Onobrychis laconica, Orph. ex Boissier, 1872

Guacchio, Emanuele Del, Bernardo, Liliana & Iamonico, Duilio, 2021, The chimeric Onobrychis tenoreana (Fabaceae) and lectotypification of the names O. laconica and O. pentelica, Phytotaxa 505 (2), pp. 240-244 : 240-242

Typification of Onobrychis laconica

Onobrychis laconica was validly published by Boissier (1872 –1873: 530) through a diagnosis and a description; the habitat and provenance were also provided (“Hab. in siccis regionis subalpinae, mons Malevo Laconiae (Orph), mons Kyllene alt. 6500′ (Heldr!), mons Tymphrestus Aetoliae supra Carpenisi alt. 4000′ (Samar. et Guicc.!)”. Boissier (1872 –1873) reported as synonyms “ O. pulchella Heldr. in Boiss. Diagn. Ser. II, 6, p. 64, non Schrenk” [i.e., O. pulchella Heldreich in Boissier (1859: 64), and “ O. Heldreichii Bge. in litt.” (not validly published according to the Art. 36.1b of ICN). Onobrychis laconica is therefore a replacement name, due to the existence of the previous and legitimate O. pulchella Schrenk in Fischer & Meyer (1841: 87) (Arts. 6.11 and 53.3 of ICN). The type of O. laconica is the same of that of the illegitimate O. pulchella Heldr. in Boiss., non Schrenk (Art. 7.4 of ICN). The latter name was published providing a detailed description, habitat, provenance (“Hab. in pascuis regionis abietinae montis Tymphresti (Veluchi) Eurytaniae supra Carpenitzi alt. 4000′), and a diagnosis, all in Latin language.

We traced the following specimens: FI010913, FI010914, JE00010035, MPU021490, MPU022851, P03077995, P02850986, and P02274509 (duplicates are available at G -Boiss and TAU; see Raptis et al. 2019). All the examined specimens bear the following original label, printed but in Heldreich’s handwriting (P02274509 was hand-copied): “De Heldreich Herbarium Graecum Normale | N. 664. Onobrychis pulchella Heldr. nov. sp. | In pascuis reg. abietinae m. Tymphresti Veluchi hod. Eurytaniae, l.d. Rovia, alt. 4000 supra Carpenisi. D. 8 Aug. 1857. Detexerunt am. Samaritani A Guicciardi”. Each one of these specimens is eligible as lectotype. but FI010913 is the best choice, due to its satisfying conservation status and completeness. In fact, it is represented by three individuals, two of them flowering, the remaining one showing mature fruits (very important for diagnostic purposes). The plant is characterized by appressed hairiness, elliptic-linear leaflets, calyx with brownish hairs, corolla twice longer than calyx, legume a little wider than calyx and with 3–4 short teeth, so both agreeing with the protologue ( Boissier 1872 –1873) and with the current usage of the name ( Ball 1968).