The Typification of Nymphaea lotus L.

Abstract

During the preparation of an account of the family Nymphaeaceae for the Flora of Tropical East Africa it has been necessary to typify Nymphaea lotus L., traditionally the name for the true Egyptian sacred lotus, a waterlily widespread in tropical and subtropical Africa, Madagascar and an outlying locality in NW. Roumania and also naturalised in the New World. Linnaeus (Sp. Pl.: 511 (1753)) cited four syntypes in the protologue, viz. 'Nymphaea foliis cordatis dentatis. Fl. Zeyl. 194*. Nymphaea indica, flore candido, folio in ambitu serrato Sloan. jam. 120. hist. 1 p. 252. Raj. suppl. 630. Lotus aegyptia. Alp. aegypt. 103. exot. 214. t. 213.216.218.220.222.226. Ambel. Rheed. mal. 11. p. 51., t. 26. Habitat in calidis Indiae, Africae, Americae.' There is also a Hasselquist specimen in the Linnaean Herbarium (673.5) which may constitute a fifth syntype. Choice of the Hermann specimen, the basis of Fl. Zeyl. 194, is clearly unacceptable for maintenance of traditional usage since the Indian subcontinent populations are now referred to as either N. lotus L. var. pubescens (Willd.) Trimen, N. pubescens Willd. (1799) or N. rubra Roxb. ex Salisb. (1805). Willdenow (Sp. P1., ed. 4, 2: 1153 (1799)), however, it must be noted, still cited Fl. Zeyl. 194 under N. lotus. The use of the name N. nouchali Burm.f. (1768) for the Indian plant, e.g. by Matthew (Fl. Tamilnadu Carnatic 3: 27 (1983)) is incorrect. Examination of the type kindly sent on loan from Geneva demonstrates that Burman's name is the earliest for a common Old World blue water-lily as pointed out by Van Royen (Sertulum Papuanum, 5, Nova Guinea Bot. 8: 110 (1962)). Although Conard (The Waterlilies: 198 (1905)) saw a Burman specimen in Herb. Delessert (G) and considered it the same as N. pubescens Willd., Burman's description (Fl. Indica: 120 (1768)) distinctly mentions blue flowers including blue anther-tips. The Sloane reference concerns a quite different plant-N. ampla DC.-as was pointed out by Caspary long ago (see Conard, The Waterlilies: 24 (1905)) and thus is also clearly unacceptable if traditional application is to be maintained. The Rheede name Ambel also refers to the Indian N. pubescens. The specimen in the Linnaean herbarium carries the name Lotus 3 and the sign for Hasselquist who collected in Egypt and Palestine and is clearly a possible choice, but to me the best is one of the plates used by P. Alpino [Alpini, Alpinus] (1553-1616) to illustrate his accurate account of the Egyptian lotus, presumably drawn up from life during his extensive visit to Egypt in 15801583, and from specimens sent to him later by M. Carbonus. These are historically the most obvious choice and I hereby choose Prospero Alpino, De plantis exoticis, illustration on p. 213 (1627) as lectotype (actually com-