Valeriana dacica Porcius (1885

Krahulec, František, Kirschner, Jan & Krahulcová, Anna, 2023, Valeriana dacica, a distinctive tetraploid in the Eastern Carpathians, Phytotaxa 629 (3), pp. 210-222 : 212-215

Valeriana dacica Porcius (1885 , Nov: 127)

Protologue with type indication:—” Valeriana dacica mihi. Tota planta glabra, foliis caulinis—exceptis infimis—bijugis, terminali [sic] (non ternatis ut in V. tripteri ). Quondam erronee pro V. sisymbriifolia Schur En. n. 1728 salutavi. Ad rivulos et in locis paludosis RSA. prope Ó. Rodna.”

Type:—[ ROMANIA] An Bächen und sumpfigen Stellen der Voralpenregion, Rodna ( Siebenbürgen ), F. Porcius, sine dato ( BP 159897, lectotype, designated here) , see Fig. 1 .

Note 1:—The lectotype label also gives the following diagnostic text, in principle the same as that given in the protologue: “Früher irrthümlich für V. tripteris β. sisymbriifolia Schur En. Tr. No. 1728 (: V. cardamines M. B.) gehalten. Mittlere Stengelblätter nicht 3zählig (3blättrig) sondern 5zählig. Das unterste Blattpaar öfters sehr klein, fast unscheinlich.”

Note 2:—There are another five specimens, four of which undated, either duplicates of BP 159897 or just other collections from the same region which may be considered as elements of the original material, now probably residual syntypes. That is why we designate the above lectotype; all the specimens listed are conspecific with the lectotype.

1–2. “Ad rivulos, fossas et in locis turfoso-spongiosis, regionis subalpinae prope oppidum Rodna”, F. Porcius ( CL 49748, CL 49750); both are determined as V. bijuga , with V. dacica as a synonym. These two specimens bear labels written later (as if for plants of a rich gathering divided to form several herbarium specimens).

3. The third specimen, from exactly the same locality, has a label written by Porcius himself, again as V. bijuga , with V. dacica as a synonym ( CL 49749).

4. The fourth specimen (under the name of V. bijuga , with the name V. dacica as a synonym) differs from all the others in that it is dated; there are two plants and two collection dates, each with a locality detail (without any clear connection), the text written by Porcius: “Transsilvania boreali-orientalis, ad rivulos, fossas et in locis turfosis, reg. subalpinae prope oppidum Rodna”, “...ovel mare” [illegible], 30 May 1880, F. Porcius; Preluci [Agăș Commune, Bacău County], 28 Jun 1884, F. Porcius (both CL 49747); see Fig. 1.

5. The last specimen is also given the name V. bijuga , and V. dacica as a synonym: BP 159995 (“Nordöstliches Siebenbürgen, an Bächen in der Voralpenregion bei Alt-Rodna”, F. Porcius, sine dato).

Note 3:— Porcius (1885: 127) refers to the name V. sisymbriifolia Vahl (1805: 7) misapplied by Schur (not published as a new name as suggested in Index Kewensis, Jackson 1895 ). Schur ascribed the name to Desfontaines (1808) who published an excellent drawing (plate 41) of the true V. sisymbriifolia Vahl , a name currently accepted for a distinctive valerian of the Caucasus and the adjacent regions. Desfontaines himself referred to Vahl (“Wahl”).

Note 4:—Florian Porcius (1816–1906) was an outstanding Romanian personality, not only within botany. He was born in the town of Rodna, from the vicinity of which comes the type gathering of V. dacica .

= Valeriana ternata Simonkai (1887: 290)

≡ V. montana var. ternata Schur (1866: 291) , nom. illeg., non Mutel (1835: 93)

Type indication:—”Auf dem Arpás mit dem vorigen [ V. montana var. alpigena ] gemeinschaftlich.”

Type:—[ ROMANIA] Am Fuss des Ecsem-Teteje [Öcsém-tető] an quelligen Orten [the Harghita Mts., Vf. Ecem], Juli 1853, F. Schur [as “ Valeriana transsilvanica Schur , an V. sisymbriifolia Desf. ? apud Ledeb.”] ( LW 214022!, neotype, designated here), see Fig. 2

Note 1:—We failed to locate any specimen that might be considered as an element of the original material, either at LE nor in CL, BP, W etc. We therefore designate a neotype.

Note 2:—The illegitimate name, a later homonym ( ICN, Art. 53.1), published by Schur cannot be treated as a basionym, and the binomial of V. ternata is a new name valid through a reference to a diagnosis in Schur (1866).

= Valeriana bijuga (Simkovics) Błocki (1892: 352)

≡ Valeriana tripteris var. bijuga Simkovics [= Simonkai] (1878: 558)

≡ Valeriana tripteris f. bijuga (Simonkai) Rostański in Pawłowski (1967: 357)

≡ Valeriana tripteris [unranked] bijuga (Simonkai) Jávorka (1925: 1055)

Type indication:—”Terem a Hátszegi havasok köves s buja növényzetü helyein: így a Zenoga tónak Jzvor forrásánál.” [“it grows in the stony and lush vegetation areas of the Hátszeg mountains: for example, at the Jzvor source of Lake Zenoga”, nowadays Lacul Zănoaga in the Munții Retezat, near Haţeg, S. Romania]

Type:—In humidis fontanis Jzvor alpium Kerzeschoriensium ad lacum Zenoga in societate V. sambucifoliae , 13 Aug 1874, Simkovics [= Simonkai] ( BP 160058, plant on the left, lectotype, designated here), see Fig. 3 .

Note 1:—On the label of the type, originally only the name “ V. tripteris f. bijuga mihi” was given. Later Simonkai added other names, “f. transsilvanica Schur hb.”, and “β. heterophylla Baumgart. non alior.”

Note 2:— Błocki (1892) treated the epithet “bijuga ” as published by Simonkai at the rank of species, probably on the basis of the fact that Simonkai (1887) used the name in the form “ V. tripteris var. V. bijuga ”. However, the protologue form of the name is standard, and the ICN ( Turland et al. 2018) is unequivocal for such cases: Art. 24.4. A name with a binary combination instead of an infraspecific epithet, but otherwise in accordance with this Code, is treated as validly published in the form determined by Art. 24.1 without change of authorship or date.

≡ Valeriana transsilvanica Schur ex Błocki (1896: 165) , nom. illeg. (ICN, Art. 52.1, 52.2)

Note 3:—Several authors and databases erroneously considered the name V. transsilvanica Schur (1866: 290) as validly published. However, Schur did not accept this name and cited it only in synonymy as a herbarium label name (ICN, Art. 36.1). The acceptance of this name in Błocki (1896: 165) and later in Szafer et al. (1924) represents a validation of V. transsilvanica as a new name (provided there is no validation at this or other ranks between 1866 and 1896). However, the inclusion of a valid and legitimate name at the rank of species ( V. bijuga ) as a synonym makes the new name superfluous and illegitimate (ICN, Art. 52.1, 52.2).

Note 4:—The name Valeriana transsilvanica “Schur ” took root in the Ukrainian literature ( Katina 1961, Tsymbalyuk 2022, see also Mosyakin & Fedoronchuk 1999) but, as demonstrated above, this name represents a nomenclatural synonym of V. bijuga (Simonkai) Błocki.

= Valeriana tripteris var. carpatica Soó (1973: 172)

Type indication:—”Ht.: Siebenbürgen, Bihar (Bihor)-Geb.: Vidra (Simonkai Hb. Mus. Nat. Hung.)”

Type:—Transsilvaniae alpes Biharienses ibidem: Pietra-Stracu ad Vidram [Vidra, Vrancea County, Romania], Simkovics [= Simonkai] ( BP 160058, plant on the right, lectotype, designated here), see Fig. 3 .

Note 1:—On the type sheet, there are two plants collected at two different dates (16 Jul 1880, 14 Jul 1882) and it is uncertain which plant belongs to which date. We therefore select one of these plants as the lectotype.

Note 2:—The name Valeriana tripteris var. carpatica Soó was originally intended for publication in Soó (1965: 250), with a brief diagnosis (foliis caulinis superioribus integris vel trilobis), which not necessarily points to our taxon. At the latter place, the name was not published validly (type not indicated). In the validating text, Soó (1973: 172) referred to the previous attempt to introduce this name. He cited it as “var. carpatica Soó, Acta Bot. Hung. 1: 250 (1964) ” and made mistakes in the name of the journal, volume number and the year of publication. It is rather questionable whether or not all the mistakes are correctable and, then, the name was published validly ( ICN, Art. 38.13).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Valeriana dacica Porcius. General habit (left: lectotype, BP; right: probable syntype, CL). Note the broadly ovate or round middle leaflet of cauline leaves.

FIGURE 2. Valeriana ternata Simonkai. Neotype (LW 214022).

FIGURE 3. Valeriana dacica. Left: Valeriana tripteris var. bijuga Simonkai (lectotype, BP); right: Valeriana tripteris var. carpatica Soó (lectotype, BP).

FIGURE 4. The herbarium label of the lectotype of the name Valeriana tripteris var. heterophylla Baumgarten (CL).

FIGURE 5. The lectotype specimen of the name Valeriana tripteris var. heterophylla Baumgarten (CL, herb. Baumgartenianum, no. 8330).