Name changes

 

I've come across a file listing name changes in the 3rd edition of
Stace's New Flora of the British Isles, compared with some early list of
the British flora.

Highlights are

* Aceras anthropophorum (man orchid) becomes Orchis anthropophora. (This
was suggested in the 1st edition.)

* Alyssum saxatile (rgolden alison) becomes Aurinia saxatilis, but the
latter name has been in use for quite a while.

* Anagallis minima (chaffweed) becomes Centunculus minimus.

* Several of the rock-cresses have been moved to other genera - Arabis
arenosa and Arabis petraea to Arabidopsis, Arabis glabra to Turritis and
Arabis turrita to Psuedoturritis. (It was clear that a rearrangement of
Arabideae was going to happen.)

* Brachyglottis 'Sunshine' acquires the name Brachyglottis x jubar.

* Ceterach officinarium (rustyback fern) goes back to being Asplenium
ceterach,

* Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (Nootka cypress) becomes Xanthocyparis
nootkatensis. (This has been a done deal in conifer taxonomy for quite a
while.) As a consequence x Cupressocyparis leylandii (Leyland cypress)
becomes x Cuprocyparis leylandii

* Several species of Chenopodium (all rare casuals in Britain) are
transferred to Dysphania.

* Chionodoxa is sunk in Scilla.

* Chyrsanthemum coronarium (crown daisy) and Chyrsanthemum segetum (corn
marigold) become Glebionis coronaria and Glebionis segetum respectively.
This is to allow the use of Chrysanthemum for the florists'
chrysanthemums (otherwise Dendranthema).

Coronopus (swine cress) is sunk in Lepidium (pepper cress).

Cucubalus (berry catchfly) and Lychnis are sunk in Silene.

Dactylorhiza majalis becomes Dactylorhiza kerryensis. I don't know where
that leaves the plants local to me that I have been putting down as the
former, Dactylorhiza being a messy genus.

Dahlia x cultorum becomes Dahlia x hortensis

Dicentra spectabilis becomes Lamprocapnos spectabilis. (Corydalis lutea
was already moved to Pseudofumaria lutea in the 1st edition.)

Dryopteris affinis (scaly male fern) is split into 3 species.

Duchesnea indica (yellow-flowered strawberry) becomes Potentilla indica.
(Compared to what might have happened with Potentilleae that's a small
change.)

The broad-leaved fescues (Festuca in part), which are more closely to
Lolium (rye-grass) than to the narrow-leaved fescues (Festuca in part)
are split off as Schedonorus, and x Festulolium becomes x Schedolium.

Galium mollugo (hedge bedstraw) becomes Galium album. (I was reading the
Galium treatment in the 1st edition a few days back, and this was
foreshadowed - in continental floras the diploid G. mollugo is
distinguished from the tetraploid G. album, and the British plants are
tetraploids.)

Gymnadenia conopsea is split into three species,

Hebe is sunk into Veronica. (Also old news.)

Hedera hibernica is recognised as a separate species from Hedera helix.

Helicotrichon pratense and pubescens become Avenula pratensis and
pubescens.

Jonopsidium acaule (an obscure crucifer) is transferred to Cochlearia
(scurvy grasses).

Most native mallows are sunk in Malva. Althaea hirsuta becomes Malva
setigera, Lavatera arborea become Malva arborea (you can thank me that
it's not Malva eriocalyx), Lavatera cretica becomes Malva
pseudolavatera, Lavatera plebeia becomes Malva preissiana, Lavatera
trimestris becomes Malva trimestris, and Lavatera x clementii becomes
Malva x clementii. Althaea officinalis (marsh mallow) and Alcea rosea
(hollyhock) keep their old names.

Ledum palustre (Labrador tea) becomes Rhododendron groenlandicum.
(Appears to be the sinking of Ledum in Rhododendron, and the splitting
of Ledum palustre into two species.)

Leontodon autumnalis (common hawkbit) becomes Scorzoneroides autumnalis.

Loiseleuria procumbens (trailing azalea) is sunk in Kalmia.

Lysopersicon (tomato) is sunk in Solanum. (Tomatoes and potatoes are
more closely related to each other than either is to many nightshades.)

Malus domestica (apple) becomes Malus pumila.

Matricaria recutita (scented mayweed) becomes Matricaria chamomilla.

Monotropa hypopitys becomes Hypopitys monotropa.

There's been some splitting of Narcissus species.

2 species of Orchis (laxiflora and morio) are moved to Anacamptis, and 1
(ustulata) to Neotinea. Consequently Orchis x morioides becomes x
Anacamptorchis morioides.

Otanthus maritimus (cottonweed) becomes Achillea maritima.

Papaver dubium (long-headed poppy) is split into Papaver dubium and
Papever lecoqii.

Parthenocissus inserta (false Virginia creeper) becomes Parthenocissus
vitacea.

Peucedanum ostruthium becomes Imperatoria ostruthium, and Peucedanum
palustre becomes Thyselium palustre.

Photinia davidiana (photinia) becomes Stransvaesia davidiana.

Phyllitis scolopendrium (harts-tounge fern) becomes Asplenium
scolopendrium.

Picris echioides (bristly ox-tounge) becomes Helminthotheca echoides.

Potentilla palustris (marsh cinquefoil) because Comarum palustre. (This
is more closely related to strawberries than to cinquefoils, and is one
of the parents of the pink-flowered strawberries.)

Ranunculus ficaria (lesser celandine) becomes Ficaria verna.

Roemeria hybrida (a poppy) becomes Papaver bivalve.

The water-cresses (Rorippa in part) go back to Nasturtium (not to be
confused with Tropaeolum majus), leaving only the yellow-cresses in
Rorippa.

Sagina apetala (annual pearlwort) is split, subsp. erecta becoming
Sagina filicaulis.

Sanguisorba minor (lesser barnet) becomes Poterium sanguisorba.

Schoenoplectus lacustris (common club-rush) is split.

Seriphidium maritimum becomes Artemisia maritima

Stachys officinalis (betony) goes back to Betonica officinalis.

Stellaria uliginosa (bog stitchwort) becomes Stellaria alsine.

Symphytum 'Hidcote Blue' acquires the name Symphytum x hidcotense.

Thlaspi caerulescens becomes Noccaea caerulescens, Thlaspi macrophyllum
becomes Pachyphragama macrophyllum, and Thlaspi perfoliate becomes
Microthlaspi perfoliatum, leaving Thlaspi arvense and Thlaspi alliaceum
as the only British species.

Tragopogon hybridus (slender salsify) becomes Geropogon glaber.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

 


Oh, God!  The mad taxonomists strike again :-(

Several of the changes look like simple reversals of earlier changes
by the same mad taxonomists.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

 

On Sat, 3 Jul 2010 20:07:26 +0100 (BST), nmm1@cam.ac.uk wrote:


Look on the bright side, at least leylandii will now be a bit shorter
;-))

John

 

Jake wrote:

I'd love to know why the NZ flatworm was changed to /Arthurdendyus/: I
so much want to believe it was a discreet homage to the reluctant
galactic hitch-hiker, but it's not really likely.

--
Mike.

 


The relevant paper seems to be H.D. Jones, A new genus and species of
terrestrial planarian (Platyhelminthes; Tricladida; Terricola) from
Scotland, and an emendation of the genus Artioposthia, Journal of
Natural History 33(3): 387-394 (1999)

Since it's paywalled I can't confirm this directly, but Google tells me
that it was "Named in honour of Arthur Dendy for his great contributions
to the study of land flatworms". (Search for Arthur Dendy
Arthurdendyus.) The authority for Artioposthia triangulatus was a Dendy,
which I would assume was the same person.

You'd need to read to paper to find out why Artioposthia was split, as
opposed to why the new generic name was selected.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley