Agriophyllum

Mosyakin, Sergei L. & Spencer, Mark A., 2017, Typification of the Linnaean name Corispermum squarrosum, with notes on C. hyssopifolium and nomenclatural implications for Agriophyllum (Chenopodiaceae: Corispermeae), Phytotaxa 329 (3), pp. 212-222 : 219

Validation of Agriophyllum : Marschall von Bieberstein (1819) or later?

Marschall von Bieberstein (1819) introduced the names Agriophyllum and A. arenarium in a note under Corispermum pungens . The note reported: “ Agriophyllum arenarium nuncupato, cui genere hoc fejungure lubuerit!”. Most authors interpreted that as Marschall von Bieberstein’s acceptance of the new genus and the species, and the authorship “M. Bieb.” was cited even in recent publications (e. g., Kühn 1993, Sukhorukov 2014, Hernández-Ledesma et al. 2015, IPNI 2017 –onward). The authorship “M. Bieb. ex C.A. Mey.” was also cited in several publications (e.g., Gusev 1996, Tzvelev 2012, etc.).

The format of the species entry and the wording of the note used by Marschall von Bieberstein (1819) indicate that the names Agriophyllum and A. arenarium were in fact provisional names which were not explicitly accepted in this publication, in contrast to the accepted name Corispermum pungens . In the cases of other names of new genera introduced in the same volume of Flora Taurico-Caucasica (e.g., Arceuthobium Marschall von Bieberstein 1819: 62 , or Halocnemum Marschall von Bieberstein 1819: 3 , or Lagonychium Marschall von Bieberstein 1819: 288 , or Sobolewskia Marschall von Bieberstein 1819: 421 , or Tragopyrum Marschall von Bieberstein 1819: 284 etc.), Marschall von Bieberstein (l.c.) clearly used a different standard format and explicitly cited these names as accepted ones. Following Art. 36.1c of ICN, the names Agriophyllum and A. arenarium were not validly published by Marschall von Bieberstein (1819).

These two names were explicitly accepted later by C.A. Meyer (1831: 163), with an abridged but unequivocal citation of the Marschall von Bieberstein’s Flora: “M. a B. Fl. T. C. 3 p. 6” meaning “Marschall von Bieberstein, Flora Taurico-Caucasica, vol. 3, page 6”. Meyer (l.c.) also validated the name A. arenarium M. Bieb. ex C. A. Meyer (1831: 163) and reported that the species occurs “in locis sabulosis versus mare Caspium”.

Also in 1831, the generic name Agriophyllum was explicitly accepted by Dietrich (1831), who did not cite the authorship of that generic name in the main text (however, in the Index on page 696 the authorship of the genus was attributed to Link) but listed under that genus the species “ A. pungens Link MS ” and cited as synonyms the names “ Corispermum pungens Vahl. En. 1. p. 117. Roem. et Sch. syst. veg. 1. p. 48. mant 1. p. 63. Marsch. Bib. taur. cauc. 1. p. 4. 3. p. 5. Spreng. syst. veg. 1. p. 21” and “ Corispermum squarrosum Linn. sp. pl. p. 6. Willd. sp. pl. 1. p. 28. Pallas. ross. 2. p. 113. t. 99. Stev. Mem. d. Mosq. 5. p. 33”. The name A. arenarium has not been mentioned by Dietrich (1831). The citation of C. squarrosum in synonymy of A. pungens does not make the latter name illegitimate since it is the combination having the basionym C. pungens (Art. 52.3 of ICN).

According to Stafleu & Cowan (1981), Meyer’s book was published in “Nov-Dec 1831 (Printed Nov 1831)”. The same authors ( Stafleu & Cowan 1976) indicated that Dietrich’s book (1831) was “received by the Bot. Ges. Regensburg on 7 Dec. 1831 ”, which means that it was probably printed also at least in November of 1831. Thus, both books were published almost simultaneously. Following Art. 31 of ICN ( McNeill et al. 2012), we accept these publication dates and conclude that probably Meyer’s publication preceded Dietrich’s one. Considering also that Meyer (1831) provided the direct reference to the publication by Marschall von Bieberstein containing the description of the genus, while Dietrich (1831) did not provide at the generic name Agriophyllum even an indirect citation of Marschall von Bieberstein’s Flora but cited that Flora only after the synonymic name C. pungens (as the name actually accepted by Marschall von Bieberstein), we conclude that it was Meyer who validated the generic name Agriophyllum and the species name A. arenarium . However, since it is clear that Marschall von Bieberstein (1819) proposed the provisional name A. arenarium as a replacement name for C. pungens , we should conclude that the correct name of the species in Agriophyllum is the combination A. pungens (Vahl) Link ex A. Dietr.

We provide below the updated nomenclatural citations of Agriophyllum and A. pungens .