Carex lausii Podp., Věst. Klubu Přír.

Řepka, Radomír & Taraška, Vojtěch, 2023, Typification of three Carex nothospecies names dedicated to Czech botanists by J. Podpěra, Phytotaxa 618 (2), pp. 172-180 : 178

Carex lausii Podp., Věst. Klubu Přír. v Prostějově 10: 7, 1907.

= Carex acutiformis Ehrh. Beitr. Naturk. [Ehrhart] 4: 43, 1789.

Lectotype (designated here): “Flora moravica. Slatiny u Pavlovic ned. Olomouce ”, June 1907, leg. J. Podpěra BRNU no. 42433 ! [sub Carex riparia × glauca (= C. lausii Podp. 07); rev. H. Toivonen 1981 as C. acutiformis , ibid. R. Řepka 2023] ( Fig. 3 ).

Isolectotype: BRNM no. 4347/26 ! [sub Carex riparia × flacca ; rev. R. Řepka 2010 as C. acutiformis ] .

Other specimen studied: “ Pavlovice u Olomouce ”, May 1908, leg. J. Podpěra, BRNM no. 4346/26 ! [sub Carex riparia × glauca ; rev. R. Řepka 2010 as C. acutiformis ] .

This putative hybrid was named after Heinrich Laus (1872–1941), a grammar school teacher and museum custodian in the town of Olomouc, which was the core area of Laus’ botanical activities ( Otruba 1946). The syntypes of C. lausii were also collected in the vicinity of Olomouc, specifically in its quartier Pavlovičky (formerly Pavlovice). One specimen is deposited in BRNU (selected as lectotype) and one in BRNM (isolectotype). Another specimen deposited in the latter herbarium (BRNM 4346/26) was collected at the type locality by J. Podpěra as late as 1908, i.e. one year after the formal nothospecies description. It must be thus excluded from the original material (see ICN Art. 9.4), but it may be helpful for interpretation of the name. All of these specimens are sampled imperfectly, only consisting of fertile stems, lacking the lower sheaths and rhizomes. Each stem has a single terminal spike, which is either male or, in a few cases, bisexual. Notably, the peduncles of the female spikes are up to 6–8 cm long, which may have convinced J. Podpěra of the hybrid origin with participation of C. flacca Schreber (syn. C. glauca Scop. ). However, morphological features of all the specimens correspond to C. acutiformis ; this identification was also confirmed for the lectotype by H. Toivonen in 1981. The plants may further be classified as f. spadicea (Nyman) Asch. & Graebn. for their female scales long-awned at the apex, and they also correspond to f. longipedunculata Staněk for the extremely long peduncles of the female spikes (Podpěra 1928: 341).

The plant selected as lectotype has comparably shorter female spikes which are not fully fertile, some flowers are withered, and the terminal spike is partly composed of female flowers. This might imply a hybrid origin with C. acutiformis as one of the parents. Only a one such hybrid could be considered in the area, namely C. × sooi Jakucs 1953: 90 (= C. acutiformis × C. riparia Curtis 1783: 60 ), whose parents are recently and historically known to occur in central Moravia ( Kaplan et al. 2019). However , there are no morphological traits on the specimen resembling C. riparia , nor any other ways to confirm its hybrid origin, therefore it would be best to regard the plant as a somewhat atypical C. acutiformis .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Lectotype of Carex lausii Podp. (BRNU 42433).