Introduction
Viburnum beccarii (Adoxaceae) was described by Gamble on the basis of Scortechini 375b from Perak and Beccari 194 from Sumatra (Mt. Singalan) in Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula (King & Gamble, Reference King and Gamble1903: 114). Gamble noted that he had seen Beccari 194 at K. There is no mention of the word type in the protologue so these collections are syntypes which together make up Gamble’s original material (McNeill et al., Reference McNeill, Barrie, Buck, Demoulin, Greuter and Hawksworth2012, Art. 9.3). Kern (1951: 122) cited Scortechini 375b as type of Viburnum beccarii and this statement was repeated by Haron (Reference Haron, Soepadmo, Wong and Saw1996: 110). Although Kern (Reference Kern1951) also mentioned a duplicate of Beccari 194 that he had seen at L, he did not say that it was a type specimen.
Our investigations have found that Scortechini 375b from Perak comprises seven duplicates of a single gathering at CAL, while Beccari 194 from Sumatra (Mt. Singalan) comprises one specimen each at FI (barcode FI008810), K (barcode K000898062) and L (barcode L0001587). We have seen the specimens at CAL and images of those at FI, K and L.
While examining these 10 syntypes at CAL, FI, K and L for an ongoing project on a regional flora, we noticed that one specimen of each collection, Scortechini 375b, barcode CAL0000026141 at CAL and Beccari 194, barcode K000898062 at K, had been studied by Gamble. They bear the inscription “Viburnum beccarii n. sp.” in Gamble’s own handwriting. A pencil sketch of dissected floral parts with Gamble’s signature is attached to each sheet. Thus, these two specimens are considered the most important from which to choose the lectotype.
Although Kern (1951: 122) and Haron (Reference Haron, Soepadmo, Wong and Saw1996: 110) cited Scortechini 375b as the ‘type’ of Viburnum beccarii, their work cannot be considered as lectotypification because they did not consider all the original material. Therefore, a lectotypification is required and we choose the better preserved Scortechini 375b (CAL, barcode CAL0000026141). The remaining duplicates of Scortechini 375b become isolectotypes.
Lectotypification
Viburnum beccarii Gamble, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 72: 114 (1903); Kern, Reinwardtia 1: 122 (1951); Haron in E. Soepadmo et al. (eds) Tree Flora Sabah & Sarawak 2: 110 (1996). – Type: Malaysia, Perak, Scortechini 375b (lecto CAL, barcode CAL0000026141, designated here; isolecto CAL, barcodes CAL0000026142, CAL0000026143, CAL0000026144, CAL0000026145, CAL0000026146, CAL0000025269). Fig. 1.
Lectotype of Viburnum beccarii Gamble (CAL).
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dr Paramjit Singh, Director, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata and to the anonymous reviewers for critical comments and suggestions that helped to improve the manuscript. We are also grateful to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K) for providing online access to the specimens and to the Curator, Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Leiden (L) and the Curator, Botanical Section (FI), Natural History Museum, University of Florence for providing images of specimens.
