Biscutella algeriensis

Vicente, Alicia, Alonso, Ángeles, Thiébaut, Mélanie & Crespo, Manuel B., 2015, Lectotype designation for three North African names of Biscutella (Brassicaceae) published by Claude Thomas Alexis Jordan, Phytotaxa 212 (3), pp. 236-242 : 237

Biscutella algeriensis Jordan (1864: 318)

Lectotype (designated here, or perhaps holotype): — ALGERIA. “21. Biscutella apula L. Env. d’Alger : Birmandreis. 16 avril 1862. Mr Revelière” (handwriting). “ Biscutella algeriensis Jord. (handwriting) ex Herb. Al. JORDAN 187_” (typed) ( MPU-024556 [digital photo!]) [image available at http://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen. MPU024556 ].

This species was described on the basis of material received from E. Revelière, which was collected in the surroundings of Alger (cfr. Jordan 1864). Among Jordan’s material at MPU, one sheet is found which fits the collection data in the protologue. It includes three fragments whose morphological features match the original description. However, those samples were gathered at Birmandreis (currently Bir-Mourad-Raïs) close to Alger ( Algeria), a site not explicitly cited by Jordan in the protologue.

The voucher bears several labels. One of them apparently includes Revelière’s original information: “21. Biscutella apula L. / Env. d’Alger: Birmandreis. / 16 avril 1862.” ; it is also annotated “algeriensis ” (to replace “apula ”) and “ Mr Revelière” at the bottom, both in Jordan’s handwriting. The second label is also in Jordan’s handwriting and includes “ Biscutella algeriensis Jord. ”, together with the typewriting “ex Herb. Al. JORDAN 187_”. And more interestingly, a recent one from MPU ( Herbier Général des Phanerogames ) is annotated by Louise Boulangeat with the following information: “ MPU NOTULAE CRITICAE (typed) TYPE Revelière s.n. 16.04.1862. / Biscutella algeriensis Jord., Diagn, Esp. Nouv. : 318 (1864) / Nom retenu selon The Plant List: Biscutella lyrata L. ALGERIE / 27.11.2012 AUCTOR: Louise Boulangeat (typed)”. Other information includes a xerocopy of the original description, an additional label showing “HERBIER JORDAN ”, and the bar code number of MPU .

According to McNeill (2014) we designate this sheet as lectotype of B. algeriensis , since we cannot be sure that it was the only material studied by Jordan. In fact, Jordan only mentioned it was collected “aux environs d’Alger”, making no direct reference to Birmandreis, the locality mentioned on Revelière’s original label. Otherwise, it would be regarded as holotype.

In recent times, B. algeriensis has usually been considered a synonym in B. lyrata Linnaeus (1771: 254) (cfr. Greuter et al. 1986, Le Floc’h et al. 2010, Marhold 2011), or also a variety of B. didyma Linnaeus (1753: 653) subsp. lyrata (L.) Nyman (1878: 59) (cfr. Battandier & Trabut 1888, Jahandiez & Maire 1932, Maire 1967, Pottier-Alapetite 1979). Sometimes, it was also treated as synonym of B. didyma var. raphanifolia Cosson (1887: 287) (incl. B. lyrata L.), non B. raphanifolia Poiret (1789: 198) , a plant that Cosson (1887) treated as different from his B. radicata Coss. & Durieu (in Cosson 1873b: 224), a synonym of B. raphanifolia Poir.