Phytotaxa 212 (3): 229–235 www.mapress.com/phytotaxa/ Copyright © 2015 Magnolia Press ISSN 1179-3155 (print edition) Article PHYTOTAXA ISSN 1179-3163 (online edition) http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.212.3.5 Lectotypification of seven names of Kobresia (Cyperaceae) and nomenclatural notes on Kobresia utriculata BIkaSh JaNa1 & R.C. SRIvaStava2 1 Botanical Survey of India, Central National Herbarium, Howrah-711103 e-mail: bikash.janadp@rediffmail.com rd 2 Botanical Survey of India, Head Quarter, C.G.O.Complex, 3 MSO Building, Salt Lake City-Kolkata 700064 Abstract Seven names of Kobresia Willd. (Cyperaceae), namely Kobresia cercostachys (Franch.) C.B.Clarke, Kobresia curvirostris (C.B.Clarke) C.B.Clarke, Kobresia filicina (C.B.Clarke) C.B.Clarke, Kobresia gammiei C.B.Clarke, Kobresia prainii kük., Kobresia tibetica Maxim. and Kobresia vidua (Boott ex C.B.Clarke) kük. are lectotypified as a part of the current revision of this genus for India. the nomenclature of K. utriculata C.B.Clarke is discussed. Key words: Cyperaceae; Kobresia; Lectotype; revision Introduction During the course of studies on “taxonomic revision of the genus Kobresia Willd. (Cyperaceae) in India”, under the Flora of India Project of t h e Botanical Survey of India, t h e authors came across syntypes of some Kobresia species in the CaL herbaria. Scrutiny of the literature and study of the digital images of type specimens housed in foreign herbaria (a, B, k, BM, E, P, tI) revealed that there is the necessity for typification of seven names of Kobresia and discussion of the nomenclature of Kobresia utriculata C.B. Clarke(= K. prainii kük.). 1. Kobresia cercostachys (Franch.) C.B.Clarke in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 36: 267. 1903. Carex cercostachys Franch. In Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris s e r. 8, 7: 27.1895 & in Nouv. arch. Mus. Paris ser. 3, 8:191.1896. Lectotype (designated here): Plantes de Chine (Province du Yun-nan), 3500 m, 7 august 1888, M. l’abbé Delavay 3403 (Lectotype, image seen: barcode no. P00077192!, isolectotypes: P, image seen: barcode numbers P00077193!, P00077194!, P00077195!, P00077196!; E, images seen: barcode numbers E00386836!, E00386837!; k, images seen: barcode number k000794704!). Franchet (1895) in the protologue of Carex cercostachys cited the Delavay collection: ‘Chine occid.; Yunnan, col de Yen-tze-hay (Delavay) and at the end of the title of his paper mentioned ‘d’après les collections du Muséum’ [that is, Museum = P]. Later C. B. Clarke transferred it to Kobresia as K. cercostachys (Franch.) C.B.Clarke. We have not examined any sheets of the Delavay collection but we have seen images of eight sheets of the collection of M. l’abbeé Delavay collected from the Yunan Province of China, and all bearing the same label data as in the protologue. these are the five sheets in P (barcode numbers P00077192!, P00077193!, P00077194!, P00077195!, P00077196!) two sheets in E (barcode numbers E00386836!, E00386837!) and single in k (barcode no. k000794704!) herbaria. as mentioned by the Franchet in the protologue, the main set of Franchets specimens are deposited in P herbaria. there is one sheet (barcode no. P00077192) bearing the determination slip of C.B.Clarke and sketch by anonymous person. there is no indication that Franchet used any particular specimen for description. all the sheet bear mostly identical plant specimens and close to the protologue description. It is best to treat all of them as syntype and choose the specimen of barcode no. P00077192 as Lectotype. the herbarium sheet in k bears two specimens, one specimen has only a spike and culm and the other has spike, culm with basal sheaths and filiform leaves. the E herbarium sheet barcode no. E00386836 bears seven specimens of which three specimens are incomplete and the remaining are Accepted by Muthama Muasya: 22 Apr. 2015; published: 8 Jun. 2015 229 complete. Both herbarium sheets in E bear determination slips identifying as an isotype and also syntype by unknown person(s). actually all the herbarium specimens in k and E as well as four specimens at P (P00077193!, P00077194!, P00077195!, P00077196!) are isolectotypes. 