Alternanthera sessilis (L.)

Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part G), Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London: Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum, pp. 529-556 : 529

Gomphrena polygonoides Linnaeus , Species Plantarum 1: 225. 1753 .

"Habitat in America meridionali." RCN: 1682.

Basionym of: Illecebrum polygonoides (L.) L. (1762) .

Type not designated.

Original material: [icon] in Hermann, Parad. Bat.: 17. 1698; [icon] in Sloane, Voy. Jamaica 1: 141, t. 86, f. 2. 1707.

Current name: Alternanthera sessilis (L.) DC. ( Amaranthaceae ).

Note: This name had frequently been rejected as a nomen dubium (e.g. by Pedersen in Darwiniana 17: 438. 1967 and Mears & Gillis in J. Arnold Arbor. 58: 62. 1977) before Mears (in Taxon 29: 91. 1980) attempted to dispose of the name by typifying it using material in Herb. Sloane 2: 106 ( BM-SL), which he stated would make it a synonym of Alternanthera sessilis (L.) DC. However, his chosen type is not the material from which Sloane’s t. 86, f. 2 (which was cited by Linnaeus) was prepared, which is identifiable as A. paronychioides A. St. -Hil. Although Mears’ intention was laudable, a neotype cannot be designated when original material exists (Art. 9.11). It appears that formal rejection of the name may be necessary.