Veronica spicata var. pseudoorchidea, Paczoski, 1909

Mosyakin, Sergei L., Albach, Dirk C. & Shevera, Myroslav V., 2023, On Veronica paczoskiana and the real identity and typification of V. spicata var. pseudoorchidea (Plantaginaceae), Phytotaxa 618 (1), pp. 47-58 : 51-52

Taxonomy: Lectotype designation for the name Veronica spicata var. pseudoorchidea

Krytzka et al. (2000: 538–539) reported the type of V. spicata var. pseudoorchidea correctly as “…near Motovylivka…” and suggested (with a question mark) that the type specimen (or specimens?) is/are probably deposited at the Kherson Regional Museum (KHEM?). The acronym mentioned (or suggested) by Krytzka et al. (2000) is not yet registered in Index Herbariorum ; however, this acronym (with an asterisk, KHEM*, indicating that it was proposed provisionally for further registration in Index Herbariorum ; see Shiyan 2011: 10), is used in the register of Ukrainian herbaria (Deriuzhyna, in Shiyan 2011: 340–343, 410). For brevity and efficient communication, below we informally use that proposed provisional acronym. The authors ( Krytzka et al. 2000) evidently have not seen any original specimens prior to publication of their article in 2000. The information provided by Krytzka et al. (2000) lacked details that were needed for precise type (lectotype) designation, and are considered just as a suggestion of a possible location of the type or original specimens, following the indication in the protologue. Thus, here we provide the specific lectotypification, following Art. 9.17 of the ICN ( Turland et al. 2018).

The digital images of Paczoski’s specimens of Veronica spicata var. pseudoorchidea were sent in December 2019 to Myroslav V. Shevera by Alla V. Deriuzhyna, who at that time was an employee of the Kherson Regional Museum. According to that information, there are four specimens at the KHEM herbarium annotated by Paczoski as Veronica spicata var. pseudoorchidea . One specimen has the following label: “ Veronica spicata L. var. pseudorchidea Paczoski. in pinetis [one short word illegible] arenoso. Motowilowka [,] gub. Kiew [,] distr. Wassilkow 11/24, VII 1912. I. Paczoski” (KHEM museum inventory No: 41063, Б 3210/4), meaning that the plants were collected in Motovylivka of Kiev Governorate, Vasilkov District (note that the toponyms were cited in the Polish spelling), i.e. in locus classicus. However, since that specimen was collected in 1912, after the year of publication of the name V. spicata var. pseudorchidea , it is not part of original material of that name. Another specimen (KHEM museum inventory No: 41063, Б 3210/1) was collected in 1913 “near Kremenchug of Poltava Governorate” (“бл. Кременчуга Полт. губ.”, now Kremenchuk, Kremenchuk District, Poltava Region, Ukraine) and is thus also not part of original material.

Two specimens at KHEM matching the protologue information were collected in 1908 (KHEM museum inventory Nos: 41063, Б 3210/1 and 41063, Б 3210/2, see below). No specimen can be considered the holotype; there also might be other original specimens (syntypes) matching the protologue (see Art. 9 of the ICN: Turland et al. 2018) because Paczoski (1909: 143) indicated in the protologue multiple locations: “near Motovylivka”, but also in other regions reported in his Flora of Polesie ( Paczoski 1899), now in present-day Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine (see comments above). We designate one of these two available original specimen as the lectotype of the name Veronica spicata L. var. pseudoorchidea Pacz .

Veronica spicata L. var. pseudoorchidea Paczoski (1909: 144) , as “ pseudorchidea ” ≡ Veronica pseudoorchidea (Pacz.) Klokov (1976: 109) ≡ Pseudolysimachion spicatum (L.) Opiz (1852: 80) var. pseudoorchideum (Pacz.) Tzvelev (1999: 117) .

Type (lectotype, here designated): Location: UKRAINE. Kyiv Region, Fastiv District, pine and pine-oak forests north of villages Borova and Motovylivka . Original label in Russian (pre-reform orthography): “ Veronica spicata L. var. pseudorchidea Paczoski. Въ сосн. и дуб. соснов. лѣсахъ не рѣдко. Мотовиловка Кіевск. губ. Вас. у. [modern Russian spelling, without abbreviations: В сосновых и дубово-сосновых лесах не редко. Мотовиловка Киевской губернии, Васильковского уеЗда] 17. VII 1908. I. Пачоскій ”. Paczoski Herbarium at the Kherson Regional Museum ( KHEM, museum inventory No: 41063 , Б 3210/3) .

Ukrainian translation (without abbreviations): “ Veronica spicata L. var. pseudorchidea Paczoski. У соснових та дубово-соснових лісах нерідко. Мотовилівка Київської губернії Васильківського повіту. 17. VII 1908. Й. Пачоський”. English translation (without abbreviations): “ Veronica spicata L. var. pseudorchidea Paczoski. In pine and oak-pine forests, not rare. Motovylivka, Kyiv Governorate (Ukrainian: гyбернія; Russian: гyберния), Vasylkiv District (Ukrainian: povit; Russian: uezd). 17. VII 1908. J. Paczoski” ( Fig. 2 ).