2. Kobresia curvirostris (C.B.Clarke) C.B.Clarke in hooker, J.D., Fl. Brit. India 6: 699. 1894. Hemicarex curvirostris C.B. Clarke in J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 20: 384. 1883. Lectotype (designated here):Sikkim, tungu, 13000ft, July , J.D.Hooker s.n. (Lectotype -k, image, barcode number - k000794672!). C.B. Clarke (1883) in the protologue of Hemicaex curvirostris cited the specimen “himalaya: Sikkim, alt. 4000metr. Prope pagum tungu (J.D.Hooker)” without indicating any deposited herbaria or any particular specimen as type. Clarke also mentions ‘Elyna, sp. 10, herb. Ind. Or., hook.f. et t.thom.’ at the end of his diagnosis for this species. C.B. Clarke’s type specimens are generally found in k and BM (Stafleu & Cowan, 1976) but several of his collection are also located in P, G and CaL herbaria. During the course of the study we have found that the single type specimen located only in k and before qualifying its type status, author (B.J.) has examined the specimen carefully and observed that there was no determination slip by C.B.Clarke as “Hemicarex curvirostris” on the herbarium sheet rather only mentioned “Hemicarex”, beside the name Kobresia curvirostris in his determination slip on 1891. the tendency of the C.B.Clarke was put determination slip of a new name with detail of its publication as he done in other species. It may be C.B.Clarke used another specimen of same collection number for description of Hemicarex curvirostris and that specimen may be missing or could not be found. thus it is better to treat the k (J.D.H s.n., barcode no. k000794672) specimen as a syntype and due to its close affinity to the protologue description such as length of culm, spike etc it is selected as a lectotype. 3. Kobreisa filicina (C.B.Clarke) C.B.Clarke in hooker, Fl.Brit.India 6: 696. 1894. Hemicarex filicina C.B. Clarke in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 20: 384. 1884. Lectotype (designated here): Simla, Fagu, 10/8/49 T. T. s.n. (Lectotype-k, image, barcode no. k000794696!). C.B .Clarke (1884) in the protologue of Hemicarex filicina cited the specimen “himalaya: Fagu prope Simla (T.Thomson)” without mentioning any deposited herbaria. C.B. Clarke’s type specimens are mostly found in k and BM herbaria (Stafleu & Cowan, 1976), but several of his collection are also located in P, G and CaL herbaria. after searching of the above mentioned herbaria we have found that the single type is deposited in k. Examination of the image of this specimen (T.T. s.n., barcode no. k000794696) revealed that two specimens of K. filicina are mounted on the same herbarium sheet but they are clearly delimited on the sheet as being two different specimens and they bear two different barcodes (k000794695 & k000794696). the left hand specimen was collected by J.F.Duthiei from kumaun (k000794695) and it has no type status. the right hand specimen was collected by T. Thomson from Simla (k000794696) as mentioned in the protologue. In this case also we have failed to prove that the C.B. Clarke used only single specimen at time of description, because there in not such indication in herbarium sheet. It is best way to update the type status of thomson’s specimen (k000794696) as syntype to lectotype. 4. Kobresia gammiei C.B.Clarke in kew Bull. addit. Ser. 8. 68. 1908. Lectotype (designated here): INDIa. Sikkim himalaya, West Jongri, tongsup, July, 1887, Dr. King’s Collector s.n. (Lectotype-CaL, acc no. 512697). (Fig. 1) C.B. Clarke (1908) in the protologue mentioned two specimens :“INDIa. Sikkim, Gammie; tongsup near Jongri, hb.king)” without mentioning any particular herbaria or particular specimen as a type. C.B. Clarke’s type specimens are generally found in k and BM (Stafleu & Cowan, 1976) of him also located in P, G and CaL herbaria also. During the course of this study t h e authors have found that two syntypes are housed in CaL. One was collected by Gammie from Sikkim (barcode no. CaL0000001896); the other specimen was collected by Dr. king’s Collector from tangsup, a locality of West Jongri in Sikkim (CaL, barcode no. CaL0000025219). the Gammie specimen with barcode no. CaL0000001896 bears four plant specimens mounted on a single herbarium sheet with a determination slip of C.B. Clarke as “Kobresia gammiei sp.nova”. the other specimen in the CaL herbarium (barcode no. CaL0000025219) consists of three plants with a determination slip and diagnosis by C.B. Clarke. In the diagnosis he states that the new species differs from Kobresia macrantha in having much wider leaves and trifid stigma. We choose this specimen as lectotype because its features match those described in the protologue. there are notes on lectotype specimens examined in this study (Figs 1) that indicate that k had no material of K. gammiei since Clarke asks in these notes for a single culm of each to be given to k. there is no indication that this was done. 230 • Phytotaxa 212 (3) © 2015 Magnolia Press JaNa & SRIvaStava FIGURE 1. Lectotype of Kobresia gammiei C.B.Clarke (CaL). LECtOtYPIFICatION OF SEvEN SPECIES OF KOBreSIA Phytotaxa 212 (3) © 2015 Magnolia Press • 231 5.Kobresia prainii kük. in Bull. herb. Boiss. ser. 2, 4: 50. 1904. Kobresia utriculata C.B. Clarke, kew Bull. addit. Ser. 8: 67. 1908. Lectotype (designated here): Bhootan himalaya, ky-oo-la, 16 July 1884, Dungboo 224 (LectotypeCaL, barcode no. CaL0000001897!). (Fig. 2) FIGURE 2. Lectotype of Kobresia prainii kük.(CaL). 232 • Phytotaxa 212 (3) © 2015 Magnolia Press JaNa & SRIvaStava C.B. Clarke put a determination slip as ‘Kobresia utriculata C.B.Clarke sp. nova’ with h a n d w r i t t e n morphological notes on the Dungboo specimen (Dungboo 224) collected from Bhutan, housed in CaL. Later Clarke (1908) published the name and cited the specimen as “East himalaya (Chumbee?) ky-oo-la, king’s collector 224”. kükenthal (1904) h a d p r e v i o u s l y published the name Kobresia prainii kük. and cited the specimen “hab. Himalaya: Bhutan, ky-oo-la, (Dungboo 224!). G. king employed a number of collectors including Dungboo but they are attributed anonymously on some sheets as ‘king’s collector’ (http://plants.jstor.org/person/bm000391477). after study of the protologues of both K. utriculata and K. prainii we confirmed that both names were based on the same type specimen. the type collection is a p p a r e n t l y now represented only by the single sheet in CaL. kükenthal’s type specimens are generally found in B, BR, C, E, GB, h, LE, MOD (Stafleu & Cowan 1979). after searching of the above mentioned herbaria and also in k herbarium no type specimen was found. If kükenthal had a duplicate of Dungboo 224 it was presumably destroyed in t h e B herbarium during World War II. Microscopic examination of the CaL specimen revealed that its features are similar to the description in the protologue in all aspects such as the culm being10–20 cm long, prophyll 3 mm long, and nut 2 mm long. there are notes on the specimens (CaL0000001897) examined in this study (Figs 2) that indicate that k had no material of K. prainii since Clarke asks in these notes for a single culm of each to be given to k. there is no indication that this was done. We therefore choose this CaL specimen as the best material as lectotype. 6. Kobresia tibetica Maxim. In Bull. acad. Petersb. 29: 219. 1883. Lectotype (designated here):China occidentalis, Regiotabgut (prov. kansu),1880, Przewalski s.n. (Lectotype CaL, barcode no. CaL0000025218!, Isolectotypes-E, image, barcode number E00271744!; k, image, barcode number- k000960267); G, barcode number- G00428157) (Fig. 3). Maximowicz (1883) in the protologue cited the specimen “China occidentalis, Regio tangut (prov. kansu), 1880, Przewalski”, without mentioning any herbaria. the herbarium and type specimens of Maximowicz are deposited in LE and Ih herbaria (Stafleu & Cowan 1981). We communicated with the Curators of the aforementioned herbaria and were told that type material could not be located. however, four duplicates [or sheets] of the Prezewalski spe c i m e n mentioned in the protologue were located in CaL(CaL0000025218) k (k000960267) E (E00271744) and G (G00428157). all the specimens are isosyntypes of the name K. tibetica. the isosyntype in E bears as slip noting its wrong type status as an isotype. the isosyntype in k consists of two sets of plant material (mostly consisting of inflorescences and culms without bases) marked in pencil as ‘a’ and ‘B’ along with a slip written by C.B. Clarke commenting that a l l t h e m a t e r i a l w a s r e c e i v e d a t k i n 1 8 9 0 f r o m L E a s o n e c o l l e c t i o n b u t t h a t the material l a b e l l e d ‘a’ differs in having a comparatively smaller nut than the material l a b e l l e d ‘B’. the description in the protologues as that the nut is 3 mm long but Clarke noted that the material on the k sheet had nuts only 1–2 mm long. Microscopic examination of t h e CaL specimen found that it matched the description in the protologue with the nut being 2.5–3 mm long, and this sheet is chosen here as a lectotype. 7. Kobresia vidua (Boott ex C.B.Clarke) kük. in Engler, Pflanzenr. 38. Iv. 20: 40.1909. Carex vidua Boott ex C.B.Clarke in hooker, Fl. Brit. India 6: 713. 1894. Lectotype (designated here: Sikkim, Lachen, alt. 13000 ft, J.D. H. [hooker] s.n. (Lectotype k, image, barcode no. k000794662!). C.B. Clarke (1894) described Carex vidua on the basis of the hooker’s specimen annotated by Francis M.B. Boott, cited as “Sikkim, Lachen, alt. 13000 ft, J.D.H [Hooker].” Later on kükenthal (1909) made a new combination viz., Kobresia vidua (Boott ex C.B. Clarke) kük. after searching C.B. Clarke’s type specimens at k, BM, P and CaL only one specimen with the above collection number could be located in k (barcode no. k000794662). this herbarium sheet has notes (including the name) written by Boott and a morphological description, diagnosis, determination slip and sketches of the nut and the utricle by C.B. Clarke. there is no such indication that Clarke used only this single specimen at the time of description. Close observation of this specimen reveals that the specimen does not exactly match to the protologue description such as length of the culm and spike. It seems that the author may have used more than one specimen at the time of description and others specimen(s) were not found in this study or are missing. that’s why it is best option to update its type status from syntype to lectotype. LECtOtYPIFICatION OF SEvEN SPECIES OF KOBreSIA Phytotaxa 212 (3) © 2015 Magnolia Press • 233 FIGURE 3. Lectotype of Kobresia tibetica Maxim.(CaL). 234 • Phytotaxa 212 (3) © 2015 Magnolia Press JaNa & SRIvaStava Acknowledgements the authors are grateful to Dr. Paramjit Singh, Director of Botanical Survey of India, for facilities. thanks are also due to the in charge and staff of CaL, DD, a, B, k, BM, E, tI, P herbaria. thanks are also due to Dr. Subir Bandopadhyay, Central National herbarium howrah. References Clarke, C.B. (1908) New genera and species of Cyperaceae. Kew Bulletin 8: 68–69. Clarke, C.B. (1884) Hemicarex and its allies. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 20: 378–381. kükenthal, G. (1909) Cobresia [ s i c ] Willd. 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Bohn, Scheltema & holkema, Utrecht, 980 pp. LECtOtYPIFICatION OF SEvEN SPECIES OF KOBreSIA Phytotaxa 212 (3) © 2015 Magnolia Press • 235