Armeria alpina Willd., Enum. Pl.

Armeria alpina Willd., Enum. Pl. View in CoL : 333. 1809.

Lectotype (designated here):— AUSTRIA. Carinthia, s.d., Hoppe s.n. (B100842431!, http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100842431).

Other original material:—B-W06158-010 (https://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/BW06158010); B-W06158-020 (http://herbarium.bgbm. org/object/BW06158020).

Willdenow (1809: 333) described this species by providing a diagnosis, the provenance (“ Habitat in alpibus Carinthiae, Tyrolis”), and the synonym “ Statice Armeria alpina Hoppe ”, which is a syntype according to the Art. 9.6 of the ICN. Four specimens were traced at B (barcodes B100842431, B-W06158-010, B-W06158-020) and GZU-Hoppe (barcode GZU000064305; image available at http://131.130.131.10/herbaria/jacq-viewer/viewer.html?rft_id=gzu_000064305 &identifiers=gzu_000064305). B100842431 includes an original label in Hoppe’s handwriting (i.e. “ Statice alpina Hopp. | Auf der Pasterze ”; bottom-left corner of the sheet). No locality, date or name of collector occurs in the label of B-W06158-010, whereas in B-W06158-020, mounted on the same sheet, there are two Willdenow annotations: “ a. [ Armeria ] alpina W. [Willdenow]” (a label on the bottom-left corner of the sheet) and “ Hoppe W. ” (bottom-right corner, directly on the sheet). Although the date of collection is lacking in these specimens, there is no reason to doubt that they are original material, due to the occurrence of Willdenow handwritings (H.W. Lack, pers. comm.; see e.g., Iamonico 2020). Finally, GZU000064305 is surely part of Hoppe collection as reported in a recent printed label (bottom-right corner of the sheet). On the other hand, we cannot be sure that Willdenow saw GZU specimen, although this Hoppe collection came from Carinthia region of Austria, i.e. the type locality of Armeria alpina (the label reads “ Auf dem Pasterzengletscher am Grossglockner bei Heiligenblut ” = “On the Pasterzen glacier on the Grossglockner near Heiligenblut”, where Heiligenblut am Grossglockner is a municipality in the district of Spittal an der Drau). We designate B100842431 as the lectotype of the name Armeria alpina since it bears an original label by Hoppe and was certainly seen by Willdenow. The selected lectotype agrees with the protologue and with the current usage of the name. Armeria alpina is a species related to A. maritima (Mill.) Willd. Pinto da Silva (1971) and Lefèbvre (1974) considered A. alpina as a montane subspecies of A. maritima . The current taxonomy ( Nieto Feliner 1990, Domina 2011 +, Tison 2014, Malekmohammadi et al. 2024) consider these two taxa as distinct species.

Armeria gracilis View in CoL Ten., Fl. Napol. Syll: 158. 1831 ≡ Armeria vulgaris var. minor View in CoL Ten., Fl Napol. 2(1) (tome 3): 353. 1824–1829.

– A. vulgaris View in CoL sensu Ten., Fl. Napol. 3: 353. 1827. excl. syn.

Lectotype (designated here):— ITALY. Abruzzo, Velino, Mt Corno, s.d., Tenore s.n. (NAP0002550!, Fig. 1a View FIGURE 1 ).

= Armeria gracilis var. humilis View in CoL Ten., Syll.: 158. 1831.

Lectotype (designated here):— ITALY. Abruzzo, Corno, Velino, s.d., Tenore s.n. (NAP0003186!, Fig. 1b View FIGURE 1 ).

Tenore (1831: 158) published the name Armeria gracilis providing a Latin diagnosis and listing the following three varieties: 1) the unnamed “B. Flore albo ” with some tentative synonyms (“An A. alliacea Willd. ? Statice leucantha Lois Fl. gall. edit. 2. p. 223. an. A. leucocephala Salzmann. Et Koch in Botanische Zeitung 1823. pag. 712?”), information about the provenance (p. 159) “Hujus varietatis [var. B] specimina in Pollino et monte Cornu lecta sunt onmino glabra, quum illa montis Velinii habent scapum basi hirtum, ut in specie typo” (the specimens of this variety [var. B] collected in Pollino and Monte Corno are all glabrous, whereas those from Monte Velino have bristly hairs at the base, as in the type species); 2) “C. Humilis ” (diagnosis: “ scapo semipedali basi hirto, foliis subciliatis ”); and 3) “D. Villosa ” (diagnosis: “ scapo sesquipedali glabro, foliis lineari-lanceolatis utrinque villosis attenuatisque ”, with the tentative synonym “ Statice pseudo-armeria . Petag. Inst. Bot. 2. Pag. 496 et Ten. An A. maritimae var?”). The localities cited for this species are: “In pascuis montis passim. C. Velino, Monte Corno in Aprutio; Pollino in Calabria; D. Montevergine; in Hirpinis; Morrone; in Aprutio”.

