Melochia spicata (L.) Fryxell

Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part M), Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London: Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum, pp. 651-689 : 654

Malva spicata Linnaeus , Systema Naturae, ed. 10, 2: 1146. 1759.

RCN: 5037.

Lectotype (Borssum Waalkes in Blumea 14: 154. 1966): [icon] " Althaea spicata , betonicae folio villosissimo " in Sloane, Voy. Jamaica 1: 218, t. 138, f. 1. 1707. - Typotype: Herb. Sloane 5: 55 ( BM-SL) .

Current name: Melochia spicata (L.) Fryxell ( Sterculiaceae ).

Note: Bates (in Rhodora 84: 196. 1982) treated material in Herb. Sloane (apparently in vol. 5: 56, BM-SL), identifiable as Malvastrum americanum (L.) Torrey , as the lectotype, but it was never seen by Linnaeus and is not original material for the name. Krapovickas & Cristóbal (in Bonplandia 9: 257-258. 1997) argued that the type is 870.1 (LINN), another specimen of the same species, into the synonymy of which Malva spicata would then fall. However, the competing Sloane illustration is clearly an original element for the name and was formally chosen as the type by Borssum Waalkes in 1966. Later authors have not provided grounds for rejecting this choice. Sloane’s plant is of the species formerly known as Melochia villosa (Mill.) Fawc. & Rendle , for which the new combination Melochia spicata (L.) Fryxell was made in 1988.