Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid

Permanently and retroactively eradicating certain offensive epithets from the scientific names of algae, fungi, and plants: ‘afr-’ is in

2024-08-05T09:55:47+02:00

Following publication in 2021 of a proposal to permanently and retroactively eradicate a set of offensive epithets from the scientific nomenclature in use for algae, fungi, and plants, this proposal eventually formed part of the ballot sheet placed before people eligible to cast a preliminary guiding vote (the so-called “mail vote”) to amend the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants in 2024. In this mail vote the proposal received 74 ‘no’ votes (47%) out of 156 votes cast. This meant that the proposal was not automatically rejected and that it would be put to a vote, following discussion, at the Nomenclature Section of the XX^th International Botanical Congress that was held in Madrid, Spain, from 15 to 19 July 2024. We document the process and results of the voting on this proposal during the preliminary guiding vote, as well as during the Nomenclature Section.

Botanical catalogue of the Mendoza herbarium in the Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial

2024-08-23T11:23:27+02:00

The Renaissance herbarium kept in the Royal Library of the Monastery of El Escorial, which came from the legacy of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, is here studied for the first time from a botanical point of view. This herbarium is made up of four bound volumes containing a total of 988 plants, for which the scientific name is provided. It has not been possible to establish with certainty the origin, the date of its creation or the botanist or botanists who contributed to its preparation. It was likely acquired from an intermediary or unknown botanist during the period when its owner was imperial ambassador in Venice and Rome, between 1539 and 1554, and that the plants it contains are of Italian origin.

Typification of three Linnaean names in the genus Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae)

2024-05-24T12:24:47+02:00

The lectotypification of four Linnaean names in the genus Euphorbia: E. exigua, E. exigua var. acuta, E. paralias, and E. segetalis is discussed. The designation of the nomenclatural types is based on the consultation of Linnaeus’s original material and the literature cited in the respective protologues. The name E. exigua had previously been “lectotypified” by Jafri & El-Gadi in 1982 on a specimen kept in LINN. However, Linnaeus cited in the protologue a specimen from the Joachim Burser Herbarium, currently preserved at UPS-BURSER. According to the ICN (International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants), this is a syntype which must be chosen as the lectotype. The name E. exigua var. acuta is lectotypified using a specimen preserved in the Clifford Herbarium at BM and is treated in this paper as a heterotypic synonym of E. exigua var. exigua. The name E. paralias had previously been “lectotypified” by Geltman in 2015 (repeated in 2020) on a specimen kept in S-LINN. However, this specimen is not original material for the name. The lectotype of E. paralias is designated in this paper from a specimen preserved at S-LINN according to the ICN. Finally, the name E. segetalis is lectotypified using a Morison illustration.

Lectotype designation of the Macaronesian endemic Gymnosporia cassinoides (Celastraceae)

2024-09-25T16:09:42+02:00

The typification of the name Celastrus cassinoides, currently accepted as Gymnosporia cassinoides (Celastraceae), is discussed. This species is a plant endemic to the Canary Islands, traditionally known as Maytenus canariensis. A lectotype is designated for this name using a specimen preserved in the herbarium BM, collected by Francis Masson in the Canary Islands in 1778.