Notes on the Types of Some Names of Arabian Acanthaceae in the Forsskal Herbarium

Abstract

Ruellia pallida Vahl is reduced to synonymy of R. patula Jacq. but R. strepens var. caerulea Forssk. is not positively identifiable; a lectotype is chosen for Barleria bispinosa (Forssk.) Vahl, the name of a species confined to the south-western Arabian peninsula; Barleria diacantha Hochst. ex Nees and B. marghilomaniae Volkens & Schweinf. are reduced to synonymy of B. trispinosa (Forssk.) Vahl, the area of which is now extended from Arabia to N.E. tropical Africa; Barleria lanceata (Forssk.) C. Chr. is found to be taxonomically distinct from B. noctiflora L.f., but B. triacantha Hochst. ex Nees is found to be a synonym of it; Barleria appressa (Forssk.) Deflers is considered to be one of eight newly designated subspecies of B. prionitis L., a species now extending through tropical Asia, Arabia and tropical Africa; Justicia sulcata (Vahl) Vahl andJ. suaveolens (Nees) Lindau are reduced to synonymy ofJ.flava (Vahl) Vahl; two variants are noted in Monechma debile (Forssk.) Nees in Arabia and N.E. tropical Africa; a lectotype not in the Forsskal herbarium is chosen for Ecbolium viride (Forssk.) Alston, and the relationship of the African and Arabian material of this species to that from Asia is discussed; the new combination Ecbolium violaceum (Forssk.) Hillcoat & J. R. I. Wood is made, and E. anisacanthus Schweinf. becomes a synonym of this; the new combination Isoglossa punctata (Vahl) Brummitt & J R. I. Wood is published and I. oerstediana Lindau becomes a synonym of it; Dicliptera verticillata (Forssk.) C. Chr. is found to be distinct from D. chinensis L., and a lectotype is chosen for D. micranthes which is a synonym of the former; the new combination Peristrophe paniculata (Forssk.) Brummitt is published, and P. bicalyculata (Retz.) Nees is a synonym of this; Dicliptera zeylanica Nees is reduced to synonymy of D. foetida (Forssk.) Blatter; the name Hypoestesforskalei (Vahl) Solander ex Roem. & Schult. is considered to be correct for the species long known as H. verticillaris, and H. fastuosa (L.) Solander ex Roem. & Schult. is a mystery plant of unknown origin.