THE GENUS ELODIUM (BRYOPHYT A, HELODIACEAE): A HISTORY AND NEW COMBINATIONS Patricia M. Eckel Missouri Botanical Garden PO Box 299 St. Louis, Missouri 631 66 patricia. eckel@m obot. org ABSTRACT The Cods does not recognize as orthographic variants names only differing by an initial "h" representing the spiritus asper, thus Elodium (Sull.) Austin and Helodium Warnst. (conserved against Helodium Dumort.) are both legitimate names as they have different types. If included in the same genus, Elodium takes precedence by Art. 14.5. The complex history of treatment of the spelling in the literature is summarized. Thuidium elodioides Renauld & Cardot ex Roell, usually recognized as a variety, is transferred to Elodium at the species level on the basis of new traits. New combinations are Elodium elodioides (Renauld & Cardot ex Roell) Eckel and Elodium blandowii (F. Weber & D. Mohr) Eckel. KEY WORDS: Elodium, Helodium, Elodium elodioides, Helodium blandowii, spiritus asper In the 2006 Vienna Code of Botanical Nomenclature, recommendations 60AI and 2 state that transliteration of Greek words into Latin for new taxonomic names and epithets should conform to classical usage. The rough breaming sign, or spiritus asper, provided for Greek vowels and diphthongs and the letter "r" that begin a word should be transcribed in Latin as the letter "h." Note that this recommendation is not an authorization to change all generic names derived from Greek words beginning with a spiritus asper (h-sound), as Robert Brown's generic name Eleocharis (also derived from the Greek word for swampy ground (h)elos) has not been, altered since its publication (Steam 1983), and the Code (Art. 10.3, ex.^ 3) remarks that the protologue of Elodes Adans. (1763) included references to "Elodes" of Clusius (1601), without changing either to Helodes. In 1856, W.S. Sullivant published section Elodium under the genus Hypnum, which would accommodate his new species "Hypnum paludosum, Sulliv." from North America — a. plant that does not occur in Europe (Hill et al. 2006). The name is derived from the Greek adjective (h) elodes, -es, 'marshy, fenny,' the adjective derived from the noun (h)elos,-eos (s.n.111) "the low ground by rivers, a marsh-meadow, marsh" (Liddell & Scott 1997), descriptive of the habitat of this moss. In Greek, the initial epsilon (e) often has the spiritus asper, hence taxonomic names derived from this Greek word should be preceded by an "h": helodes, or helos,-eos. It is curious that Sullivant did not spell the section with an initial "h," as he appears to have been proficient in classical languages, but he is not alone in preparing generic names this way. The spiritus asper and spiritus lenis (smooth breathing, absence of an h sound) often are accompanied by an accent at the beginning of a Greek word. It is easy to see this as a type-setter's nightmare, especially in small, cheap, and popular versions of classical Greek dictionaries of the nineteenth century wherein smudgy inks and poor paper may make these marks ambiguous. That, coupled with the use of candles, poorly ground eye-glasses, and weak eyes played the devil with then contemporary taxonomists. It might be safer to assume a Greek word has no spiritus asper than to put one in when (hastily) prq>aring a manuscript for the printer. Sullivant, 1864 Apparently Sullivant knew of a moss species in North America (whether Hypnum or Thuidium) with blandowii as an epithet, but such did not appear in his 1856 text. In 1864, however, Sullivant remarked that Hypnum paludosum Sull. "Resembles H Blandowii., with which it is not unfrequently confounded: but that species is a Thuidium, Bryol. Europ. ..." (Sullivant 1864). So it was known to Sullivant that Hypnum blandowii occurred in North America, but he did not place it in his section Elodium or anywhere else. Austin, 1870 Austin (1870) treated 'alodium as a genus when he identified number 306 of his Musci Appalachian! exsiccat as "Elodium paludosum" citing Sullivant's 1864 treatment in the Icones Muscorum (on page 157, as Hypnum paludosum Sull.). Previously, the name of Austin's taxon was Hypnum paludosum Sull. Austin apparently did not know that the name Hypnum paludosum Sull. was an illegitimate name, being a later homonym of Hypnum paludosum (Hedw.) P. Beauv., and had to be rejected. That left Elodium paludosum Austin as the accepted name. Austin included a note in Latin intended to credibly establish his genus: "Foliis saepe papillosis: an Thuidii speciesl" It perhaps should be noted that Austin was not sure whether "Elodium" would not better be subsumed under the genus Thuidium. Elodium. paludosum Austin is then the type species of the genus Elodium. Austin also added a description in Latin for his new variety Fontinalis lescurii var. cymbifolia Austin (number 248), a name still in use today. Also note that in Austin's volume the genus Omalia by Bridel existed, for which the orthography was later conserved as Homalia, from another Greek adjective (hjomalos, referring to the flat leaves, with an initial spiritus asper. Lindberg, 1879 In Europe, Lindberg (1879) in his checklist of the Scandinavian flora, transferred Sullivant's sectional name "Elodium " to a subgenus of Thuidium. The species Thuidium blandowii, occurring in both North America and Europe, was the only species he recognized in the section. Lesquereux and James, 1895 Lesquereux and .Tames (1895), in the United States, persisted in the use of Thuidium and Elodium as subgenera of the genus Hypnum, with