The first valid publication of the Linnaean Mnium triquetrum (Musci) and other new names for mosses proposed by N. Jolyclerc

Abstract

A brief biographical sketch of Nicolas-Marie-Therese Jolyclerc (1746–1817), the French naturalist and adherent of C. Linnaeus, is presented. The publication history of his Systeme sexuel des vegetaux, the first French version of the Linnaean sexual system of the plants is outlined. Apart from the well-known editions of this work of 1797, 1798 and 1810, a neglected edition of 1803 is described, and it is shown that this is not a pirated edition as has been suggested. A list of fourteen new combinations in mosses proposed by N. Jolyclerc in the 1803 edition of Systeme sexuel des vegetaux is presented and some names are briefly annotated. Additionally, it is shown that Mnium triquetrum, basionym of the well-known moss species Meesia triquetra, was validly published for the first time by N. Jolyclerc in 1803, not by H. E. Richter in 1839 as is commonly accepted. Accordingly, the correct author citation for Meesia triquetra should be ‘(L. ex Jolycl.) Angstr.’, not ‘(L. ex Richt.) Angstr.’ The lectotype of Mnium triquetrum L. ex Jolycl. is selected from the Linnaean herbarium (LINN).