Buchozia japonica (Thunb.) Callm., 2021

Lack, Hans Walter, Böhme, Katrin & Callmander, Martin W., 2021, Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle’s L’Heritier Reliquiae: A volume of miscellaneous prints kept in Geneva, Candollea 76 (1), pp. 145-165 : 162

Buchozia japonica (Thunb.) Callm. , comb. nov.

≡ Lycium japonicum Thunb. in Nova Acta Regiae Soc. Sci. Upsal. 3: 207. 1780.

≡ Serissa japonica (Thunb.) Thunb. , Nov. Gen. Pl. 9: 132. 17.XII.1798, syn. nov.

– Buchozia coprosmoides L’Hér. , Buchozia [unpaginated]. VII–XII. 1788 [nom. illeg.].

Lectotypus (designated here by Callmander & Lack): JAPAN: “prope Nagasaki et alibi vulgare”, s.d., Thunberg s.n. ( UPS-THUNB nº 5316 image! ; isolecto-: MPU [ MPU014200 ] image!, UPS-THUNB nº 5317 image!, UPS-THUNB nº 5318 image!).

Notes. – The genus Buchozia (Rubiaceae) was published a year before Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (1748–1836) validated the name Serissa Comm. ex Juss. on 4 August 1789 ( STAFLEU, 1963a) based on a cultivated plant in Mauritius collected by Philibert Commerson (1727–1773). Jussieu in CUVIER (1817: 409) wrote regarding Buchozia “L’Héritier avait donné ce nom à un genre de plantes plus connu sous celui de Serissa [L’Héritier had given this name to a genus of plants better known as Serissa ]”.

Buchozia coprosmoides L’Hér. is a superfluous and illegitimate name and typified by the type of Lycium japonicum Thunb. because that species, whose epithet should have been adopted, was cited as synonym ( TURLAND et al., 2018: Art. 7.5).

The genus Buchozia predates Serissa and a new combination is necessary and made here. Original material deposited in UPS consists of three sheets (UPS-THUNB nº 5316, UPS-THUNB nº 5317, UPS-THUNB nº 5318) with a fragment in MPU [MPU014200]. The best-preserved sheet is designated here as the lectotype. Buchozia japonica is native from southeast Asia ( China to Japan) and is a commonly cultivated shrub.

The dedication of L’Héritier to Buchoz speaks for itself: “To the memory of Pierre-Joseph Buc’hoz, Doctor of Medicine, who was among the passing jumble of parasitic authors and of almost no botanical importance, but was more often very much known as injurious to science.” (translated from Latin by R. Gereau).

CANDOLLE (1830: 575) quoted the engraving included in L’Heritier’s Reliquiae which he had in his library when writing his account of the genus Serissa , the name he used for Buchozia .