Hypnum blandowii F. Weber & D. Mohr under the former section, and Hypnum paludosum Sull. under tile latter. These authors cited Sullivant's exsiccat specimen no. 7 from the Musci Alleghenienses (Sullivant 1845), the Mosses of the United States (Sullivant 1856: 68), and the Icones Muscorum (Sullivant 1864: 157). There is no indication that they were aware of Austin's generic name {Elodium). Warnstorf, 1905 Warnstorf (1905) then used the name Helodium for a genus using the authorities (Sull.) Lindb. Lindberg earlier (1879) had used Elodium as a subgenus of the genus Thuidium. Both of the cited authorities used the name "Elodium" and Warnstorf would have also, but he changed the orthography, as he wrote in a footnote, because of the spiritus asper with which the Greek word (hielos was spelled. Helodium was to be pronounced that way, and transliterated into Latin that way. So, apparently, bibliographical!}', Austin's name preceded Warnstorf s name and Warnstorf s name was considered by Warnstorf as only an orthographic variant of Austin's, which Warnstorf corrected. The genus was cited by Warnstorf as Helodium (Sull.) Lindb. Also, when Warnstorf changed the spelling, he created a later homonym for a vascular plant genus Helodium Dumort., an issue that resulted later in the conservation of Warnstorf s name over Dumort's. Through conservation, the generic name became Helodium Warns! Also, through conservation, the type species was made Helodium blandowii (F. Weber & D. Mohr) Warns!. The generitype of Elodium remained E. paludosum Austin. Grout, 1934 Grout (1934), in a footnote to his treatment of the moss genus Helodium in North America, also corrected Elodium to Helodium, for he wrote "The Greek-derived elodes demands the aspirate in Latin according to classical authorities." Grout mistakenly cited Sullivant's Elodium as a subgenus, rather than a section. His footnote seems redundant, as Warnstorf, cited by Grout as the author of the genus name Helodium, had already established the corrected spelling. It is more likely, however, that Grout's footnote applied more to correcting the spelling of another taxon, for which he made the combination in his paper Helodium blandowii var. helodioides (Renauld & Cardot) Grout. This variety was originally published as Thuidium elodioides by Renauld and Cardot (in Roell 1893), based on specimens from North America. In the protologue to that species, the authors make clear that their new species is similar to (Austin's) Elodium paludosum, and so the epithet of the new species was intended to allude to a resemblance to a species with the genus name Elodium. At that time, the only person to recognize Elodium as a generic name was Austin. The authority of the species Elodium paludosum was not given by the authors, had they known of Austin's genus, the authorities would have been (Sull.) Austin. Thuidium elodioides was subsequently reduced to a variety of Thuidium paludosum by Best (1896), retaining the initial "e" in the varietal epithet. later, Grout (1929) transferred the variety Helodium paludosum, mistakenly attributing the authority to Best, when it was Grout himself that was the authority. Grout republished the corrected authorial citation in a subsequent publication as Helodium paludosum var. helodioides (Renauld & Cardot) Grout, with an initial "h" (Grout 1934). Grout's corrected citation in 1934 also included attaching the initial "h" to the spelling of the varietal name, which he justified as based on classical usage (the spiritus asper before the epsilon of elodes) — essentially a reiteration of Warnstorf s correction of the generic name (from Elodium to Helodium) (Warnstorf 1905). However, the correct citation of this variety, whose changed status was authored by Grout, is Helodium paludosum var. elodioides (Renauld & Cardot) Grout. Little, 1943 Little (1943) discussed the genus Helodium as a possible later homonym of Austin's generic name Elodium when Austin established Elodium paludosum as a new combination (Austin 1870). Little determined that 'There is no indication that a new^ genus was intended" by Austin when Austin made his short citation in "this book" being "just a printed copy of the labels of Austin's specimens of mosses ... ." Little suggested that Austin's name was "improperly published" and he questioned whether Austin created a "new monotypic genus with a species transfer," i.e. from Sullivant's Hypnum paludosum to Austin's Elodium paludosum. It was because Q'out (1934) cited Warnstorf s rendition ''Helodium'' as validly published that Little rejected Austin's contribution as an "irregularly published name." Little stated that "the genus was not considered [by G'oufJ as validly published until 1905." It seems unfair to attribute irregularity to Austin's publication when other taxa have been and are still recognized from the same book (Austin 1870), such as the variety cymbifolia of Fontinalis lescurii mentioned above. Other authors, such as Sullivant, used Austin's exsiccat to publish new combinations, such as Anoectangium peckii (Sull.) Sull ex Austin, a combination accompanied by a Latin description. As to this, Grout's transfer, mentioned above, of Best's Thuidium paludosum var, elodioides (Renauld & Cardot) Best to Helodium paludosum var. elodioides (Renauld & Cardot) Grout was not considered invalid and Grout's 1929 publication was not "irregular" even though the text was a simple list of names and the nomenclature was somewhat informal. (mm. Slivn*. \ihUis.mi. 1'»