Lepidozia flexuosa Mitten

Majumdar, Shuvadeep, 2022, Unearthing a Lectotype for Lepidozia flexuosa with a note on the type of Lepidozia brevifolia (Lepidoziaceae: Marchantiophyta), Phytotaxa 552 (3), pp. 217-220 : 217-218

Lepidozia flexuosa Mitten , J. Proceedings Linn. Soc. (Bot.) 5: 103 (1861)

Lectotype (designated here):— INDIA, Sikkim [West Bengal], Sinchul [ Senchal ], 7000 ft., J.D. Hooker 1411 ( NY Barcode NY00236760 image!)

Syntypes:— INDIA, Sikkim Himalaya [West Bengal], Tonglo [Tonglu], 10,000 ft., J.D.Hooker 1411 ( BM, G, NY); Assam, Nongkli J.D.Hooker 1411b ( BM, NY); INDIA, Khasi mountains [Meghalaya], 4-6,000 ft. J.D.Hooker & T.Thomson 1415 ( BM); INDIA, Assam, W.Griffith s.n. ( BM)

Discussion

In the year 1861, Mitten described Lepidozia flexuosa Mitten (1861: 103) based on specimens from Sikkim collected by J.D.H[ooker] (1411, 1411b), from Khasia mountains [now Meghalaya] collected by J.D.H[ooker] & T. T[homson] 1415, 1456 and from Assam by W.Griffith s.n. but without designating a type. On examination of the images of the specimens housed at NY, I found two specimen packets of J.D. Hooker’s labelled 1411: one from Sikkim Himalaya [now West Bengal] Tonglo [=Tonglu], 10,000 ft. with (Barcode NY00236759) ( Fig. A 1 top right-hand side; Fig. A 2 top left-hand side) and the other from Sinchul [=Senchal], 7,000 ft. with barcode (NY00236760) ( Fig. A 1 bottom right-hand side; Fig. A 2 bottom lefthand side). The other Hooker specimen mentioned in the protologue, 1411b (Barcode NY00236761) (NY) was collected from Nongkli, Assam. ( Fig. A 1 bottom left-hand side; Fig. A 2 middle right hand side) All other specimens mentioned by Mitten in his protologue were not located at NY (Laura Briscoe pers. comm., 2021).

All five specimens are considered syntypes. On request, Laura Briscoe, Collections Manager, Cryptogamic Collection, NY provided details of plant specimen (1411, 1411b) and gave the opinion “All the collections are syntypes, mostly isosyntypes since it seems they were largely split across multiple institutions (and even here within NY)” (L. Briscoe pers. comm., 2021). Leonard T. Ellis, Senior Curator, BM verified that specimen J.D.Hooker 1411, 1411b from Sikkim, J.D.Hooker & T.Thomson 1415 from Khasia mountains, Meghalaya, and Griffith s.n. from Assam, are all in the BM collections. There is also a J.D.Hooker & T.Thomson 1415b from Khasia which is not cited in the protologue of L. flexuosa but also in the BM collections (L. Ellis pers. comm., 2021). Michelle Price, Head Curator, Cryptogamic Herbarium, G confirmed the presence of J.D.Hooker 1411 (Barcode G00280899), J.D.Hooker 1415 (Barcode G00280900), J.D. Hooker & T. Thomson 1411 (Barcode G00280901) and (G000222 [an old G accession number] Barcode G00115398) collector unknown from Khasia of L. flexuosa in G (M. Price pers. comm., 2021). However, specimen J.D.Hooker & T.Thomson 1456 mentioned in the protologue could not be traced in either NY, the BM or G.

In the protologue the locality for both J.D.Hooker 1411 and 1411b are mentioned as Sikkim. At the time of collecting, J.D. Hooker and T. Thomson referred to the locality as Sikkim Himalayas (then known as Sikkim as well as West Bengal). However, it is the minor localities that are very important here. Both Tonglo [=Tonglu] and Sinchul [=Senchal] fall under the geographic boundary of West Bengal then as well as now. As the protologue mentioned the altitude as 7-10,000 ft. after the Sikkim locality, Mitten was apparently indicating two specimen packets – Tonglo [=Tonglu] and Sinchul [=Senchal]. NY herbarium correctly added the same field number J.D.Hooker 1411 onto the same herbarium sheet. Both localities are nearby one another but occurring at different altitudes within West Bengal. Hooker annotated these two different localities and altitudes Tonglo [=Tonglu] (10,000 ft.) and Sinchul [=Senchal] (7,000 ft.) on his collecting packets with the same field number, while Mitten first naming L. flexuosa wrote ‘ Sikkim, 7-10,000 ft., J.D.Hooker 1411 ’ ( Mitten, 1861).

Of these, the specimen collected by J.D. Hooker (J.D.Hooker 1411 /NY00236760) is considered the best specimen with all available characters for identification of the taxon. Therefore, it is considered representative of this species and hence designated here as the lectotype in accordance with Art. 9.11, ICN, Shenzhen Code ( Turland et al., 2018).

Figures

FIGURE A. 1. Lectotype of Lepidozia flexuosa Mitt. (India, Sikkim [West Bengal], Sinchul [Senchal], J.D. Hooker 1411, NY00236760); 2. Lectotype of Lepidozia flexuosa Mitt. (India, Sikkim [West Bengal], Sinchul [Senchal], J.D. Hooker 1411, NY00236760) showing entire population (enlarged). ©Copyright of the Board of Trustees of the New York Botanical Garden, New York.