The misapplication of the name Croton urticoides, the reinstatement of the name Adriana tomentosa, and Allan Cunningham's book herbarium at Chelsea Physic Garden

Abstract

Adriana Gaudich. is a small genus in the Euphorbiaceae that is endemic to Australia. Recently, new combinations were made by others for Adriana on the premise that Croton urticoides A.Cunn. is an earlier name for A. tomentosa. The type was not seen, although it was suggested that it resided in Robert Heward’s book herbarium of assembled Allan Cunningham specimens held at the Chelsea Physic Garden. This mini-herbarium has not been rediscovered, but true type material has been found at the herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. An inspection of the type of C. urticoides held at Kew revealed that the material is Gynatrix pulchella (Willd.) Alef in the Malvaceae and its epithet predates that of C. urticoides by several years. We discuss the amplification of errors that have occurred for an incorrect name that has become accepted by several herbaria in Australia. This book herbarium cannot be located at present, and is presumed lost, although it is likely that type materials of most if not all Cunningham’s (1825) names still exist elsewhere. There is little or no evidence that the book herbarium at Chelsea Physic Garden contained type material of species described by Cunningham (1825) in Field’s Geographical Memoirs. Instead, it is likely that it consisted of material assembled many years later by Heward from Cunningham’s collections, to illustrate the taxa in Cunningham’s publications. The type of C. urticoides is fixed herein by lectotypification. We provide a summary of the nomenclature for the taxa under discussion.