(1468) Proposal to conserve the name Rumex alpinus (Polygonaceae) with a conserved type

Abstract

The only elements eligible as lectotype of the name alpinus L. 1753 would not support the current usage of the name, which originates from Linnaeus' revised concept of the species (Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 2: 990. 1759). Instead, one element belongs to either R. crispus, R. longifolius, or R. obtusifolius and the other pair of elements to two species of Persicaria. Therefore, if lectotypified, R. alpinus would, in the first case, become a synonym of either R. crispus L. 1753, R. obtusifolius L. 1753, or R. longifolius DC. 1815, and the species currently and traditionally known as R. alpinus would have to take the earliest available, legitimate name, R. pseudoalpinus Hofft 1826. The only alternative would be to lectotypify the name R. alpinus on the element identified as a species of Persicaria, which is in any case dubious original material. Such a lectotypification would clearly not serve nomenclatural stability. We therefore propose that R. alpinus be conserved with a conserved type to support the traditional usage of the name. Linnaeus first published the name alpinus in Species Plantarum: 334. 1753 citing five synonyms from four works of Sauvages, Haller, Bauhin and Clusius. He took his diagnosis from a polynomial of Sauvages (Meth. Fol. P1. Fl. Monsp. 69. 1751) Rumexfloribus hermaphroditis: valvulis integerrimus graniferis, foliis imis ellipticus and indicated that he knew the plant imperfectly. Later (Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 2: 990. 1759), he changed his concept of the species considerably citing no synonyms (as was usual in this work) but using the new phrase name, Rumex floribus hermaphroditis sterilibus semineisque: valvulis integerrimus nudis, fol. cordatis rugosis obtusis, which he maintained in later publications. Two specimens in the herbarium of the Linnean Society of London are also testament to this change in concept. One, Herb. Linn. No. 464.3, is annotated by Linnaeus with the number 3, the Species plantarum number for alpinus, indicating that it was almost certainly in his possession prior to 1753. This is an immature specimen of a plant very different from the alpine plant known as R. alpinus today. It seems likely that in 1753 Linnaeus merely gave a name to the plant described by Sauvages, also adopting his synonyms. We believe that Sauvages' plant was probably referable to either R. crispus L., R. longifolius DC. or R. obtusifolius L., all plants which generally occur in very different localities to R. alpinus as currently understood. The second specimen, Herb. Linn. No. 464.35, is