Polypodium simplex Burm. f.

Mazumdar, Jaideep, Callmander, Martin W. & Fumeaux, Nicolas, 2019, Typification and nomenclature of the ferns described in N. L. Burman’s Flora Indica, Candollea 74 (1), pp. 93-109 : 104

Polypodium simplex Burm. f. , Fl. Ind.: 235. 1768.

Lectotypus (designated here): INDONESIA. Java: s.d., Pryon s.n. ( G-PREL [ G00818253 ]!) ( Fig. 7 ).

Notes. – In the protologue, BURMAN (1768: 235) referred to a plate in RUMPHIUS’s Herbarium Amboinense (1750: 70, tab. 30, fig. 1) and a Kleynhoff collection in his herbarium. Thus a lectotypification is necessary. The only original material in G-PREL is a Pryon collection from Java that Burman erroneously attributed to Kleynhoff: the polynomial “ Filix non ramosa foliis integris alternis ” cited in the protologue appears in Pryon’s typical handwriting on the sheet. This collections is here designated as lectotype ( Fig. 7 ).

The Pryon specimen in G-PREL clearly represents a species of the genus Drynaria (Bory) J. Sm. It corresponds to Drynaria rigidula (Sw.) Bedd. , showing a sterile frond with anastomosing veins and narrow pinnae articulate to rachis. BURMAN (1768) ’s Polypodium simplex predates SWARTZ (1801) ’s P. rigidulum . In order to allow the further use of a well-known and widely used fern name (A. Smith, pers. comm.) and to avoid disadvantageous nomenclatural changes entailed by the strict application of the ICN rules ( TURLAND et al., 2018: Art. 14.1), a proposal to conserve Swartz’s name over Burman’s is in preparation.

Figures

Fig. 7. – Lectotype of Polypodium simplex Burm. f. in G-PREL.