Nesom, G.L. 2012. The author and type of Apiastrum angustifofium (Apiaceae). Phytoneuron 2012-89. 1-4. Published 2
October 2012. ISSN 2153 733X

THE AUTHOR AND TYPE OF APIASTRUM ANGUSTIFOLIUM (APIACEAE)

Guy L. NESOM
2925 Hartwood Drive
Fort Worth, Texas 76109
guynesom(@sbcglobal.net

ABSTRACT
The correct author citation for the genus Apiastrum as well as two species and one variety, all
published in 1840 by Torrey and Gray is "Nutt. in Torr. & Gray." Lectotypes for Apiastrum
angustifolium and Apiastrum latifolium are at PH. The probable holotype of Apiastrum angustifolium
var. tenellum is at PH.

KEY WORDS: Apiastrum angustifolium, author citation, type specimen

Within a day of posting of the study of Spermolepis and relatives (Nesom 2012), two scholars
from the Harvard University Herbaria contacted me about misinterpretations regarding the authority
and type of Apiastrum angustifolium as well as those of its synonyms. Corresponding corrections and
other modifications are noted here.

Authorities

Dr. Kanchi Gandhi observes that while the name of the genus is correct as Apiastrum Nutt. ex
Torr. & Gray, as I had it, author citations for the three species of Apiastrum published in the same
work (Flora of North America, Torrey & Gray 1840) should have been "Nutt. in Torr. & Gray," not
"Nutt. ex Torr. & Gray, as I had those.

Torrey and Gray were working with a manuscript from Nuttall. For the names involved, they
cited "Nutt. mss." for Apiastrum as the genus name (p. 643) and for Apiastrum angustifolium var.
tenellum (p. 644). For Apiastrum angustifolium and Apiastrum latifolium (p. 644) they cited "Nutt. !
mss."

For each of the species and variety, a short description was given in quotes, evidently
taken from Nuttall's manuscript. Additional descriptive notes, not in quotes, were
provided for A. latifolium and the var. tenellum.

For the genus, nothing in the description is in quotes except for the concluding sentence,
"Fruit with the taste of Sison amomum." At the very end of the description is "Nutt.,"
alluding either to the immediately preceding quote or to the whole genus description.
Even if the "Nutt." were meant only in reference to the statement about fruit taste, the
latter still would constitute part of the validating description and it appears that the
authority for Apiastrum as a genus can be correctly cited as "Nutt. in Torr. & Gray," in
the same way as for the species. The authority would be cited as "Nutt. ex Torr. &
Gray" "when only the name but not the validating description or diagnosis was ascribed
to a different author or to different authors" [vs. the publishing authors] (McNeill et al.
2006, ICBN 46.4).

In sum, it appears that authorities for all of these 1840 names in Apiastrum should be cited as
as "Nutt. in Torr. & Gray."

Type specimen of Apiastrum angustifolium

I cited a Nuttall collection at GH as the "probable holotype" of Apiastrum angustifolium. Dr.
David Boufford, however, notes this: "Gray did not go to Harvard until 1842 and Nuttall's specimens
at Harvard arrived even later, in 1864 from Elias Durand, so it seems the holotype may not be at
Harvard. Most likely Torrey or Gray saw the specimen in Philadelphia, unless they saw specimens in
Elias Durand’s herbarium." And in any case, the authorship is attributed to Nuttall (in Torrey and
Gray), thus recognition of original type material should reflect Nuttall's personal study.

My error in this went further, as the GH sheet that I cited (GH 00075076) was noted to have
been collected in "north California" and possibly is not a duplicate of the explicitly labeled San Diego
collections. The PH lectotype (Fig. 1) and the isolectotypes are clearly marked as to locality by
Nuttall himself, matching the protologue.

Figure 1. Lectotype of Apiastrum angustifolium (PH). These two plants
are mounted at the upper right of the sheet. Three other collections are
mounted on the same sheet.

The section on typification of the species is repeated here, incorporating the modifications
suggested by Gandhi and Boufford, as well as other changes.

