LINNAEUS'S NOTES ON PLUMIER DRAWINGS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MIMOSA LATISILIQUA

Abstract

SummaryIn 1961 de Wit typified Mimosa latisiliqua L., Sp. PL 1: 519 (1753), the basionym of Lysiloma latisiliquum (L.) Benth. and Leucaena latisiliqua (L.) Gillis, by a Plumier illustration published by Burman in 1755 but based on one among 500 Plumier drawings seen by Linnaeus in Holland in 1738. Gillis & Stearn (1974) rejected this typification, albeit reluctantly, on the ground that (1) this illustration was not available to Linnaeus when preparing the Species Plantarum (1753), that (2) there was no evidence of his making notes on these drawings in 1738 for later use and that (3) he must have had another source of evidence. The second two suppositions can now be proved incorrect. Linnaeus's notes are to be found in an interleaved copy of the first edition of his Genera Plantarum (1737). They include a reference to the Plumier plant which he later named Mimosa latisiliqua and also to many other West Indian species drawn by Plumier. The type of M. latisiliqua is accordingly a copy of a Plumier drawing now at Groningen, the typotype is Plumier's original drawing at Paris; it represents the species later named Lysiloma bahamense Benth., for which the name L. latisiliquum (L.) Benth. should be re‐instated; Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit remains the correct name for L. glauca Benth. The choice of Linnaean Herbarium 1228.19 to typify Mimosa latisiliqua as advocated by Gillis & Stearn (1974) is to be rejected because this specimen does not satisfactorily fit the Linnaean protologue.