Orchis morio

Alexander N. Sennikov, Petr G. Efimov & Vladislav V. Kuropatkin, 2014, Revised typifications of Orchis morio and its Linnaean varieties (Orchidaceae): What descriptions may tell about their corresponding material, Taxon 63 (6), pp. 1319-1326 : 1325

Orchis morio L. [ var. morio ]

In the absence of specimens, the illustration of Triorchis serapias mas (Fuchs, 1542: 559) was designated as the lectotype of Orchis morio by Baumann & al. (1989: 523). The validating description of O. morio reads “bulbis indivisis, nectarii labio quadrifido crenulato: cornu obtuso”. This description was originally published in Linnaeus (1744) and was almost entirely based on the characters formulated by Royen (1740). The Fuchs illustration is cited in the protologue of O. morio as an appropriate representative illustration of the taxon (Baumann & al., 1989) but was hardly used for the original description because it openly contradicts to the statement “labio quadrifido”. Instead of showing four-incised lips, the flowers crudely pictured in Fuchs (1542) have the lips trifid or even occasionally bi-cleft. Once again, the source of diagnostic characters for the original description of O. morio , as well as for the description of the unnamed variety α that corresponds to O. morio s.str. (Linnaeus, 1753), appears to be Vaillant (1727) that was cited both by Royen (1740) and Linnaeus (1744, 1753). The deeply incised median lobe of the lip is clearly visible in the flowers depicted as Orchis morio , foemina (Vaillant, 1727), making a strong impression that the lip is subdivided into four lobes ( Fig. 4). As the illustration in Fuchs (1542) contradicts the validating description of O. morio , it may not be part of the original material of this name as defined in Art. 9.3(a). The lectotypification done by Baumann & al. (1989) is to be corrected to neotypification (Art. 9.9), and a new lectotype should be designated from the original material in accord with Art. 9.19(a).

As the new lectotype of O. morio hereby we designate the discussed illustration in Vaillant (1727) because it is the very element on which the validating description of O. morio was based, and is also directly cited in its protologue. The new lectotype correctly and unambiguously shows the diagnostic characters of O. morio (= Anacamptis morio s.str.) (Baumann & al., 1989); its provenance is the vicinity of Paris, France.

TYPIFICATIONS AND SYNONYMY