Senecio stabianus Lacaita (1913b: 282)

Stinca, Adriano, 2022, Typification of the Lacaita’s name Senecio stabianus (Asteraceae), basionym of the Italian endemic Senecio ovatus subsp. stabianus, Phytotaxa 570 (3), pp. 295-300 : 296-298

Senecio stabianus Lacaita (1913b: 282)

≡ Senecio ovatus subsp. stabianus (Lacaita) Greuter (2003: 248) ≡ Senecio nemorensis subsp. stabianus (Lacaita) Pignatti (1977: 57) ≡ Senecio nemorensis var. stabianus (Lacaita) Fiori (1927: 598) .

Type (lectotype, designated here):— ITALY. Monte S. Angelo di Castellammare verso l’acqua di San Paolo c. 1300 m, in pinguioribus umbrosis, 10 July 1907, Lacaita 362/07 and 362/07 ter (two sheets: BM barcode BM000823977 [digital image!] and BM barcode BM000823976 [digital image!], fig. 1 ; isolectotype: BM barcode BM000823978 [digital image!]) .

Nomenclatural notes:— Senecio stabianus was validly published by Lacaita (1913b) in “Aggiunte alla flora del Principato Citra”, by providing a species diagnosis with descriptions and collection sites for three morphotypes:

- “(a), radio nullo […]. M. Sacro di Novi, sotto il Colle di S. Donato, prope rivulum, c. 1000 m., 10.VII.1904. L’ho anche dal M. S. Angelo di Castellammare, all’acqua di San Paolo, in pinguibus umbrosis, c. 1250 m., e dal M. Terminio, in silvis pinguibus, c. 1200 m.”;

- “(b), ligulo unico […]. È la forma più comune. Non l’ho dalla regione, ma raccolta nei monti di Amalfi, all’Ammarrata, c. 1000 m., a Tramonti, sopra Cesarano, c. 1100 m., ed al M. Terminio insieme al precedente.”;

- “(c), ligulis ternis […]. Non l’ho dalla regione, ma dal M. Terminio, insieme alle precedenti, località dove notai sullo stesso piede fiori senza raggio, con raggio unico e con tre raggi”.

In addition, Lacaita claims to have other non-flowered specimens from “M. Alburno, in fagetis, c. 1650 m., 2.VII.1910 ” and “M. Sacro, in fagetis, c. 1600 m., 10.VII.1904 ”.

In the herbarium of the Natural History Museum, London (BM) I traced 13 specimens (mounted on sheets), which can be considered original material (Art. 9.4 of the ICN). The original labels, handwritten by Lacaita, read:

(1)“124/02 | Senecio stabianus mihi | cf. S. [unreadable] | radio unico, flosculii luteis var. S. Jacquiniani| in montibus Amalphitanii in silvis elatis pinguibus; all’Ammarrata, near Amalfi valley c. 2800’ | 28·7·02” (BM000823969!, image available at https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/56e711e6-c847-4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9- b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/4615102);

(2) “124/02 bis | Senecio | radio unico, flosculii luteis | in montibus Amalphitanii in silvis elatis pinguibus; all’Ammarrata [?] near Amalfi valley c. 2800’ | 28·7·02” (BM000823968!, image available at https://data.nhm. ac.uk/dataset/56e711e6-c847-4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/ record/4615101);

(3) “124/02 ter | Senecio | radio unico, flosculii luteis | in montibus Amalphitanii in silvis elatis pinguibus c. 2800’; at [unreadable] near Amalfi valley | 28·7·02” (BM000823967!, image available at https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/ 56e711e6-c847-4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/4615100);

(4) “9/04 | Senecio stabianus mihi | radio nullo! | Monte Sacro di Novi (Lucania) alla discesa dal Colle di San Donato verso Rofrano | ad ripas torrentii c. 3000’ | 10·7·04” (BM000823966!, image available at https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/ 56e711e6-c847-4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/4615099);

(5) “25/04 | Senecio stabianus mihi | Monte Sacro di Novi (Lucania) | in fagetis editis c. 5000’ | 10·7·04” (BM000823972!, image available at https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/56e711e6-c847-4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/ resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/4615105);

(6) “362/07 | “HERB. LACAITA. [printed] | Senecio stabianus mihi | radio nullo! | Monte S. Angelo di Castellammare verso l’acqua di San Paolo c. 1300 m | in pinguioribus umbrosis | ( S. nemorensis Ten Syll : 428 ex loco | 10·7·07” (BM000823977!, image available at https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/56e711e6-c847-4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/4615110);

(7) “362/07 bis | “HERB. LACAITA. [printed] | Senecio stabianus mihi | radio nullo! | Monte S. Angelo di Castellammare verso l’acqua di San Paolo c. 1300 m | 10·7·07” (BM000823978!, image available at https://data. nhm.ac.uk/dataset/56e711e6-c847-4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/ record/4615111);

(8) “362/07 ter | “HERB. LACAITA. [printed] | Senecio stabianus mihi | radio nullo! | Monte S. Angelo di Castellammare verso l’acqua di San Paolo c. 1300 m | 10·7·07” (BM000823976!, image available at https://data. nhm.ac.uk/dataset/56e711e6-c847-4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/ record/4615109);

