Iris persica Linnaeus (1753: 40)

Altinordu, Fahim & Crespo, Manuel B., 2016, Nomenclatural type designation of four Linnaean names in Iris sensu lato (Iridaceae), Phytotaxa 268 (4), pp. 296-300 : 297

3. Iris persica Linnaeus (1753: 40) [≡ Juno persica (L.) Trattinnick (1816:36)].

Type (lectotype, designated here):—Herb. A. van Royen No. 904.138-307 (barcode L 0052832 [photo!]).

The protologue of Iris persica ( Linnaeus 1753: 40) consists of a diagnosis “ IRIS corollis imberbibus, foliis subulatocanaliculatis, caule longioribus” followed by two synonyms: “ Iris acaulis , foliis margine conniventibus, corollis imberbibus” from van Royen (1740: 18), and “ Xiphion persicum praecox, flore variegato” from Tournefort (1719: 363).

As indicated by Jarvis (2007), in the van Royen Herbarium at L there is one specimen (Herb. A. van Royen No. 904.138- 307) linked to the Linnaean synonym “ Roy. lugdb. 18 ”. This sheet, annotated by the Dutch botanist Adriaan van Royen, is original material because Linnaeus worked at Leiden with him, and consulted his herbarium during the preparation of Leiden’s Hortus Botanicus before his return to Sweden in 1738 (see Jarvis 2007: 153). The specimen is in perfect condition and a good candidate for typification. Thus, it is here designated as lectotype for the name Iris persica ( Fig. 1 ).

A further sheet was found at LINN (No. 61.12, available at http://linnean-online.org/810/) that bears Linnaeus’s annotation “17 persica ”. However, this material does not fit the current concept of Iris persica , but instead matches Iris planifolia (Miller 1764: without page) Durand & Schinz (1894: 143) [ Juno planifolia (Mill.) Ascherson (1864: 114) Xiphion planifolium Mill. , basionym], based on the very wide basal leaves long tapering at the apex, the extremely reduced stem, the longer perianth tube and the larger falls lacking the typical darker blade. In fact, J. E. Smith wrote on the sheet in pencil “non est” and “alata ”, indicating its identity as I. alata Poiret (1789: 86) , a synonym of I. planifolia . Furthermore, according to the annotations “Algir.” (meaning Algirica) and “Br”, the fragments in LINN 61.12 were apparently brought by E. Brander from Algeria, a territory where I. planifolia is native. The dates of Brander’s correspondence with Linnaeus also make it almost certain that this material was a post-1753 addition to the herbarium, and hence not original material for the name. In fact, Linnaeus received Brander’s collections in 1756, when the latter was the Swedish consul in Algiers ( Jarvis 2007: 78 & 194 − 195).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lectotype of Iris persica L., Herb.Adriaan van Royen No. 904.138-307 (L 0052832). Photograph courtesy of the Herbarium L; reproduced with their permission.