Sisyrinchium bermudiana L., 1753

Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part S), Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London: Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum, pp. 806-877 : 857

Sisyrinchium bermudiana Linnaeus , Species Plantarum 2: 954. 1753.

"Habitat α in Virginia, ß in Bermudis." RCN: 6908.

Lectotype (Boivin in Phytologia 42: 24. 1979): Kalm, Herb. Linn. No. 1064.1 ( LINN) .

Generitype of Sisyrinchium Linnaeus.

Current name: Sisyrinchium bermudiana L. ( Iridaceae ).

Note: Sisyrinchium bermudiana was based on a number of disparate elements and has been treated in a variety of ways. Bicknell (in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 23: 131. 1896) rejected the name because of its "indiscriminate use" for a number of taxa, and several authors, including Parent (in Lejeunia, n.s., 99: 6-13. 1980), have rejected the name (though not formally) as a nomen ambiguum. Others, however, have continued to use the name, though in different senses. Farwell (in Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 17: 82-83. 1918) and Boivin (in Phytologia 42: 24. 1979) have applied the name to the Virginian plant (also known as S. mucronatum Michaux ). By contrast, Hemsley (in J. Bot. 22: 108-110. 1884) and Ward (in Taxon 17: 270-273. 1968), who provides an extensive review of the problem, have applied it to the Bermudan plant.

There have been several attempts to resolve matters through typification. Guédès (in Taxon 18: 542. 1969) designated Miller material (BM) of the Bermudan taxon as a neotype for S. bermudiana , but this is contrary to Art. 9.11 because original material is in existence. Boivin (in Phytologia 42: 24. 1979) designated Kalm material (1064.1, LINN) of the Virginian taxon as type. More recently, Barrie & Reveal in Jarvis & al., Regnum Veg. 127: 89 (1993) designated as lectotype van Royen material (No. 904.139-289, L) belonging to the Bermudan taxon. The possibility that the Linnaean Generic List might be available for adoption under the Names in Current Use (NCU) proposals then under discussion led Barrie & Reveal to typify the name in a way that they believed best reflected current usage. However, with the defeat of the NCU proposals, Boivin’s type choice clearly has priority and the name should be used in the sense of Kalm’s type. It may be that a proposal for either conservation or rejection of S. bermudiana would now be helpful in resolving the problems still associated with this name.