Aralia elegans, Velenovsky. Additional, 1884

Doweld, Alexander B., 2017, New names in Aralia (Araliaceae), living and fossil, Phytotaxa 297 (1), pp. 62-70 : 64

III. Aralia elegans

Aralia elegans Linden ex Koch 1862 .—The extant species “ Aralia elegans ” Linden (1846 , could not be seen: Stafleu & Cowan 1981: 43; cited from Linden 1850: 4, nom. nud.), being imported to Europe from New Grenada and then widely distributed in European horticulture, is an earliest proposed designation. However, the validity of the name might not be at present confirmed or rejected since its publication in a rare trade catalogue of 1846 could not be verified due to its lack in main European and botanical libraries [possibly not preserved at all]. In a later edition of Extrait du catalogue et prix-courant des plantes exotiques, cultivées dans les serres de J. Linden author did not provide any diagnosis or description for “ Aralia elegans Linden ” ( Linden 1850: 4, nom. nud.), but just a reference to an illustration in preceding catalogues was mentioned (however but not found in examined available, but incomplete set of issues preserved in Bibliothèque, Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève, Switzerland). Later, “ Aralia elegans ” Linden was cited in synonymy under designation “ Oreopanax elegans ” Decaisne & Planchon (1854: 108) , nom. nud. [no description presented].At present this taxon is treated as ‘unplaced’ by Frodin & Govaerts (2003: 422). However, since “ A. elegans ” was a widely cultivated plant in European nurseries and gardens in nineteenth century, it may have been validated in other ill-known trade catalogues or horticultural ‘grey’ literature. As it was established in present historicbibliographical study, Koch (1862: 155) was the first one to validly publish the name providing inadvertently a brief description of the diagnostic feature of this cultivated plant (“tiefgeschlitzte Blättchen ein herrliches Grün besassen”) which resulted in the validation of A. elegans Linden ex Koch. Further necessary historical-bibliographic searches are needed to throw light on the possible validity of Linden’s name before Koch (1862), although I am skeptical of finding any earlier source although the species name was in active use in horticulture (cf. Chlopoff 1858: 401, Funck 1859: 159).

A. elegans Cunn. ex W. Hill 1862 .—However, one should mention the existence of another forgotten extant name of a wild Australian plant, A. elegans Cunn. ex Hill (1862: 18) , published with a brief description in the International Exhibition 1862 Catalogue: “ Aralia elegans, Cunn. , height 30–40 ft., diameter 12–16 inches. Elegant small tree, with large pinnate leaves; wood soft, white, and spongy”. It is a taxonomic synonym of Panax elegans (C. Moore & F. Muell. in Mueller (1857: 68) Cunn. ex Hill (1862: 18). The name was only recently discovered and subsequently added to the Australian Plant Names Index ( APNI, 2014 –onwards), being not mentioned in the World Bibliography on Araliaceae at all ( Frodin & Govaerts 2003). Since the International Great London Exposition 1862 was held from 1 May to 1 November 1862, perhaps Catalogue might appear in print shortly before the start of Exposition; legal deposit records of the obligatory copies of all printed books in the former British Empire kept in the former British Museum are unexpectedly lacking (British Library Archive). Thus, A. elegans Linden ex Koch (17 May 1862) is considered as a later homonym of A. elegans Cunn. ex W. Hill (1 May 1862).

A. elegans Hort. ex Saporta 1863 .—While describing fossil leaf remains from the Chattian sediments of Aix-en- Provence (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France), Saporta compared his new fossil species Aralia multifida Saporta (1863: 268) with extant species “ A. elegans Hort. ” from the botanical garden of Paris (Jardin des Plantes). Providing illustration with analysis of leaf nervation and form ( Saporta 1863: pl. 12, fig. 1a) in place of a written description or diagnosis (permissible to 1908: ICN, Art. 38.5), Saporta validated one more extant homonym A. elegans Hort. ex Saporta (1863: 268) .

A. elegans Velenovský 1884 .—The fossil name A. elegans Velenovský (1884: 13) was created for the foliage from the Cenomanian sediment of former Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic). It was soon substituted by a new name, A. furcata Velenovský (1885: 14) due to the existence of the preceding horticultural name known to contemporaries and Velenovský in particular as “ A. elegans Hort. ” [“Horsf.”, sphalm.] (non Cunn. ex W. Hill). A. elegans Velenovský was later incorrectly recombined into the fossil genus of supposed dicotyledons or alternatively suggested dipteridaceous fern Haliserites Sternberg (1833: 34) as “ H. elegans ” (Velenovský) Knobloch (1978: 85) ; the combination is corrected below being based on the earliest available validly published binomen A. furcata Velenovský as H. furcatus (Velenovský) Doweld comb. nov.

A. elegans Ho 1952 .—The extant species A. elegans Ho (1952: 77) from China is another known later homonym which has been correctly substituted by a new name, A. debilis Wen (1994: 400) . Wen (1994) erroneously cited “ A. elegans Linden ” (in Decaisne & Planchon 1854: 108) as validly published preceding name, although it was a nomen nudum in this publication lacking description or reference to previously published description. However, compilers of The Plant List (2013 onwards) overlooked the existence of not only the three names of A. elegans published in 1862– 1863 but also of a validly published fossil species, A. elegans Velenovský (1884: 13) , and mistakenly treated A. debilis Wen as an illegitimate superfluous name. Therefore, A. debilis Wen should be rehabilitated due to the existence of at least four known validly published earlier homonyms, A. elegans Cunn. ex W.Hill (1 May 1862), A. elegans Linden ex Koch (17 May 1862), A. elegans Hort. ex Saporta (1863: 268) and A. elegans Velenovský (1884) , which were for the first time found in present historical nomenclatural study, and has never been recorded previously in World Checklist and Bibliography on Araliaceae ( Frodin & Govaerts 2003) .