Synonyms (heterotypic):

Veronica paczoskiana Klokov (1976: 105) ≡ Veronica spicata subsp. paczoskiana (Klokov) Kosachev (2003: 22) ≡ Pseudolysimachion paczoskianum (Klokov) Ostapko (2014: 673) .

Type (holotype): Location: UKRAINE. Cherkasy Region, Cherkasy District (formerly Kaniv District), Kaniv urban community, village Mykhailivka , Mykhailivka Forest . Protologue: Latin: “RSS Ucr., dit. Czerkassica, distr. Kanevensis, p. Michajlovka, pinetum pteridiosum Michajlovskij bor dictum, 27.VII 1972, M. Klokov ( KW)” ( Klokov 1976: 106); Russian: “УССР, Черкасская обл., Каневский р-н., с. Михайловка, Михайловский бор (pinetum pteridiosum), 27.VII 1972, М. Клоков (Киев)” ( Klokov 1976: 107). Original label in Ukrainian: “ Veronica paczoskiana Klok. sp. n. Typus! УРСР, Черкаська обл., с. Михайлівка. Михайлівський бір. Pinetum pteridioso-herbosum. 27 VII 1972. М. Клоков”, KW000058098 (holotypus), Fig. 3 , image also available online from: https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.kw000058098 .

Plants mounted on the holotype sheet of V. paczoskiana lack wider lower leaves (present in the lectotype of V. spicata var. pseudoorchidea ) due to incomplete sampling of just the stems above the basal rosette; however, the narrow and glabrous middle and upper cauline leaves are very similar in the two type specimens; they also match the corresponding characters of plants observed in the locus classicus of V. paczoskiana ( Fig. 4a, 4b ). Thus, morphological characters of the type specimens cited above leave no doubt that Paczoski, when describing the variety V. spicata var. pseudoorchidea , had in mind exactly the same taxon or morphotype as did Klokov when he later published his V. paczoskiana . Also, contrary to the opinion of Klokov (1976), that variety was described not from southern Ukraine but from the borderland between the Forest and Forest-Steppe physiographic zones of Ukraine, quite close to the locus classicus of V. paczoskiana in the Ukrainian Right-Bank Forest-Steppe. Most notably, both protologues mention the origin of specimens from pine forests.

The morphotype that by its indumentum characters is intermediate between V. spicata s. str. and V. spicata var. pseudoorchidea (= V. paczoskiana ), i.e. “ V. pseudoorchidea ” sensu Klokov, thus seems to remain nameless at present; however, we think that any formal taxonomic recognition of such occasional intermediate forms is unnecessary, since they can be easily housed within var. pseudoorchidea without extending its limits of variation too much.

It should be noted that Klokov (1976: 111) treated his “ V. pseudoorchidea ” (sensu Klokov, see above) as a rather stabilized hybridogenous “race” that emerged due to hybridization between V. paczoskiana and some morphotypes of V. spicata . He also hypothesized that V. paczoskiana is “not a direct phylogenetic derivate of the modern and cooccurring V. spicata L. sensu proprio, but it [ V. paczoskiana ] is rather probably connected with a more ancient [species] V. maeotica Klok. ; however, the observed motley pattern of pine-forest forms [morphotypes] is better described as a process of hybrid swamping of a relict pine-forest race by an aggressive modern race, with the parallel emergence of quite stable hybridogenous forms ( pseudoorchidea , pineticola)” (our translation). This concept is not supported by our actual data.

However, according to DNA polymorphism data analyzed separately (Albach et al., in preparation), Siberian plants identified as V. spicata subsp. paczoskiana appear not to be closely related to the typical Ukrainian plants assigned to V. paczoskiana or V. spicata var. pseudoorchidea . Thus, the morphotype should not be recognized at the species or subspecies level but it appears to be a pine forest and forest-steppe ecotype that evolved in parallel several times in various regions of Eurasia within the total range of V. spicata s.l. Under these conditions, the appropriate rank for the taxon is that of the variety (Albach et al., in preparation), which should be then called V. spicata var. pseudoorchidea .

Figures

FIGURE 2. Lectotype of Veronica spicata var. pseudoorchidea Pacz. (KHEM, museum inventory No: 41063, Б 3210/3).

FIGURE 3. Holotype of Veronica paczoskiana Klokov (KW000058098).

FIGURE 4. Plants growing in the locus classicus of Veronica paczoskiana Klokov (Mykhailivka Forest near Kaniv, Cherkasy Region, Ukraine) and corresponding to its characters reported in the protologue. 4a: Inflorescence; 4b: a glabrous and glossy cauline leaf. Photographs by Sergei Mosyakin (28 June 2017).