The East African flora, and those who study it, have lost a great friend, Kew botanist Sally Bidgood

No Abstrac

Intricate networks in nomenclature: cases of naming in Arthrocaulon, Arthrocnemum, and Salicornia (Amaranthaceae)

The nomenclatural status and typification of the names Arthrocaulon macrostachyum, Salicornia fruticosa, S. fruticosa var. deflexa, S. fruticosa var. glaucescens, S. fruticosa var. intermedia, S. fruticosa var. humilis, S. fruticosa var. pachystachya, S. fruticulosa, S. glauca, S. lignosa, S. macrostachya var. virescens, S. macrostachya var. glaucescens, S. perennis, S. radicans, S. radicans var. caespitosa, S. sarmentosa, S. sempervirens, and S. virginica, as well as an unnamed β-variety of S. fruticosa proposed by A. Bertoloni, are investigated. Concerning A. macrostachyum, we document that the type indicated in literature (G00177362) is not a holotype, and that lectotypification is necessary. A specimen from G (G00687638) is here designated as a lectotype. On the level of variety, Arthrocnemum fruticosum var. macrostachyum is an earlier legitimate name for Salicornia fruticosa var. pachystachya. Furthermore, Piirainen et al. are incorrect when citing Forsskål’s “Salicornia” from Alexandria as “S. virginica Forssk.”; it is not a new name and should be cited as S. virginica auct. non L., as published in Forsskål’s Flora Aegyptiaco-Arabica. Like with numerous other parallel cases in Flora Aegyptiaco-Arabica, Forsskål’s designation of “Salicornia virginica” for an Arabian plant is to be considered a misapplication of the earlier Linnaean name for an American plant. Arthrocnemum glaucum (a nomen illegitimum of Ungern-Sternberg), was listed as type species of Arthrocnemum by the Names in Current Use project; the basionym, Salicornia glauca Delile, is here lectotypified and identified as Arthrocaulon meridionale, published by Ramirez et al. Updated synonymies of Arthrocaulon macrostachyum, A. meridionale, Salicornia fruticosa, and S. perennis are proposed. Salicornia sempervirens is an invalid name according to Art. 36.1a of ICN. No original material was found for S. radicans var. caespitosa. This paper also refer to lecto- or neotypifications on specimens deposited at BM, G, LINN-HS, LY, MPU, NAP, and PAL, and their current taxonomic positions are suggested in a taxonomic part of the paper

Plants and vegetation of NW Ethiopia

Pichi Sermolli’s work with his more than 2750 collections of plants from nearly 150 localities on the Lake Tana expedition in Ethiopia in 1937 was interrupted by World War II, but completed in 1947 at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the British Museum (Natural History), UK. It resulted in preliminary accounts of the vegetation published 1938-40 and a taxonomically arranged account in 1951, all in Italian. Pichi Sermolli’s observations are difficult to locate due to the imperfect maps of the time, but in this book the authors have reconstructed the sequence of the collections, georeferenced the localities, and updated the identifications of the species. By reconstructing Pichi Sermolli’s observations, it is possible to draw conclusions about the vegetation and compare with a recent model of the vegetation of Ethiopia. According to this, the vegetation of the Lake Tana Basin was a complex mosaic of woodland, scrub, forest, farmland and lake shore vegetation now difficult to interpret in detail. Pichi Sermolli’s study of the vegetation in the Semien Mountains demonstrated for the first time the zonation of Ericaceous woodland and Afroalpine vegetation, within which he distinguished Carex monostachya bogs, Afroalpine grasslands with Lobelia rhynchopetalum, and stony and rocky Afroalpine vegetation. This book interprets Pichi Sermolli’s observations in English and compares them with modern knowledge of the region, partly obtained by the present authors’ own field work. It demonstrates how Pichi Sermolli’s studies form a valuable contribution to the understanding of the Ethiopian flora and vegetation