Hussonia uncata Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Orient. 8: 47. 1849.

Type: “Hab. in Wadi Feiran Arabiae petreae Schimper No 453, frequens in toto deserto Arabiae petreae Palaestinae contermino inter Nuckl et Gaza [Boissier] in arenosis ad umbram suffruticum inter quos caules scandunt, in Palaestinae desertis (Pinard). Fl. Aprili”.

Lectotypus (designated here): ISRAEL: “Arabia petraea, inter Nuckl et Gaza”, III.1846, Boissier s.n. (G-BOIS [G00332577]; isolecto-: G [G00371611, G00371613, G00371614], K [K000653928, K000653929], KW [KW000127960], P [P00741642, P00741643, P00741660, P00741661], PH [PH00015037]) . Syntypi: SINE PATRIA: “Arabia petraea”, 1846, Pinard s.n. (G [G00371610, G00371612], K [K000230250], KW [KW000127959], P [P00741662]) . EGYPT: “Arabia petraea, Wadi Ferran”, 18.V.1835, Schimper 453 (MO [MO3831305], P [P00741646, P00741647], TUB [TUB000588, TUB000589]) .

= Erucaria pinnata (Viv.) Täckh. & Boulos in Publ. Cairo Univ. Herb. 5: 37. 1974.

Notes. – The lectotype is a collection folder of five sheets, of which one has Boissier’s handwriting of Erucaria in black ink with species epithet in red and “inter Nuckl et Gaza” on a printed label that reads “Arabia petraea, Mart. 1846. E. Boissier”. Another sheet is unlabeled, two carry the month and year of collection, and the fifth has only the above-mentioned printed label.

No duplicates of Pinard’s collection were found in G-BOIS, but the above sheets at G, K, KW, and P have printed labels handwritten by Boissier with the name “ Erucaria uncata Boiss. ” However, this name is a nomen nudum listed as synonym in the original publication of Hussonia uncata .

The two TUB duplicates have the collection number as Schimper 457 instead of 453, but all the data are the same in both numbers, and both specimens are considered as most likely syntypes.

Greuter and Burdet (GREUTER & RAUS, 1983: 88) and GREUTER et al. (1986: 105) treated Hussonia uncata as a subspecies of Erucaria pinnata, but the differences between them are minor, and it is better to recognize a single, slightly polymorphic species as did BOULOS (1999).

ZOHARY (1966) followed SCHULZ (1923) in treating the species as Erucaria uncata (Boiss.) Asch. & Schweinf., but Boissier’s plant is indistinguishable from the earlier published Raphanus pinnatus Viv. (Fl. Libyc. Spec.: 37. 1824), and both plants have non-torulose fruit with a long, curved beak. SCHULZ (1919) misinterpreted the limits of the species and transferred the latter name as Reboudia pinnata (Viv.) O.E. Schulz, which is indistinguishable from Boissier’s Erucaria microcarpa, a species with torulose, beakless fruit.