FRIEDRICH DIETRICH V. KURT SPRENGEL and THEIR, LARGELY AMERICAN, PLANT-NAMES

Abstract

The vexing literary relationship between Kurt Sprengel and Friedrich Dietrich appears to have led to some of Dietrich's work being willfully disregarded and subsequently forgotten/extinguished/suppressed. Examination of Dietrich's oeuvre leads to the rehabilitation of fifteen of his new combinations, making securer by up to 175 years, some names in current use for largely New World plants. To take into account Dietrich's work as a whole, four new combinations and three nomina nova are proposed with the help of authorities in the germane plant groups: Caamembeca andina (A.W. Benn.) J.F.B. Pastore & Mabb. (Bolivia), Callicarpa ekmanii I.E. Méndez & Mabb. (Cuba), Clematis wangiana Mabb., (Madagascar), Coleataenia pulchra (F. Dietr.) Mabb. & LeBlond (USA), Packera dubia (Spreng.) Trock & Mabb. (USA), Piper samainianum Mabb. (Peru), Rostellularia vahliana (Schult.) Mabb. (south Asia), for which a lectotype is designated, with other adjustments of names in Besleria (B. formosa now B. amabilis, tropical America), Oxalis (O. eckloniana now O. biloba, South Africa), Passiflora (P. arborea now P. magnoliifolia, Colombia), Ribes (R. ruizii now R. sylvestre, Chile), and possibly Tocoyena (South America), while further work on Lupinus is called for.