273843 ! left-hand specimen, G barcodes G00354841 [digital photo!] and G00354852 [digital photo!], K barcodes K000380533 !, K000380534 ! and K001110475 ! left-hand specimen, L matrix code L.2399754 [digital photo!], P barcode P04500117 !, S No. S09-47084 [digital photo!], TCD!) ; Sylhet mountain, Wallich 978 ( K barcode K001110474 ! left-hand specimen) .