Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.

Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part C), Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London: Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum, pp. 370-473 : 372

Cactus opuntia Linnaeus , Species Plantarum 1: 468. 1753 .

"Habitat in America, Peru, Virginia, nunc in Hispania, Lusitania." RCN: 3584.

Lectotype (Heath in Calyx 2: 74. 1992): [icon] " Opuntia vulgo herbariorum " in Bauhin & Cherler, Hist. Pl. Univ. 1(1): 154. 1650.

Current name: Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. ( Cactaceae ).

Note: Authors including Hunt (in Milne-Redhead & Polhill, Fl. Trop. E. Africa, Cactaceae : 3. 1968), Obermeyer (in Ross, Fl. Southern Africa 22: 153. 1976) and Leuenberger (in Willdenowia 16: 498. 1987) interpreted the name via the cited Bauhin & Cherler illustration but without explicitly treating it as the type. Benson (Cacti U.S. Canada: 923. 1982) wrongly designated 201.7 (S), material unannotated by Linnaeus and not original material for the name, as lectotype before Heath (in Calyx 2: 74. 1992) formally made the Bauhin & Cherler figure the type. Leuenberger (in Taxon 42: 419, f. 2. 1993), however, rejected Heath’s choice in favour of a Burser collection (UPS) on the grounds that the figure conflicts with the diagnosis but, as a cited illustration, it cannot be dismissed in this way as it forms part of the protologue. Crook & Mottram (in Bradleya 22: 73-74. 2004) provide a further review, reproducing images of the Burser material (f. 106d) and the cited Bauhin & Cherler type (f. 106c), while following Leuenberger’s type choice.