Amaranthus hypochondriacus var. tortuosus Moquin-Tandon (1849: 256)

Iamonico, Duilio, 2016, Nomenclature survey of the genus Amaranthus (Amaranthaceae). 5. Moquin-Tandon’s names, Phytotaxa 273 (2), pp. 81-114 : 99-100

23. Amaranthus hypochondriacus var. tortuosus Moquin-Tandon (1849: 256)

Type (neotype here designated):— FRANCE. Hort. Paris., s.d., S.coll . s.n. (P 04021953 [digital image!], image of the neotype is available at http://mediaphoto.mnhn.fr/media/1449590573768AAG3EudEpT31SXbo).

= Amaranthus hypochondriacus Linnaeus (1753: 991) .

Type (lectotype designated by Townsend 1985: 25):— U.S.A. Habitat in Virginia, Herb. Linn. No. 1117.24 (LINN [digital image!], image of the lectotype is available at http://linnean-online.org/11650/).

Nomenclatural notes:— Moquin-Tandon (1849: 256) proposed the var. tortuosus to distinguish forms of Am. hypochondriacus (five forms in the Candolle’s Prodromus ) with the curvy synflorescences, as reported in the diagnosis (“spicis omnibus longioribus tenuibus distantibus tortuosis...”); no specimens were cited in the protologue.A specimen at P (barcode 04021953) includes a piece of cultivated plant as reported on the original label (“ Hort. Paris. ”). Since further important annotations (e.g. the collection date) are lacking, I cannot be sure that these specimens are part of the original material. As a consequence, I prefer to avoid it for the lectotypification purpose. Since no other specimens were found, I here designated the P 04021953 as the neotype of the name Amaranthus hypochondriacus var. tortuosus according to the Art. 9.7 of the ICN.

Taxonomical notes:—The moniliform-like structure of the synflorescence of the neotype allows me to identify it as Am. hypochondriacus . Since the winding nature of the synflorescence cannot be considered as diagnostic for Am. hypochondriacus according to the current concept (see e.g., Carretero 1990, Mosyakin & Robertson 2003), I propose to synonymyzed the var. tortuosus with Am. hypochondriacus .