Abies pinsapo Boissier (1838: 8)

Ferrer-Gallego, P. Pablo, Laguna, Emilio & Ferrer-Gallego, Raúl, 2022, Nomenclatural notes on the Mediterranean firs (Abies, Pinaceae), Phytotaxa 549 (1), pp. 31-50 : 33-38

Abies pinsapo Boissier (1838: 8)

The lectotype of Abies pinsapo was designated by Burdet et al. (1981: 546) from a specimen preserved at G, as: “le lectotype est le rameau de droite sur la feuille munie de l’étiquette a” [the lectotype is the right branch on the sheet with the label a]. This specimen is now barcoded as G00047732. Farjon (2010: 112) mentioned “Type: Spain: Malaga, Sierra Bermeja, N. of Estepona [“Sierra de la Nieve”], E. Boissier s.n. (holotype not located, isotype K)”.

In the Boissier herbarium at G (G-BOIS) there are two relevant specimens. The specimen with barcode G00047732 bears material collected in 1837 and is mounted on six herbarium sheets ( Fig. 2 ), with a label handwritten by Pablo Prolongo García ( Fig. 3 ). The label contains a complete diagnosis of this plant. The herbarium sheets also contain several original labels handwritten by Boissier.

However, Burdet et al. (1981: 546) mentioned that the specimen G00047732 is mounted on five herbarium sheets: “G, ex herbier Boissier (5 feuilles)”, and the lectotypes is only a stem preserved on the sheet with the label “a” (i.e., the first sheet described above).

On the other hand, there is another specimen at G, with barcode G00349514, which bears an original specimen of A. pinsapo and a label handwritten by Reuter: “Herb. Boissier / Abies Pinsapo Boiss. El / Sierra d’Estepona et Sa de / la Nieve alt 3500–6000’”. In addition, there are two herbarium sheets at K and P that bears original material collected in 1837 in “In Sierra d’Estepona et / Sª de la Nieve” (K barcoded K000288176 ( Fig. 4 ) and P barcoded P01635323).

According to the protologue, Boissier visited two populations in 1837. On the 15 th of May, they visited Sierra Bermeja (Estepona) (see Boissier 1838a: 3–4, Boissier 1839–1845(vol. 1): 41, 51); at the end of September, Yunquera (Sierra de las Nieves) together with David Ravey, Pablo Prolongo, and Félix Haenseler ( Boissier 1838a: 3–4, Boissier 1839–1845(vol. 1): 155, González Bueno 2010: 9). Therefore, according to the protologue and the annotations on the labels of the sheets at G, K, and P, there is a mixture in the provenance of the original material. Consequently, it is not posible to know the concrete provenance of the fragment of the specimen that was designated as the lectotype by Burdet et al. (1981).

However, according to Boissier (1839–1845(vol. 2): 586) “Grâce à l’amitié de MM. Haenseler et Prolongo, qui ont bien voulu gravir, au printemps, la Sierra de la Nieve, et qui m’ont envoyé de bons échantillons et des notes prècieuses sur les parties florales de cet arbre, je puis donner ici sa description complète et le figurer dans tous ses états […]”. Thus, Haenseler and Prolongo collected material after Boissier’s visit in 1837 (maybe in the spring of 1838) and sent it to Boissier. Boissier used this material to complete the description of the plant and make the drawings of the tables that accompany the new description of the plant (Boissier 1839–1845(vol. 2): 584–586, Tab. CLXVII, CLXVIII and CLXIX). In addition, the material sent by Felix Haenseler and Pablo Prolongo bears some handwritten notes [“et des notes prècieuses sur les parties florales de cet arbre” (Boissier (1839–1845(vol. 2): 586)]. In the herbarium sheet barcoded G00047732 there are some handwritten labels. A label bears a complete and extense note handwritten by Prolongo ( Fig. 3 ). In contrast, the material barcoded G00349514, K000288176 ( Fig. 4 ), and P01635323 only contains labels that attributes the material to the first two collections, in which Boissier himself participated (i.e., 15 May 1837 in Sierra Bermeja [“Sierra d’Estepona” handwritten by Boissier on the labels], and September 1837 in Sierra de las Nieves [“Sª de la Nieve” handwritten by Boissier on the labels]).

