Matthiola aspera Boiss., Diagn. Pl.

AL-Shehbaz, Ihsan A. & Barriera, Gabrielle, 2019, Typification of Edmond Boissier’s Cruciferae (Brassicaceae) names enumerated in Flora Orientalis, Boissiera 72, pp. 1-193 : 21-22

Matthiola aspera Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Orient. 8: 16. 1849.

Type: “Hab. in sterilissimis calidis Judaeae inter S. Saba et mare Mortuum, legi [Boissier] Maio 1846”.

Holotypus: PALESTINE: “ Palaestina , inter Jerusalem et Jericho”, IV–V.1846, Boissier s.n. ( G-BOIS [ G00330324 ]; iso-: G [ G00342140 , G00342143 ], KW [ KW000127935 ], P [ P00731168 , P00731169 ]) .

Notes. – The holotype is a collection folder of two sheets, of which the barcoded one has the full label above, and the other has Boissier’s handwriting as “ Palestina propè Jericho.” G00342140 , P00731168 and P00731169 duplicates have “ Mayo 1846 ” as date.

As shown in other cases below, Boissier’s protologue of a given taxon was sometimes presented in a broader geographic interpretation than found on the specimens in his herbarium or other herbaria. The reverse situation was also observed. In the case of Saint (or S.) Saba, or Mar Saba in Arabic, Wikipedia states that it is a Greek Orthodox monastery overlooking Kidron Valley to the east of Old Jerusalem City.

Greuter & Burdet ( GREUTER & RAUS, 1983) reduced M. aspera to a subspecies of M. longipetala , but the differences in the indumentum, presence of glands on the sepals, petal color and shape, and seed width justify the recognition of two distinct species, as done by ZOHARY (1966) and GOWLER (1998). Matthiola aspera is endemic to Israel and neighboring Jordan, and its report from Iraq ( RECHINGER, 1968: 240) was based on plants of M. longipetala .