Premna wightiana Schauer (1847: 635), 2650

Kumar, Vannaratta Veettil Naveen, Prabhukumar, Konickal Mambetta, Cheriyath, Mohammed Shameer, Jagadeesan, Raveendran, Sunil, Chandrasseril Narayanan & Balachandran, Indira, 2023, Lectotypification of the name Premna wightiana Schauer (Lamiaceae) and notes on its distribution in India, Phytotaxa 619 (3), pp. 250-254 : 250-251

Premna wightiana Schauer (1847: 635)

≡ Gumira wightiana (Schauer) Kuntze (1891: 508) ; Premna thyrsoidea Wight (1849: t. 1485), pro syn.

Type:— INDIA, Dindigul , 10 th July 1837, Wight 2650 (lectotype K, barcode K001114132 [digital image!], designated here). Figure 3 .

Residual syntype: INDIA, Soratoor , s.d, Wight s.n. (K, barcode K001114134 [digital image!]) .

Nomenclatural notes:— Schauer published the name P. wightiana in 1847 based on Wight’s heterogenous collections from Soratoor and Dindygul (=Dindigul) (Wallich’s catalogue no. 1770B). Unaware of this, Wight proposed another name for the same plant as P. thyrsoidea (because of the thyrse or panicle nature of the inflorescence) in his Icones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis (t. 1485) and wrote “ before Schauer’s Monograph reached me I have named this plant P. thyrsoidea , a name which, being anticipated, must now give place to the older name ”. Hence the name P. thyrsoidea will consider as a ‘ pro syn. ’ as per Art. 36.1 and 50.A(1) of Shenzhen code (Turland et al. 2012). During the study, we have traced a single sheet of Wight’s collections viz. Soratoor (K001114134) and Dindigul (K001114132) from Kew herbarium. Both two specimens were mounted on a single sheet [Soratoor-left side upper portion (two fruiting twigs), Dindigul-left side bottom and right side (three flowering and fruiting twigs)]. Both specimens are well preserved and but the Dindigul collection having both flowers and fruits compared to the Soratoor collection (bear only fruits). According to Art. 9.3 of Shenzhen code (Turland et al. 2012) the collection from Dindigul (barcode No. K001114132) is considered as the best choice among the other original material, which is congruent to the description provided and provenance mentioned in the protologue, hence designated here as the lectotype.

Specimens examined:— India. Kerala: Idukki district, Bodymettu, 15 October 2017, V.V. Naveen Kumar 10717 (CMPR). Tamil Nadu: Villupuram district , Gingee, Pakkamalai RF, 350 m, 01 October 2002, Paul Blanch 3200 (AURO); 08 August 2001, Paul Blanch F 7964 (AURO); 15 March 2000, Paul Blanch & Walter F. Gastmans 5608 (AURO); Travancore, 1837, R. Wight 2577 (K001067688); Courtallum, R. Wight 644 (K001067687) .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Digital image of proposed lectotype of Premna wightiana Schauer, Wight 2650 (K, K001114132 [the part on the right of the line] (© copyright Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew).