A New Combination in Melanthium L. (Liliaceae)

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The new combination Melanthium woodii (Robbins Wood) Bodkin, made but not effectively published my doctoral dissertation, is here validated anticipation of its use the forthcoming account of the genus Flora of North America. Melanthium L. (Liliaceae) is a genus of perhaps eight species, four of them found North America from central Iowa eastward to southern New York, south to northern Florida and eastern Texas; the other four are found southwest China. The type species, M. virginicum L., occurs over this entire range, commonly swamps, marshes, and bogs. Melanthium latifolium Desrousseaux, found mostly on rich wooded slopes, and M. parviflorum (Michaux) Watson, of higher elevations, occur mainly the mid-Appalachian mountains. Another species, recognized previously as Veratrum woodii Robbins and here transferred to Melanthium, is known only from rich deciduous slopes of the Ozark Plateau, where it is rare, and from five small disjunct populations North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. In my revision of Melanthium (Bodkin, 1978), I maintained this genus as distinct from Veratrum L. on the basis of leaf size and shape, inflorescence characters, features of the tepal glands and claws, adnation of stamens to tepals, and general habit of the plants. According to these criteria, the species heretofore recognized as Veratrum woodii belongs with the other species of Melanthium. In anticipation of its use my forthcoming account of Melanthium Flora of North America, the new combination, made but not effectively published my 1978 work, is here validated. Melanthium woodii (Robbins Wood) Bodkin, comb. nov. Basionym: Veratrum woodii Robbins Wood, Class-book bot. ed. 2, 557. 1847. TYPE: U.S.A. Indiana: Greene Co., deep woods, July, s.n. (holotype, GH). Veratrum intermedium Chapman, Fl. S. U.S. 489. 1860. SYNTYPES: U.S.A. Florida: Gadsden Co.: rich, shady hummocks, 1835, Chapman s.n. (lectotype, here designated, GH); U.S.A. Florida: s.l., s.d., Chapman s.n. (probable type, GH). When published the name Veratrum woodii and the accompanying description, he cited Robbins as author. There has been some confusion as to whether Robbins should be cited in Wood or ex There is no indication or acknowledgment that Robbins actually wrote the description, so the correct citation is Robbins Wood. The description is thorough and agrees all characters with the type at GH. Acknowledgments. I deeply appreciate the assistance given by James Reveal, University of Maryland, and Robert Kiger, Hunt Institute, the preparation of my revision of North American Melanthium.