Chaptalia Type Specimens in the US National Herbarium
Chaptalia texana & C. carduacea in Historical Perspective
by Bob Harms
The Name Game
C. texana, C. carduacea, C. leonina (considered here to be a synonym for C. carduacea) and numerous other new Chaptalia species were proposed by E. L. Greene in 1906, most of which were not accepted. Greene's species named above had previously been treated as C. nutans (L) Polak. But C. texana was recognized as distinct from C. nutansby the Chaptalia authority A. Burkart, who assigned it varietal status in his 1944 monograph, i.e. C. nutans var. texana (and he did not recognize C. carduacea or C. leonina). In 1975 B.B. Simpson listed all of the above names as synonyms for C. nutans. In 1995 G.L. Nesom resurrected C. texana, listing C. carduacea & C. leonina as synonyms. (The relative timing of this nomenclature explains why Correll & Johnston's 1970 Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas, considered by many to be a standard reference, lists only C. nutans var. texana, whereas more recent Texas floras tend to have only C. texana. [To some extent the confusion over Chaptalia names continues in online reference, even showing C. nutans, C. nutans var. texana and C. texana as separate entries for Texas species. C. nutans in the narrow sense is a tropical species and does not occur in the U.S.]
Click specimen images for enlargements.
Chaptalia texana Greene, Type Specimen
Texas: "rocky, sparsely wooded ground in western Texas," Oct 1890, G.C. Neally 297 (US)
Click specimen images for enlargements.
The above labels/notations on the U.S. Herbarium sheet show (1) bottom–left, G.C. Neally's original determination of 'C. nutans Hemsl.' The authority given for the name, Hemsley, was incorrect, and has been replaced in the literature by '(L.) Polak.' and (2) in the middle we see E.L. Greene's notation on the sheet, 'Chaptalia texana Greene.'
Chaptalia carduacea Greene, Type Specimen
Texas: Duval Co., San Diego, 1885, M.B. Croft 35 (US)
Again the labels/notations on the U.S. Herbarium sheet show bottom–left, M.B. Croft's original determination of 'C. nutans (L.) Hemsley,' but correctly giving credit to Linnaeus (L.), who first named the species (nutans), but with the genus 'Tussilago' in 1759. And in the middle we see E.L. Greene's notation, 'Chaptalia carduacea Greene' — comparison of the handwriting on the two sheets clearly show that these were penned by the same person.
Chaptalia leonina Greene, Type Specimen
Mexico: Coahuila & Nuevo León, Ferbruary to October, 1880, E. Palmer 766 (US)
Synonym for C. carduacea,
I find the similarity of C. leonina and C. carduacea to be striking, especially when compared with the specimens at my study site in Hays County. The phyllaries are subulate, not linear; the leaves are mostly epetiolate, and the pappus is longer than in C. texana. In examining the extensive collection of collections from Mexico, including many from Neuvo León, I found only one match for C. carduacea (= C. leonina), from Monterrey, but many instances of C. texana.
Here the labels/notations on the U.S. Herbarium sheet is slightly different. The original E. Palmer label, bottom–left, appears to have been left blank by Palmer, but filled in later at US by Greene, who supplied his new species name. The U.S. Herbarium label on the right, again assumed C. nutans.
And US also holds an isotype specimen* of C. leonina:
*collected at the same time and from the same population as the type (holotype) shown above.
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Isotype: MEXICO: Nuevo León, 17-26 Feb 1880
E. Palmer 764
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