Amaranthus blitum L., 1753

Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part A), Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London: Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum, pp. 252-342 : 283-284

Amaranthus lividus Linnaeus , Species Plantarum 2: 990. 1753.

"Habitat in Virginia." RCN: 7173.

Type not designated.

Original material: [icon] in Bauhin & Cherler, Hist. Pl. Univ. 2: 966. 1651.

Current name: Amaranthus blitum L. ( Amaranthaceae ).

Note: The typification of this name is somewhat complicated. Aellen (in Rechinger, Fl. Iranica 91: 8. 1972) indicated 1174.14 (LINN) as type, but this sheet is annotated in such a way as to link it with A. blitum L. , of which it is the type. Various authors have therefore rejected Aellen’s choice as having been ineligible (i.e. not original material for the name), and most have followed a neotypification by Townsend (in Nasir & Ali, Fl. W. Pakistan 71: 17. 1974). However, Linnaeus’ third synonym is an account by Bauhin and Cherler, accompanied by an illustration. While Linnaeus did qualify the inclusion of this illustration with a “?”, this cannot justify its exclusion from the protologue, and its existence (as an original element) precludes the designation of a neotype.