The Generic Disposition of Quidproquo confusum and Sinapis aucheri (Brassicaceae)

Abstract

The generic name Quidproquo is reduced to synonymy of Raphanus. The new combination R. confusus is proposed. Evidence for the retention of Brassica aucheri in Brassica, rather than in Sinapis, is presented. The identity of two Middle Eastern species of mustards has been confused, resulting in a nomenclatural instability that has continued from the mid 1800s to the present. The confusion is attributed to the fact that the two species were historically treated as one, their typification was mishandled, and their generic disposition was not resolved. Boissier (1842) described Brassica aucheri Boissier from a single collection (Aucher 203) from northern Iraq. Boissier (1849) transferred the species to Raphanus (as R. aucheri (Boissier) Boissier) and cited two collections, one from Galilee (northern Israel) and another from Persia (Iran). However, he overlooked the fact that the specimens from Israel, and those he (Boissier, 1867) later cited from southern Lebanon, represent a species entirely different from that of Iraq and Iran. Schulz (1919) was the first to recognize that there were two species involved. However, he retained the name R. aucheri for the eastern Mediterranean (Israel, Lebanon, Syria) species, excluded the type (Aucher 203) of that name by stating (p. 209) excl. pl. Auch. et Kotsch., and recognized the plant of Iraq and Iran as Sinapis aucheri (Boissier) O. E. Schulz. As indicated by Baillargeon (1985, 1986), Schulz contradicted Article 48.1 of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and thus created a later homonym, R. aucheri O. E. Schulz not Boissier, for the eas ern Mediterranean species. The eastern Mediterranean plant needed a new name, and Greuter and Burdet (1983) named it Quidproquo confusum, whereas Al-Shehbaz (1985) named it Raphanus boissieri. Greuter and Burdet were correct in providing a legitimate name for the species, but they failed to typify it, and they placed it in the monotypic genus Quidproquo without discussing anything about the affinities and the reasons for separating this new genus from the related Brassica, Raphanus, and Sinapis. On the other hand, Al-Shehbaz placed the speci s in the correct genus, Raphanus, but overlooked the fact that Greuter and Burdet provided a substitute name for R. aucheri O. E. Schulz. Therefore, the name Raphanus boissieri Al-Shehbaz is illegitimate, and the correct name for the eastern Mediterranean plant should be R. confusus, the combination of which is herein proposed. Raphanus confusus (Greuter & Burdet) Al-Shehbaz & Warwick, comb. nov. Basionym: Quidproquo confusum Greuter & Burdet, Willdenowia 13: 94. 1983. Raphanus aucheri O. E. Schulz, Pflanzenr. IV. 105(Heft 70): 209. 1919, not R. aucheri (Boissier) Boissier, Diagn. P1. Orient. Nov. I. 2(8): 45. 1849. TYPE: Israel [as Palestine]. Galilaea borealis, near Hunin and not far from Safed, 900 m, 22 Apr. 1897, Bornmiller 114 (lectotype, designated by Baillargeon (1985), W). NovoN 7: 219-220. 1997. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.203 on Tue, 13 Jun 2017 18:00:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms