Epitypification of the Linnaean Statice echioides (Plumbaginaceae) and notes on Smith's concepts of S. aristata and S. rorida

Abstract

The typification of the Linnaean name Statice echioides (currently Limonium echioides) is discussed. An illustration from Magnol's Botanicum Monspeliense (“Limonium minus annuum bullatis foliis vel echioides”) was correctly designated as lectotype by Erben in 1978 according to Art. 7.11 of Shenzhen Code. However, this image lacks some of the important flower characters required for a critical identification of the species. An epitype (plate no. 299 in Sibthorp & Smith's Flora Graeca) is selected to serve as an interpretative type of the lectotype of S. echioides (Art. 9.6). In addition, the name S. aristata, published in Sibthorp & Smith's Flora Graecae prodromus, is discussed in depth and lectotypified on the above‐mentioned Magnol illustration, making this name homotypic with the Linnaean one. Finally, the concept of S. echioides, as described in Flora Graecae prodromus, is discussed, concluding that it refers to the currently recognized Limonium roridum (≡ S. rorida, as originally published in Flora Graeca).