Coccinia palmata (L.) M.Roem., Syn. pepon.: 93. 1846.

Holstein, Norbert, 2015, Monograph of Coccinia (Cucurbitaceae), PhytoKeys 54, pp. 1-166 : 131

Coccinia palmata (L.) M.Roem., Syn. pepon.: 93. 1846.

Bryonia palmata L., Sp. pl. 2: 1012. 1753. Bryonia zeylanica, folio quinquepartito Burm., Thes. zeylan.: 49. 1737. Bryonia foliis palmatis lævibus quinquepartitis: laciniis lanceolatis repando-serratis L., Fl. zeyl.: 146. 1747.

Coccinia palmata Type: [Sri Lanka]. No location given. P. Hermann 25 (Type lost?).

Coccinia palmata Type: [Sri Lanka]. No location given. P. Hermann 41 (Type lost?).

Coccinia palmata Type: [Sri Lanka]. No location given. P. Hermann 62 (Type lost?).

Coccinia palmata Type: [Sri Lanka]. No location given. P. Hermann 353 [ Musæum zeylonicum 2:58] (Lectotype, designated by Jeffrey (1962: 352): BM [BM-000621700]).

Remarks.

The name Coccinia palmata has been applied illegitimately for Coccinia mackenii for a long time due to an overlooked combination. When Wight and Arnott published the name Coccinia indica , they cited Bryonia grandis L. and also tentatively included the citation of Bryonia palmata L. More likely, however, they meant a specimen in Herbarium Madras that was identified as Bryonia palmata L. One year after Voigt’s correction to Coccinia grandis (L.) Voigt, Roemer (1846) also recognized the seemingly missing combination and that Linnaeus’ Bryonia palmata and Bryonia grandis indeed referred to different species. Roemer treated them, amongst other species, as Coccinia grandis (L.) M.Roem. (nom. illeg.) and Coccinia palmata (L.) M.Roem. Roemer cited the second edition of Linnaeus’ Species plantarum (1763), which has the identical description for this species as the first edition, so he explicitely meant Bryonia palmata to be a part of Coccinia . The Bryonia palmata typolectotype belongs to what is now widely called Diplocyclos , due to the globose striped fruits easily recognizable as being not part of Coccinia . Apart from that, another species from South Africa was described with the name Cephalandra palmata E.Mey. ex Sond. ( Harvey and Sonder 1862). Cogniaux (1881) accepted this species in Coccinia but overlooked Coccinia palmata (L.) M.Roem. He thus created an illegitimate Coccinia palmata (E.Mey. ex Sond.) Cogn., which has since been used for this species. Holstein and Renner (2010) called attention to this erroneous usage by resurrecting the correct name, Coccinia mackenii Naudin ex C.Huber, while Coccinia palmata is a synonym of Diplocyclos palmatus in spite of its wide usage for Coccinia mackenii since then.