Typification of eight current and seven related names and a new section in the genus Bromus (Bromeae, Pooideae, Poaceae)
Author
Llamas, Felix
Author
Acedo, Carmen
text
PhytoKeys
2019
121
53
72
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.121.30254
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.121.30254
1314-2003-121-53
A90CEB1FFFFDE325FFC1FFD53E14FF93
2702029
Bromus alopecuros Poir., Voy. Barbarie. 2: 100-101 (1789)
Bromus alopecuros
Poir., Voy. Barbarie. 2: 100-101 (1789). Type Protologue: "Cette
espece
croit
dans les prairies aux environs de la Calle ". Type: [Algeria] Numidia (lectotype, designated here: P [P02622864 image!]). (Figure 1)
Bromus contortus
Desf., Fl. Atlant. 1: 95, tab. 25 (1798). Type Protologue: "Habitat prope La Calle". Type: [Algeria] La Calle (lectotype, designated here: P [P00320328 image!]). (Figure 2)
Bromus alopecuroides
Poir. in Lamarck, Encycl., Suppl. 1: 703 (1810), nom. illeg. superfl. for
Bromus contortus
Desf. Type Protologue: [Algeria] "Barbarie, dans les
pres
, aux environs de Lacalle".
Remarks.
Currently, the species
Bromus alopecuros
Poir. has at least two synonyms:
B. alopecuroides
Poir. and
B. contortus
Desf.
In describing
Bromus alopecuros
,
Poiret (1789
: 100) stated in the protologue diagnosis "Panicula conferta erecta, spiculis oblongis subsessilibus, aristis inferne spiraliter contortis." followed by a description in French and the locotypic indication indicating this species grows around La Calle [now El Kala, El Tarf province, Algeria].
During our search for original material in the herbaria conserving the plants of Poiret (FI, H, P and UPS), we found only one specimen collected by him. There is a sheet in P (P02622864) from Numidia (Algeria
"Numidia"
included in the full title of his publication), registered as original material, bearing a single plant annotated as
B. alopecuros
with five labels transcribed below; one of them handwritten by Poiret:
Label 1: [printed]. Herb. Poiret in Herb. Moquin-Tandom.
Label 2: [handwritten by Poiret] "brom. contortus Desf.
Bromus alopecuros
(n) Panicula conferta erecta spiculis oblongis subsessilibus, aristis inferne spiraliter contortis. (nobis) h. Poiret ex Numidia.
Label 3: [printed]: barcode Herbier museum Paris P 02622864
Label 4: [handwritten]
Bromus alopecuros
Poiret, Det. P. Smith 3/72
Label 5: [printed]. Herb. Mus. Paris
As this specimen bears a label handwritten by Poiret with his description of
B. alopecuros
and the word
"nobis"
[our], indicating the author is describing a new species, it seems sure that it is original material and it is suitable to be described as a lectotype. In addition, there is no other specimen matching with
Bromus alopecuros
Poir. in FI (Chiara Nepi pers. comm. 2018); nor in H (Raino Lampinen pers. comm. 1994; Henry
Vaere
pers. comm. 2018) nor in UPS (Dr. Mats Hjertson pers. comm. 2018).
When
Desfontaines (1798
: 95), describes
Bromus contortus
, his description closely matches that of
Poiret (1789)
. In his diagnosis, Desfontaines adds that the spikelets are "quindecimfloribus,
...pubescentibus"
. At the end, he has doubts about his plant and
transcribes
a reference to the description of Poiret "An Bromus alopecuros? Poiret. Itin. 2. P. 100)". Subsequently, he includes a more detailed description and asserts "Habitat prope La Calle". The only known original material for
B. contortus
is the illustration quoted in
Desfontaines (1798
: plate 25) and a single sheet in P (MNHN-P P00320328) bearing two specimens mounted on it with a printed label:
Herbier de la FLORE ATANTIQUE
donne
au Museum par M. DESFONTAINES
and annotated "
Bromus contortus
" handwritten (unknown by whom). There is another label, handwritten by Desfontaines, containing the exact diagnosis and description as it appears in Flora Atlantica (
Desfontaines 1798
: 95). Maybe Desfontaines is surprised one specimen is very similar to
B. alopecuros
, but not the other one, justifying his doubt in the description where he states "perhaps
B. alopecuros
?" This sheet bears two plants. The one on the left seems to be
Bromus lanceolatus
Roth and the one on the right is a fragment (contracted and erect panicle with subsessile spikelets) of a specimen matching
B. contortus
Desf., that also exemplifies the typical resemblance to
B. alopecuros
Poir. Therefore, the sheet in question does not represent a specimen as defined in the
Code
(
Turland et al. 2018
); but each of the two plants on the sheet is a specimen in its own right. Only one specimen is original material for
B. contortus
Desf. It is possible that the illustration in
Desfontaines (1798
: plate 25) was drawn from the plant designated here as lectotype.
Figure 1.
Lectotype of
Bromus alopecuros
: It is a complete specimen preserved at the MNHN Collection Vascular plants Specimen with barcode P02622864. (Available at http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p02622864).
Choosing the specimen on the right of the sheet MNHN-P P00320328 (Figure 2) as lectotype, which taxonomically matches
B. alopecuros
Poir., the name becomes a taxonomic or heterotypic synonym (
Turland et al. 2018
) of it, as
Persoon (1805
, 1: 95) asserted. Moreover, it is also possible that the heterogeneous material in this sheet is the origin of some misidentifications of
B. lanceolatus
Roth as
B. contortus
Desf.
Figure 2.
Lectotype of
Bromus contortus
Desf. is the specimen on the right having subsessile spikelets conserved in the MNHN Collection Vascular plants with barcode P00320328 (image available at: https://science.mnhn.fr/institution/mnhn/collection/p/item/p00320328?listIndex=1&listCount=4).
Later,
Poiret (1810
: 703) describes
Bromus alopecuroides
"
Bromus
panicula conferta, erecta; spiculis oblongis, pubescentibus, quindecimfloris, subsessilibus; aristis
inferne
spiraliter contortis". This description is almost identical to the former of
B. alopecuros
. Its only difference is to include "pubescentibus, quindecimfloris", the same features
Desfontaines (1798
: 95) uses to describe
B. contortus
. Poiret continues adding the references to
B. alopecuros
Poir. and the synonym
B. contortus
Desf. Therefore, this name does not need a Lectoype as it is a superfluous and illegitimate renaming (Art. 52. 1) of
Bromus contortus
Poir. and has the same type we select here for that name.