Centaurea orientalis Linnaeus (1753: 913)

Altinordu, Fahim & Ferrer-Gallego, P. Pablo, 2016, Typifications of the Linnaean names Centaurea eriophora and C. orientalis (Asteraceae), Phytotaxa 277 (1), pp. 97-100 : 98-99

Centaurea orientalis Linnaeus (1753: 913)

Type (lectotype, designated here):—“In desertis ad Tanaim majorem circa nova Pawloska” [steppes along the Don River in the vicinity of Pavlovsk, Voronezh Region, Russia] Gerber s.n. in Herb. Linn. No. 1030.33 ( LINN [digital image!], image available at http://www. linnean-online.org/10638/).

The protologue of Centaurea orientalis ( Linnaeus 1753: 913) consists of a diagnosis “ CENTAUREA calycibus squama ciliatis, foliis pinnatifidis: pinnis lanceolatis”, followed by two synonyms: “ Centaurea calycibus ciliatis, foliis pinnatis glabris: foliolis lanceolatis integerrimis” from Linnaeus (1748: 271) and “ Cyanus foliis radicalibus: partim integris, partim pinnatis, bractea calycis ovali, flore sulphureo” from Haller (1745: v. 3, p. 94, n. 472), as well as the provenance indicated as “ Habitat in Sibiria”. Further on, diagnostic differences of the species were provided: “ Differt a C. Scabiosa , cui simillima, non tantum Corolla sulphurea , sed praecipue Calyce, cujus foliola terminata squama ovata , ferruginea, ciliata , ciliis longitudine ipsius squamae, pectinatis, cum in C. Scabiosa foliorum calycis margo niger ciliato-lacerus sit, nec in squamam eductus.” One of the references quoted by Linnaeus ( Haller 1744: 94) includes an illustration (image available at http://rstl. royalsocietypublishing.org/content/43/472-477/94.full.pdf+html) that matches the original description in the protologue; that illustration, as part of the original material, can be also considered for typification.

About 90 specimens were found by Kukkonen & Viljamaa (1973) in the Herbarium of the Botanical Museum of the University of Helsinki ( H) that are believed to have once been part of the Linnaeus herbarium or annotated by him. The specimen at H with number 1495243 (image available at: https://koivu.luomus.fi/english/botany/linne/h1495243/ h1495243%20% 20l. %20a.jpg) is annotated by Linnaeus “ orientalis ” and “22” (the number of C. orientalis in Species Plantarum), and by Traugott Gerber “Jacea laciniata fl. luteo magno, squamis albis ciliaribus” at the top, and the word “Azow”. The Linnaeus’s symbol “ɛ” written at the base of the plant denotes its origin as the Western Asia sensu Linnaeus ( Jarvis 2007, see also Stearn 1957, 1958). One of the species numbers has been deleted by Hellenius, who has written the number 54, referring to the fourth edition of Species Plantarum. There is also an annotation on the back: “a Linné f.” by A. Dahl at the base of the sheet. In this sense, as indicated by Kukkonen & Viljamaa (1973), the specimen was probably collected by A. Keyser in 1741. Moreover, it seems that it was given to Linnaeus in 1744 by Baron Sten Bielke, who visited Russia with P. Kalm at that time and obtained a large and diverse material for Linnaeus. He evidently also brought seeds, since “Hortus Upsaliensis” is cited in the protologue. This specimen is original material of the name. The sheet contains only a plant fragment, with a flowering head and a few stem leaves.

On the other hand, the specimen in the Linnaean herbarium at LINN, Herb. Linn. No. 1030.33 (image available at http://www.linnean-online.org/10638/) also bears the original Linnaeus annotation “22 orientalis ”, explicitly referring to the number of the species account in Species Plantarum, and was therefore available to Linnaeus by the time when he compiled the book. The sheet also bears the geographical symbol “ɛ”, in Linnaeus’s hand, which indicates its origin as the western edge of Asia and is usually associated with specimens collected by T. Gerber, principally in the district of the River Don or Astrachan [Astrakhan’] on the Volga ( Savage 1945). The back side of the specimen has two annotations “Jacea laciniata flore magno luteo, squamis calycum ciliaribus splendentibus Gerb. Tanais 172” and “Habitat in desertis ad Tanaim majorem circa nova Pawloska” (now Pavlovsk in Voronezh Region of Russia, in agreement with the area in which Gerber is known to have collected his own specimens ( Sokoloff et al. 2002). This herbarium sheet, also part of the original material used by Linnaeus when he described the species, contains three plant fragments, with well-preserved flowering heads and leaves.

We have been unable to trace any further original material in any other Linnaean and Linnaean-linked herbaria. Although the illustration ( Haller 1744) and the herbarium specimens (Herb. Linn. No. 1030.33 and H 1495243) can all be identified as Centaurea orientalis , the specimen Herb. Linn. No. 1030.33 at LINN is a better choice for the lectotype of the Linnaean name. We therefore choose this specimen as the lectotype of Centaurea orientalis .