Staphisagria [" Staphysagria "] macrosperma Spach, Hist. Nat. Veg . 7: 348. 1839.

Jabbour, Florian & Renner, Susanne S., 2011, Resurrection of the genus Staphisagria J. Hill, sister to all the other Delphinieae (Ranunculaceae), PhytoKeys 7, pp. 21-26 : 22

Staphisagria [" Staphysagria "] macrosperma Spach, Hist. Nat. Veg. 7: 348. 1839.

Replaced name.

Delphinium staphisagria L., Sp. Pl.: 531. 1753. TYPE: LINN 694/12, Habitat in Istria, Dalmatia, Calabria, Apulia, Creta, Galloprovincia [South France]. The geographic origin of Linneaus’s type cannot be narrowed down ( Munz 1967, Ilarslan 1996, Jarvis 2007).

Herbarium specimen studied:

Greece: Crete, Nomos Lassithiou, ravine between Zákros and Kato Zákros, 70 m, 15 May 2002, E. Vitek 02-205 (W, GZU, M, MA).

Comments

Spach had to chose a new name for this Linnaean species because Staphisagria staphisagria would be an exact tautonym (not permitted in botanical nomenclature), and since his misspelling of Hill’s genus (as Staphysagria ) is a correctable error (variant spelling), Spach’s name Staphisagria macrosperma is legitimate. Among the three species of the genus Staphisagria , Staphisagria macrospermahas the largest distribution. Because of its ancient use in medicine ( Cristofolini and Mossetti 1998), it is found all around the Mediterranean basin ( Greuter et al. 1989; Orellana et al. 2009a). It grows in rocky areas, and is adapted to nitrophilous and disturbed habitats ( Orellana et al. 2009a). Figure 2 shows key morphological characteristics of Staphisagria macrosperma .