(9) “342/07 | “HERB. LACAITA. [printed] | Senecio stabianus mihi | flores lutei | in cadeim planta notavi radium nullami! radium unicum!radios tres! | Monte Terminio (Avellino) | in silvis pinguibus c. 1200 m | [unreadable] | 11·7·08” (BM000823975!, image available at https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/56e711e6-c847-4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/ resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/4615108);

(10) “342/07 bis | “HERB. LACAITA. [printed] | Senecio stabianus mihi | Monte Terminio (Avellino) | in silvis pinguibus c. 1200 m | 11·7·08” (BM000823973!, image available at https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/56e711e6-c847- 4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/4615106);

(11) “342/07 ter | “HERB. LACAITA. [printed] | Senecio stabianus mihi | Monte Terminio (Avellino) | in silvis pinguibus c. 1200 m | 11·7·08” (BM000823974!, image available at https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/56e711e6-c847- 4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/4615107);

(12) “300/10 | “HERB. LACAITA. [printed] | Senecio stabianus mihi | radix procurrens | M.te Alburno (Salerno) in fagetis editis c. 1650 m | 2·7·10” (BM000823971!, image available at https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/56e711e6- c847-4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/4615104);

(13) “300/10 bis | “HERB. LACAITA. [printed] | Senecio stabianus mihi | radix procurrens | M.te Alburno (Salerno) in fagetis editis c. 1650 m | 2·7·10” (BM000823970!, image available at https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/56e711e6- c847-4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/4615103).

Since the epithet of the species refers to Stabiae (i.e. ancient Latin name of the current city of Castellammare di Stabia located in the Bay of Naples) or the Stabiani Mountains (this is how the current Lattari Mountains were called by botanists of the late 19th – early 20th century due to their position close to Castellammare di Stabia: Stinca 2014) and sheets no. 6 (“362/07”), 7 (“362/07 bis”) and 8 (“362/07 ter”) are undoubtedly a single gathering (i.e. a collection presumed to be of a single taxon made by the same collector(s) at the same time from a single locality, Art. 8.2 of the ICN), I selected the sheets BM000823977 and BM000823976, which constitute a single specimen, as lectotype. These herbarium specimens are well conserved and agree with Lacaita’s protologue. The specimen BM000823978 is an isolectotype.

It is interesting to note that the toponym indicated by Lacaita in the protologue and on the label of the lectotype selected here, i.e. “acqua di San Paolo” seems to be unknown to the local people (I have interviewed many people between 2021 and 2022) and is not reported on the official detailed cartography (i.e. IGM 1:25.000, Geoportale Nazionale 2022). Since Lacaita claims to have collected the samples at about 1300 m a.s.l. and at this altitude in the surroundings of Monte S. Angelo di Castellammare (nowadays called “Monte Sant’Angelo a Tre Pizzi”) there is only one suitable locality called “Sorgente Acqua Santa”, it is probable that the locus classicus can be geo-referenced to this locality (WGS84 33T: 457771 E – 4500114 N).

Taxonomic and chorological notes:—After its description as a new species by Lacaita (1913b), Senecio stabianus was treated at the infraspecific level by later authors, first within S. nemorensis ( Fiori 1927, Pignatti 1977), then within S. ovatus ( Greuter 2003; Pignatti et al. 2018). Currently, in addition to subsp. stabianus (endemic to the Italian Peninsula from Umbria to Calabria) two other subspecies are recognized within S. ovatus , that is subsp. alpestris ( Gaudin 1829: 296) Herborg (1987: 143) (central Europe and north-central Italy) and subsp. ovatus (central-eastern Europe, Balkan and north-central Italy) ( Bartolucci et al. 2018, Greuter 2022 [continuously updated]).

Senecio ovatus subsp. stabianus , which is also known to have antioxidant properties ( Tundis et al. 2012), was recently assessed as LC (least concern) in the IUCN Red List of the Italian Flora (Orsenigo et al. 2018). Generally, it grows at altitudes between 800 and 1600 m in moist beech forests, also with silver fir, which can be attributed to priority natural habitat types 9210* and 9220* (Directive 92/43 EEC). Finally, I point out that Buttler (2010) recently clarified the validity of the combination Senecio ovatus ( Gaertner et al. 1801: 212) Hoppe (1802: 375) which therefore has priority over Senecio ovatus ( Gaertner et al. 1801: 212) Willdenow (1803: 2004) . This update has been implemented by some taxonomic databases ( IPNI 2022, Greuter 2022 [continuously updated]) and does not invalidate the previous subspecific combinations published under Senecio ovatus ( Gaertner et al. 1801: 212) Willdenow (i.e. subsp. stabianus (Lacaita) Greuter , and subsp. alpestris (Gaudin) Herborg ) (Art. 41.6 of the ICN).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lectotype of the name Senecio stabianus Lacaita mounted on two herbarium sheets: BM000823977 (left) and BM000823976 (right).