Among the synonyms of Armeria gracilis, Tenore (1831) also cited “ Armeria vulgaris ” in his Flora Neapolitana (“ A. [ Armeria ] vulgaris Ten. Fl. nap. III. 353. excl. syn.”; Tenore 1824 –1829), where he provided the following description: “ Foliis linearibus planis obtusiusculi glabris basi attenuatis, scapo terete leviter striato glabro vel basi pubescente, calycis communis foliolis exterioribus acutis interioribus obtusis muticis (capitulo 8-9 lin. diametro)”. In that work, he also proposed two varieties under A. vulgaris : 1) var. (B) linearifolia (“ Caule humiliori, involucro obtusiusculo, foliis angustioribus acutiusculis ”), and 2) var. (C) minor (“ Floribus albis ”), indicating “comune nelle praterie di tutto il Regno, dagli Abruzzi alle Sile ” (common on meadows of all the kingdom, from Abruzzo to Sile) as the provenance for A. vulgaris var. linearifolia and “si trova sulle più alte vette de’ monti di Abruzzo: al Velino, al Costone, ad Intermesole ” (it can be found on the highest peaks of Abruzzo: at Velino, Costone, Intermesole) for A. vulgaris var. minor . Tenore (1824 –1829) also listed the legitimate name Statice armeria var. tenuifolia DC. (in Lamarck & Candolle 1815) as a synonym of A. vulgaris var. linearifolia , making this latter name illegitimate according to the Art. 42.1 of ICN. Although Tenore (1831) did not explicit a varietal autonym within Armeria gracilis , this autonym should obviously include the unnamed var. “B”. The only indirect mention of the autonym in the protologue is when he shortly discussed the unnamed var. B (“…scapum basi hirtum, ut in speciei typo”). On the other hand, A. vulgaris var. (C) minor in Tenore’s Flora Neapolitana, distinct in having white flowers, is clearly corresponding to the unnamed variety B reported later in the Sylloge ( Tenore 1831).

We traced two specimens in the Herbarium Tenore at NAP which can be considered as part of the original material:

1) NAP0002550 bears two parts of the same plant and the following labels: “HERBARIUM R. HORTI NEAPOLITANI | Armeria gracilis Ten. | B. Flore albo Ten. Syll. p. 158 ” and “ gracilis Ten. | Armeria alpina … Velino Mt Corno ” (further two labels are revisions by G. Luzzatto made on October 8, 1955, and by F. Bianchini in May 1964). The toponym “Corno” refers to Gran Sasso massif (Abruzzo region, central Italy) according to Tenore (1830). In this work, the author listed the taxa found during a field trip in Abruzzo in the summer of 1829 (including “ Armeria vulgaris ”). Tenore early identified the plant in the label as A. alpina , and later revised it as “ A. gracilis ”. We select this specimen as the lectotype of both Armeria gracilis var. gracilis and A. vulgaris var. minor . Based on the morphological features of this specimen, it is likely that its original provenance was Velino, given that the scape is hairy at the base. In addition, by comparing the lectotype with plants sampled in a low altitude population from Monte Velino (PI), the lectotype well fits morphologically with these plants. The lectotype also agrees with the current application of the name to a central-southern Italian endemic taxon, typical of montane habitats typically below 2000 m a.s.l. ( Arrigoni 2015). Incidentally, the latter author lists several specimens attributed to A. gracilis s.str. and coming from Sirente-Velino area, at elevations between 1000 and 1500 m a.s.l.

2) NAP0003186 bears four labels, of which two in Tenore’s handwriting (“ M. [Mount] Corno | A. gracilis Ten. | var. C.” and “ Armeria vulgaris | Velino ”), one as a revision by L. Grande (“ Armeria gracilis Ten. var. C. humilis Ten.! | Grande 1924 ”) and the fourth a second revision by F. Bianchini (“revis. F. BIANCHINI | Maggio 1964 | A. gracilis C. humilis Ten. syll. – A. majellensis β subalpina Lev. = Armeria majellensis Boiss. ”). The two Tenore’s labels were added in different times, “ Armeria vulgaris ” (the name accepted in Flora Napolitana; Tenore 1824 –1829) being the first one, “ A. gracilis var. C ” the second (referring to A. gracilis var. humilis in Sylloge; Tenore, 1831). Accordingly, NAP0003186 is part of the original material for A. gracilis var. humilis , and is here designated as its lectotype. Based on the morphological features of this specimen, it is impossible to establish whether the original provenance of the specimens was Monte Corno or Velino. However, the lectotype more fits with the current application of A. gracilis subsp. majellensis (Boiss.) Arrigoni , based on the narrower scapes and the shorter inflorescence sheaths and external bracts, with respect to A. gracilis s.str. (see e.g., Arrigoni 2015). Even in the hypothesis that also this specimen was collected in Velino as the lectotype of A. gracilis s.str. was, we can safely assume that it was likely collected at higher elevations. Indeed, Arrigoni (2015) also lists several specimens attributed to A. gracilis subsp. majellensis originating from Sirente-Velino area, but at elevations between 1800 and 2476 m a.s.l. However, further studies are needed to better understand the taxonomic value of this subspecies with regard to A. gracilis s.str.