In conclusion, it seems that the material barcoded G00047732 could be considered a mixed gathering. However, Burdet et al. (1981) selected only a concrete fragment as the lectotype (“the lectotype is the right branch on the sheet with the label a”), and this fragment (very poorly preserved) is labeled as “Sª de la Nieve / 1837” by Boissier ( Fig. 2 ).

Unfortunately, the rest of the material on the sheets that contains the specimen (or gatherings) barcoded G00047732 cannot be identified as Boissier’s gatherings collected in 1837 (see note below), or a Haensler and Prolongo’s gathering sent to Boissier post-protologue. Therefore, it cannot be considered original material. On the other hand, the specimens G00349514, K000288176 ( Fig. 4 ), P01635323 certainly belong to the same gathering collected by Boissier in 1837.

On the other hand, as for the authors of the name, Abies pinsapo was described for the first time by Clemente in the first decade of the 19th century ( Arista et al. 1997b, Vargas 2020). However, this description was lost. In this sense, Cabezudo et al. (2010) suggest that this authorship of the Spanish botanist Simón de Rojas Clemente y Rubio should be recognized in the species’ name, as “ Abies pinsapo Clemente ex Boiss. ”, since there is a Clemente’s work (see Clemente 1818, 2002) in which the epithet “ pinsapo ” was first mentioned. Cabezudo et al. (2010) also indicated “Con toda seguridad Clemente comunicó estos datos a sus discípulos malagueños Haenseler y Prolongo, que a su vez lo comunicaron a Boissier, seguramente olvidándose de la paternidad de Clemente sobre este asunto” [Clemente certainly communicated these data to his Malaga disciples Haenseler and Prolongo, who in turn communicated it to Boissier, surely forgetting about Clemente’s paternity on this matter]. Unfortunately, Clemente’s work was not cited in the protologue, and nor does it seem that there is an ascription of the name A. pinsapo to Clemente, therefore is not possible to demonstrate this affirmation. According to González Bueno (2010: 19) “No parece que Edmond Boissier tuviera acceso a los manuscritos de Simón de Rojas Clemente que compusieron su Historia Natural del Reino de Granada ” [It does not seem that Edmond Boissier had access to the manuscripts of Simón de Rojas Clemente that composed his Natural History of the Kingdom of Granada (i.e., Clemente 2002)]. In conclusion, the species was cited without ascription to Clemente ( Galán de Mera & Pérez Latorre 2021).

Finally, a relevant comment was included in the protologue referring to the original material used by Boissier to describe his Abies pinsapo : “Examinant, en abril 1837, quelques plantes recueillies sur la Sierra Bermeja, près d’Estepona, par M. Haenseler, qui cultive avec succès la botanique à Malaga, je trouvai, parmi elles, une branche de conifère dont les feuilles, extrêmement courtes, épaisses, presque sédiformes, me frappèrent. Il n’y avait pas moyen, à cause de l’absence du fruit, de déterminer le genre de cette plante, qui avait cependant le port d’un abies.” ( Boissier 1838a: 3, see also Boissier 1838b: 84, Boissier 1839–1845(vol. 1): 49, (vol. 2): 585). In this sentence, Boissier clearly mentioned a syntype, collected by Haenseler in “Sierra Bermeja, près d’Estepona [without date]”. Unfortunately, this material is lost ( González Bueno 2010, Pérez-Rubín 2012), but if it were located, it would have preference in the lectotype designation according to Art. 9.12 of the ICN (see Turland et al. 2018).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Lectotype of Abies pinsapo Boissier, G (barcode G00047732 “le lectotype est le rameau de droite sur la feuille munie de l’étiquette a” [the lectotype is the right branch on the sheet with the label a]). Photography courtesy of Herbarium G; reproduced with permission.

FIGURE 3. Handwritten label by Pablo Prolongo García in the sheet that bears the lectotype of Abies pinsapo Boissier. Photography courtesy of Herbarium G; reproduced with permission.

FIGURE 4. Original specimen of A. pinsapo Boissier, K (barcode K000288176). Photography courtesy of Herbarium K; reproduced with permission.