Pauridia alba (Thunb.) Snijman & Kocyan, 2013

Snijman, Deirdre A. & Kocyan, Alexander, 2013, The genus Pauridia (Hypoxidaceae) amplified to include Hypoxis sect. Ianthe, Saniella and Spiloxene, with revised nomenclature and typification, Phytotaxa 116 (1), pp. 19-33 : 24

Pauridia alba (Thunb.) Snijman & Kocyan , comb. nov.

Ξ Spiloxene alba (Thunb.) Fourcade (1932: 76)

Bas.:— Fabricia alba Thunberg (1779: 26) (excluding var. 1 Thunberg 1779: 27) Ξ Hypoxis alba (Thunb.) Linnaeus f. (1782: 198). Type (lectotype designated here):— SOUTH AFRICA. [Western Cape], Promontorii Bonae Spei, Thunberg s.n. (UPS-THUNB! No. 8248 [image]). Included amongst Thunberg’s collections in UPS are three sheets annotated as ‘ Hypoxis alba ’. Sheet 8248 is the one that most clearly shows the diagnostic, oblong ovary (fruit) mentioned in the protologue.

= Hypoxis pumila Lamarck (1789: 184) , syn. nov. Type (lectotype designated here):— SOUTH AFRICA. Cap de Bonneespérance, Lamarck s.n. (P! No. P00562768 [image], solitary-flowered specimen on right hand side of sheet). To date Hypoxis pumila has been treated as a synonym of Spiloxene minuta (L.) Fourcade (1932: 76), most recently by Govaerts (2012: record number 279164). The protologue of H. pumila states: “ scapis foliosis unifloris ” which is at variance with that of Helonias minuta Linnaeus (1771: 225) , the basionym of S. minuta , which has “ scapis ramosis ”. Lamarck’s collection (P) includes one sheet that bears the name Hypoxis pumila . The plant on the left hand side of the sheet bears two inflorescences and the scape in each bears two flowers. This is taken to match Linnaeus’ description of “ scapis ramosis ” for S. minuta , on the assumption that the “divided scape” refers to the scape ‘dividing’ apically into a two-flowered inflorescence. The plant on the right hand side of the sheet, in contrast, bears a single-flowered inflorescence which is in accordance with Lamarck’s description, hence its choice as lectotype of H. pumila . It matches some of the smallest representatives of Pauridia alba .

Note:—According to Bullock (1962), Fabricia Thunberg (1779: 23) is a synonym of the legitimately named Empodium Salisbury (1866: 43) . Plants belonging to Fabricia alba , the basionym of Pauridia alba , have none of the diagnostic features of Empodium , namely a unilocular ovary with three parietal placentas and an inflorescence which consists of a single flower without bracts.