Striga welwitschii Engler (1897: 514)

Arunraj, Parappurakkal Thazhe & Sanjai, Viswanathamandiram Natarajakaimal, 2023, Lectotypifications in Micrargeria and Striga (Orobanchaceae), Phytotaxa 612 (2), pp. 237-243 : 240-241

Striga welwitschii Engler (1897: 514)

(synonym of S. bilabiata (Thunberg) Kuntze (1898: 240) subsp. bilabiata )

Lectotype (designated here):— ANGOLA. Huilla , Dec. 1859, F.W.J. Welwitsch 5820 ( BM, barcode BM000930767 [image!], Fig. 4 ). Residual syntypes: ANGOLA, Huilla , Dec. 1859, F.W.J. Welwitsch 5820 ( LISU, barcode LISU223162 [image!] & PRE, barcode PRE0568417-0 [image!]); ANGOLA, Huilla , Lopolo , January 1860 & Quilengues , February 1860, F.W.J. Welwitsch 5821 ( BM, barcode BM000930768 [image!], LISU, barcode LISU223161 [image!] & PRE, barcode PRE0568418-0 [image!]); ANGOLA, Welwitsch 5820 ( K, barcode K000379772 [image!]; P, barcode P00573246 [image!] & COI, barcode COI00005701 [image!]); ANGOLA, Welwitsch 5821 ( K, barcode K000379773 [image!]; P, barcode P00573247 [image!] & COI, barcode COI00005702 [image!]).

Notes: In the protologue of the name S. welwitschii , the type citation was given as ‘ Angola (Welwitsch n. 5820, 5821)’. The specimens from Angolan collections of Friedrich Welwitsch during the period 1853 – 1861, with two numbers (5820 and 5821), consists of many gatherings, represent the syntypes of the name. After the court case on the Angolan collections of Welwitsch in 1875, the main set of his collections along with the original notes and descriptions were returned to Lisbon from London during 1876 – 1879 ( Tavares 1959). The second-best set was kept in London (at BM). The work of separation of Lisbon set (everything except BM set) for other herbaria probably started in 1877 ( Tavares 1967). The name S. welwitschii was published in 1897 by the German botanist Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler. According to Stafleu & Cowan (1976), the type specimens of names published by H.G.A. Engler are at B (mostly destroyed), duplicates at various depositories including BM, K and P. In search of the relevant specimens of this name, we traced none at B, but at LISU (barcodes LISU223161! and LISU223162!), BM (barcodes BM000930768! and BM000930767!), K (barcodes K000379772! and K000379773!), P (barcodes P00573246! and P00573247!), PRE (barcodes PRE0568417-0 and PRE0568418-0) and COI (barcodes COI00005701! and COI00005702!). At LISU, BM and PRE, the traced representatives of the number ‘ Welwitsch 5820’ possess collection details as, ‘ Angola, Huilla, Dec. 1859, F.W.J. Welwitsch 5820’ and the representatives of the number ‘ Welwitsch 5821’ possess it as ‘ Angola, Huilla, Lopolo, January 1860 & Quilengues, February 1860, F.W.J. Welwitsch 5821’. Interestingly, the specimens represent Welwitsch 5820 at LISU (barcode LISU223162) and BM (barcode BM000930767) have distinct labels, with the name ‘ Striga thymoides Welw. ’ and a brief morphological description. In many cases, Welwitsch wrote new species names on the specimens, but kept unpublished. Many of such invalid names were later validly published by other authors. Just a year before to the publication of Heirn’s Catalogue ( Hiern 1898), Engler validly published the name S. welwitschii based on Welwitsch 5820 & 5821. Because of that, Hiern did not bother about S. thymoides and followed S. welwitschii in his Catalogue. The specimens traced at K, P and COI do not have these much elaborate labels. The name S. thymoides and associated morphological description are altogether absent in these sheets. They bear only the details ‘Angola’ as collection locality and the number either Welwitsch 5820 or 5821. In this context, the better-preserved specimen at BM represents the number Welwitsch 5820 (barcode BM000930767) is selected here as the lectotype of the name S. welwitschii . Welwitsch has not followed a definite number system and included different gatherings under the same number to his collections ( Albuquerque et al. 2009; Figueiredo & Smith 2020). So, all the remaining specimens should be residual syntypes only.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Lectotype of Striga welwitschii Engler (barcode BM000930767). © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London. Reproduced with permission.