(1527) Proposal to conserve the name Scrophularia auriculata (Scrophulariaceae) with a conserved type

Abstract

Two of the moisture-loving Scrophularia species have been known as S. lyrata Willd. and S. auriculata L. The differences between the two taxa, which were assessed by Grau (in Mitt. Bot. Staatssamml. Mtinchen 12: 622-627. 1976), and reiterated by Ortega-Olivencia & Devesa (in Ruizia 11: 52. 1993), are to be found above all in the morphology of leaves, bracts, bracteoles, and staminode. The former, S. lyrata, includes plants which are often pubescent, with basal and medial leaves clearly lyrate, having 2-6 lateral lobules; bracts and bracteoles normally obovate and obtuse, with a broad, undulate, generally dark-purple scarious margin; and staminode orbicular or obovate (never more broad than long). It possesses 2n = 58 chromosomes, and is distributed through the Iberian Peninsula, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Morocco, and Algeria. The latter, S. includes plants which are often glabrescent, with basal and medial leaves that are generally simple or with 1-2 basal lobules; bracts and bracteoles generally lanceolate and acute, with a narrow scarious margin frequently relegated to the apex, barely or not at all undulate, normally hyaline or greyish-brown; and staminode generally broader than long, subreniform or flabellate. It possesses 2n = 84 chromosomes, and is present in W and SW Europe, Corsica, Italy, and Morocco. Dandy (in Watsonia 7: 165. 1969) and later Dalgaard (in Opera Bot. 51: 31. 1979) typified S. taking sheet 773.4 of the LINN herbarium as lectotype, a type which matches the concept defined above. However, the only Linnaean annotations that appear on this sheet are HU [= Hortus Upsaliensis] and auriculata, and the sheet lacks the Species Plantarum (Linnaeus, 1753: 620) account number (in this case 4) typical of material incorporated within the collection by 1753. This makes it almost certain that this cultivated