Senecio lavandulifolius Wall. ex DC. (De Candolle in Wight & Arnott 1834: 23 ) var. lavandulifolius

Kanakambika, Govindan, Prabhukumar, Konickal Mambetta & Maya, Chandrashekaran Nair, 2023, Lectotypification of four names in the genus Senecio L. (Asteraceae), Phytotaxa 612 (2), pp. 244-249 : 244-248

Senecio lavandulifolius Wall. ex DC. (De Candolle in Wight & Arnott 1834: 23) var. lavandulifolius

Type (lectotype, here designated):— INDIA. Tamil Nadu: Nilgiri hills, s.d., E. Noton, s.n. Wall. cat. No. 3130a ( G-DC, G00329611 , digital image) ( Fig. 2A ); isolectotype ( K, K001118613 , digital image) .

S. lavandulifolius Wall. ex DC. var. wightii DC. (De Candolle in Wight & Arnott 1834: 23).

Type (lectotype, here designated):— INDIA. Tamil Nadu: Neelgherry [Nilgiri], s.d., R. Wight, s.n., Wight Cat. 1481 ( G-DC, G00329612 , digital image) ( Fig. 2B ); isolectotypes [ K001118614 , K000852198—99 , NY259561 , digital images] .

The name S. lavandulifolius appeared invalidly in Wallich Catalogue no. 3130, which was based on the collections by E. Noton and R. Wight from Nilgiri hills. De Candolle (1834) validated the name S. lavandulifolius based on E. Noton’s collection (3130a). He considered Wight’s collection from Nilgiris (3130b) as distinct and named it var. wightii in Contribution to the Botanical India. Wight and Arnott (1834) were not convinced by the erection of var. wightii and hence, synonymized it under S. lavandulifolius with a comment “we consider the variety ‘B’ to be an accidentally starved state of the other, and not a distinct variety”. Since then, De Candolle (1837) reinstated the variety wightii , along with a new variety ‘ notonis ’ under S. lavandulifolius . But var. notonis has been considered as an illegitimate name due to the incorporation of type of the former adopted legitimate name of the species Art. 6.8, 22.1 and 26.1 of the ICN.

During the study, we were able to locate multiple specimens by Noton housed at G-DC and K and Wight’s collection at G-DC, K and NY. The specimens kept at G-DC (G00329611—12) are well preserved and have flowers and achenes, which are congruent with the description and the provenance mentioned in the protologue are designated here as lectotypes for the names S. lavandulifolius var. lavandulifolius and S. lavandulifolius var. wightii , respectively.

Figures

FIGURE 2. A. Digital image of the proposed lectotype for the name Senecio lavandulifolius var. lavandulifolius (G-DC, G00329611). B. Digital image of the proposed lectotype for the name Senecio lavandulifolius var. wightii (G-DC, G00329612). © Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève.