Merendera montana (L.) Lange

Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part C), Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London: Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum, pp. 370-473 : 432

Colchicum montanum Linnaeus , Species Plantarum 1: 342. 1753 .

"Habitat in Hispania, Helvetia." RCN: 2621.

Type not designated.

Original material: Herb. Linn. No. 470.2 ( LINN) ; Herb. Burser III: 75 ( UPS) ; [icon] in Clusius, Rar. Pl. Hist. 1: 200. 1601; [icon] in Clusius, Rar. Stirp. Hispan. Hist.: 266, 267. 1576.

Current name: Merendera montana (L.) Lange ( Liliaceae / Colchicaceae ).

Note: See discussion by Lacaita (in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 47: 172-174, f. 3. 1925), who rejected this as a nomen confusum. Valdés (in Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 76: 313. 1978) treated 472.2 (LINN), which he thought was probably identifiable as Bulbocodium vernum L., as the type of C. montanum and (in Tutin & al., Fl. Europaea 5: 24. 1980) took up Merendera pyrenaica (Pourret) Fourn. for the Pyrenean species known alternatively as M. montana (L.) Lange. However, Burtt (in Taxon 30: 230. 1981) disagreed with Valdés’ identification of the type, believing it to be a collection of C. triphyllum Kunze. Burtt also rejected Valdés’ typification on the grounds that the chosen type was, as indicated by Linnaeus, from Greece, and not original material for the name, and urged the retention of M. montana , though without formally proposing an alternative type.