Themeda strigosa (Buchanan-Hamilton ex Hooker) Camus (1920: 423)

Karthigeyan, K. & Murugan, P., 2018, Lectotypification of Themeda strigosa (Poaceae, Panicoideae, Andropogoneae), Phytotaxa 372 (2), pp. 176-178 : 176

Themeda strigosa (Buchanan-Hamilton ex Hooker) Camus (1920: 423) .

Anthistiria strigosa Buchanan-Hamilton ex Hooker (1896: 214) .

Lectotype (designated here):— INDIA . Assam: Camrup district, habitat in Camrupa orientalis arundinetis, 4 December 1800, F. Buchanan-Hamilton s.n. [ Buchanan-Hamilton’s (1822) Catalogue no. 2321] [ E00393919 , image!]

Other original material: — INDIA . Bihar, Monghyr , October 1894, Mokim 1516 ( CAL0000029897 !, K000911710 !) ; INDIA . Bihar, Monghyr , October 1894, Mokim 1444 ( CAL0000029898 !, CAL0000029899 !, CAL0000029900 !, K000245967 !) .

Buchanan-Hamilton (1822), in his catalogue under no. 2321, listed “ Anthistiria strigosa ” for a new grass species, with a short note: “ habitat in camrupa orientalis arundinetis ”. Since he did not provide a diagnosis or description, the name was not validly published. After more than seven decades, Hooker (1896), in his Flora of British India , validated the name by providing a description. However, two collections were cited in the protologue: “Lower Assam, Hamilton [s.n., s.d.]; Behar, Monghyr [= Mungher, Bihar], Herb. Calcutt. [= CAL].” For the collection from Monghyr in Bihar, Hooker did not mention the name of the collector, collection no., and date of collection. Subsequently, Camus (1920) transferred the species to the genus Themeda , and proposed the name T. strigosa , but without indicating any specimen as the type. While searching for the original materials mentioned in the protologue, specimens collected by Mokim from Monghyr in Bihar were found at CAL and K. There are four herbarium sheets bearing the collection no. 1444 ( CAL 0000029898, CAL 0000029899, CAL 0000029900, K 000245967), and two with the no. 1516 ( CAL 0000029897, K 000911710). On searching further, we found a herbarium sheet at E that corresponds to the collection from Camrup district in lower Assam, made by Buchanan-Hamilton, with the catalogue no. 2321. This specimen was cited by Hooker (1896) in his protologue and it also contains a label with the plant name written in Hooker’s handwriting. Hence it is designated here as the lectotype for the name Anthistiria strigosa (≡ Themeda strigosa ), following the Art. 9.2 of the International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi and Plants (Turland et. al. 2018).

Distribution note: This species is restricted to Assam, Bihar, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal in India ( Bor 1960) . It is also reported from few parts of Bangladesh ( Ahmed 2008).