Plantago himalaica Pilger (1937: 62–63)

Hassemer, Gustavo, 2018, Notes on the montane Indo-Iranian species in Plantago subgenus Plantago (Plantaginaceae), Phytotaxa 336 (1), pp. 59-68 : 63

Plantago himalaica Pilger (1937: 62–63)

≡ P. brachyphylla Edgew. ex Decaisne (1852: 696) , nom. illeg., non P. brachyphylla Roemer & Schultes (1818: 136)

≡ P.major var. brachyphylla Pilger (1922: 278) , nom. nov. pro P. brachyphylla Edgew. ex Decne. (see Arts. 6.11, 7.4 and 58.1) Type: —COUNTRY UNKNOWN. 1843, M.P. Edgeworth 482 (lectotype [designated by Pilger 1927: 1096] G-00148297! [ Figure 3 ]).

Distribution: —Mountainous areas in northern India and Pakistan.

Notes: — Plantago himalaica is a new name for the illegitimate later homonym P. brachyphylla Edgew. ex Decne. , which was lectotypified by Pilger (1927: 1096). The lectotype, G-00148297 ( Figure 3 ), has three specimens, all of which must have been seen by Decaisne, and can be identified as belonging to the same species. The specimen D. Royle s.n. (P-03531359) was also mentioned in the protologue ( Decaisne 1852: 696) and therefore is also original material for the name P. brachyphylla Edgew. ex Decne. ; this specimen was erroneously indicated as the “type” of P. himalaica by Kazmi (1974: 7).

Plantago himalaica is accepted in recent literature (e.g. Rahn 1996, Gupta et al. 2017, Sharma et al. 2017), although the taxonomic knowledge of it is still deficient. The only morphological character that reliably separates this species from the more western P. tatarica (see below) seems to be the hairiness of leaves and scapes. Future studies might indicate that these two entities are co-specific; in that case, the correct name for the species would be the older name, i.e. P. tatarica .

Plantago himalaica resembles dwarf specimens of P.major , but can be easily distinguished from the latter by the pilose leaves and scapes (that also distinguishes it from P. griffithii and P. tatarica ) and very short and dense spikes (that also distinguishes it from P. asiatica and P. griffithii ). I have been unable to examine mature seeds of P. himalaica , and there are no published morphological descriptions of mature seeds of this species that I know of. The number of ovules in P. himalaica , 6–7, is much lower than in P. major ( Pilger 1937) ; Kazmi (1974) reports the number of seeds to be up to six in P. himalaica . More studies are necessary to ascertain the distribution and conservation status of this species.

Selected additional specimens examined: —COUNTRY UNKNOWN. Kanawer inférieur, s.d., D. Royle s.n. (P-03531359); Himala, June 1835 [almost illegible], Anonymous s.n. (P-03531364). INDIA. UTTARAKHAND: Kumaon , 9000 feet, s.d., R. Strachey & J. E. Winterbottom 2 (P-03531363) .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Lectotype of Plantago brachyphylla Edgew. ex Decne., the replaced synonym of P. himalaica (M.P. Edgeworth 482, G- 00148297). Copyright: Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève. Available online at: http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/ cjb/chg/adetail.php?id=161544