Amaranthus paniculatus var. longespicatus Moquin-Tandon (1849: 257)

Iamonico, Duilio, 2016, Nomenclature survey of the genus Amaranthus (Amaranthaceae). 5. Moquin-Tandon’s names, Phytotaxa 273 (2), pp. 81-114 : 101-102

28. Amaranthus paniculatus var. longespicatus Moquin-Tandon (1849: 257)

Type (lectotype here designated):— SWITZERLAND. Hort. Genev., September 1832, s. coll . s.n. (P04021939 [digital image!], image of the lectotype at http://mediaphoto.mnhn.fr/media/1449489915961MhZHmmE3bvffTsPv).

= Amaranthus hybridus Linnaeus (1753: 990) .

Type (lectotype designated by Townsend 1974: 19):— U.S.A. Habitat in Virginia, Herb. Linn. No. 1117.19 (LINN [digital image!], image available at http://linnean-online.org/11645/).

Nomenclatural notes:—On the basis of at least one specimen at “herb. Genev.” (as reported in the protologue), Moquin-Tandon (1849: 257) described the var. longespicatus , which would be characterized by having the terminal florescence much longer than those referred to the other five varieties (see Moquin-Tandon 1849: 257), thin and interrupted (”spicâ terminali longissimâ gracili interruptâ...”). There is one specimen at P (barcode 04021939) bearing two pieces of a same plant, of which one is the terminal florescence (about 30 cm long). The exsiccatum matches with the diagnosis as well as the data on the label, which also includes the collection date (September 1832). I here designated this specimen as the lectotype of the name Amaranthus paniculatus var. longespicatus .

Taxonomical notes:—Although Moquin-Tandon (1849: 257) described Am. paniculatus in having ”...calyce bracteis subbreviores...”, an important character, which characterizes Am. cruentus (see e.g., Mosyakin & Robertson 2003, Iamonico 2015 and the synonymy), the lectotype here designated for Am. paniculatus var. longespicatus shows bracts at least 1.5 times longer than the tepals. This characteristic refers to Am. hybridus and I here propose to synonymyzed the Moquin-Tandon’s variety with the Linnaean Am. hybridus .