Apiastrum angustifolium Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1(4): 644. 1840. LECTOTYPE
(designated here): USA. California. [San Diego Co.:] St. Diego, N Cal, [April, from
protologue], 7. Nuttall s.n. (PH barcode 00025008 digital image!, specimen at upper right of
sheet; isolectotypes: NY barcode 00405717 digital image!; PH barcode 00025009 digital
image!, specimen on right half of sheet). The protologue specifies San Diego as the locality,
and labels for all three collections have "Apiastrum angustifolium, St. Diego, n Cal." in
Nuttall's hand. Citation of a duplicate of this at K was in error.

Apiastrum angustifolium var. tenellum Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1(4): 644. 1840. TYPE:
USA. California.[Los Angeles Co.:] Catalina [Santa Catalina Island], no other collection
data (probable holotype: PH bar code 00025006 digital image!, mounted in lower left of sheet
with 3 other collections; see below).

Torrey and Gray did not indicate that they saw a collection; their concept of the taxon
evidently was from Nuttall's manuscript. No specimen has been located that is marked as
"var. tenellum" but a collection labeled in Nuttall's hand as "Apiastrum angustifolium,
Catalina" is probably the specimen from which Nuttall's description was drawn. It is on the
same sheet that has the lectotype of Apiastrum angustifolium and isotype of Leptocaulis
inermis (each a Nuttall collection) and a J.M. Bigelow collection of A. angustifolium
(identified as such in Nuttall's handwriting). The two very small "Catalina" plants, both less
than 10 cm high and characteristic of the reduction that commonly occurs in annuals, match
aspects of the brief description ("stem dichotomous from the base; leaves less divided; rays of
the umbel very slender, umbellets 1—-2-flowered; seed more rugulose"). This supercedes my
earlier and illogical estimate that an 1899 collection by E. Palmer was the probable type.

Apiastrum latifolium Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1(4): 644. 1840. LECTOTYPE (designated
here, superceding the earlier choice of GH 00075075): USA. California. [Santa Barbara
Co.:] "St. Barbara, n Cal." [on PH sheet], no other collection data, 7. Nuttall s.n. (PH
01044838 digital image!; isolectotypes: BM digital image!; NY barcode 00405718 digital
image!, specimen on right half of sheet, possible isolectotypes: GH 00075075, GH
00075076). Torrey and Gray cited "Nuttall! Douglas!" The two sheets at GH were collected
by Nuttall in "north California," with no other indication of locality. The PH, NY, and BM
labels give Santa Barbara as the locality, although the protologue does not specify a locality,
and all three give Nuttall's own identification (in his hand) as Apiastrum latifolium.

The earlier attempt to designate a lectotype (Nesom 2012, 19 September) was
incorrect from several perspectives. As pointed out by Dr. Boufford, the GH sheet was
unlikely to have been part of the original material studied by Torrey and Gray, nor is it clear
that it was part of the material upon which Nuttall based his concept. Only the labels at PH,
NY, and BM have the identification of Apiastrum latifolium, those at GH are not identified
with any name thus are perhaps or probably not duplicates of the explicitly identified
specimens.

Helosciadium leptophyllum var. ? latifolium Hook. & Arn., Bot. Beechey Voy., 347. 1838. No
collection was cited (pp. 347-348). The protologue gave only this: "The specimens are only
in young fruit, and the segments of the upper leaves are considerably broader than in any
form we have yet seen, while even the lower ones are broader than in H. laciniatum, DC.,
which we consider a mere variety of this species." As synonym of Apiastrum fide Mathias
and Constance (1945).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Kanchi Gandhi and Dave Boufford for their pertinent comments.

LITERATURE CITED
MeNeill, J. et al. 2006. International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Vienna Code). Regnum
Vegetabile 146. A.R.G. Gantner Verlag KG.
Nesom, G.L. 2012. Taxonomy of Apiastrum,
Phytoneuron 2012-87: 1-49.
Torrey, J. and A. Gray. 1840. A Flora of North America, Vol. 1, part 4. Wiley and Putnam, New
York.

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and Sp lepis (Apiaceae).