Santolina ericoides Poiret

Ferrer-Gallego, P. Pablo, Sáez, Llorenç, Wajer, Jacek, Giacò, Antonio & Peruzzi, Lorenzo, 2021, Typification of the names Santolina ericoides and S. villosa (Asteraceae) revisited, Phytotaxa 509 (2), pp. 233-240 : 234

Santolina ericoides Poiret in Lamarck (1805: 504)

Poiret’s protologue (1805: 504) of Santolina ericoides , numbered “3” in the Encyclopédie Méthodique [Santoline à feuilles de bruyère], consists of a morphological description in Latin: “ Santolina pedunculis unifloris; capitulis minimis, depressis; foliis angusto-linearibus, subglabris, pinnatim denticulatis; ramis incano-pubescentibus, caulibus glabris. (N.) [Nobis]”, followed by four synonyms or pre-Linnaean names (three of these are polynomials) (see below), a diagnostic comment, and a complete description of the species, both in French.

Furthermore, Poiret (1805: 505) added “Cette plante se rencontre dans les contrées méridionales de l’Europe. On la cultive au Jardin des Plantes (v.v.)” [This plant is found in the southern parts of Europe. It is cultivated in the Jardin des Plantes (i.e., Botanical Garden of Paris)]. The indication of “(v.v.)” in the protologue must be treated as the acronym of “vue vivante” (i.e., seen alive).

Regarding the type of Santolina ericoides, Giacò et al. (2021: 195) designated the specimen P barcode P00752618 as neotype. The sheet bears a stem with leaves and several capitula (seed heads), and a label annotated as “ Santolina ericoïdes . h.R.P.” (Hortus Regius Parisiensis, the Latin name for the Jardin royal des plantes médicinales) / “Syng. polyg – aequal. / encycl.” / “herb. Poiret” (image available at http://mediaphoto.mnhn.fr/media/ 1443721765171MMKOuv7boVvUmih9). This specimen lacks the date of collection or any annotation by Poiret explicitly linking it to the protologue to demonstrate that this material was available to Poiret prior to the publication of the protologue, so it cannot be considered with certainty as original material used by Poiret to describe his S. ericoides . In this case, the term neotype was used by Giacò et al. (2021) appropriately but the neotypification cannot be accepted and the designated neotype should be superseded because there are other certainly original elements which are available for lectotypification.

Poiret (1805: 504) mentioned four pre-Linnaean synonyms in the protologue, and the accounts of three of these polynomials are illustrated. Therefore, these illustrations are indeed part of the original material used by Poiret to describe his Santolina ericoides .

The first synonym “ Santolina foliis ericae vel sabinae ” was cited from Tournefort (1719: 460). The second synonym “ Abrotanum femina , foliis ericae vel sabinae ” was cited from Bauhin (1623: 137) and Morison (1699: 12, sect. 6, tab. 3, fig. 17). The third synonym “ Santolina altera ” was cited from Dodoëns (1583: 269), and finally the fourth synonym “ Abrotanum femina Dodonaei ” was cited from Daléchamps (1586: 938). Morison (1699), Daléchamps (1586), and Dodoëns (1583) provided illustrations that may be considered part of the original material because they are associated by Poiret with S. ericoides . Since these illustrations are the only certain original material eligible for typification of the name S. ericoides , the lectotype should be selected among them, according to Art. 9.3 of the ICN.

The illustration in Morison (1699: 12, sect. 6, tab. 3, fig. 17), “ Abrotonum foemina , foliis ericae ”, is a complete plant with leaves and three capitula (image available at https://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/viewer/14345/?offset=7#page=685&viewer=picture&o=bookmark&n=0&q). According to the description associated with this illustration, the leaves are short and green, and the flowers are yellow. The illustration in Daléchamps (1586: 938) “ ABROTONUM foemina Dodonaei ” is a complete plant with leaves, several capitula, and two details of separate capitula ( Fig. 1 ). According to the description associated with this illustration, the leaves are green, the flowers are yellow, and Narbonne and Nîmes (Occitanie, France) are mentioned as the origin of the plants. Finally, the drawing in Dodoëns (1583: 269), “ Santolina altera ”, illustrates a complete plant, with leaves and several capitula. The description associated with the latter illustration reports: “foliis tamen longioribus, virentioribus ac minus candidis; flore pallidiore [longer leaves, more green and less white; flower paler]. However, some of the cited features, in particular the longer leaves and the paler flowers (probably more appropriate for S. chamaecyparissus ), do not fit well with Poiret’s protologue of S. ericoides . On the other hand, the illustrations and the related descriptions provided by Morison and Daléchamps fit well with Poiret’s protologue. We think that the best option is to designate the illustration in Daléchamps as the lectotype, since also the provenance of the illustrated plants is provided along with the illustration. This illustration is congruent with Poiret’s protologue and with the current application of the name S. ericoides , as also circumscribed by Carbajal et al. (2019) and Giacò et al. (2021). Moreover, according to Tison et al. (2014) and Giacò et al. (2021), the only species occurring in the localities mentioned by Daléchamps is S. ericoides . This species is diploid with 2 n = 2 x = 18 chromosomes (Giacò et al., under revision).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lectotype of Santolina ericoides Poir., illustration “ABROTONUM foemina, Dodonaei” in Daléchamps (1586: 938).