The identities of three plants of unknown origin revealed by ancient paintings
Journal: Taxon
Year: 2024

Abstract Archives and correspondences are often overlooked resources in assessing taxonomic and nomenclatural information and this sometimes affects taxonomic proposals. Here we show that unpublished illustrations not only can definitively help in identifying unresolved or poorly known names but can be themselves original material and sometimes must serve as types, avoiding neotypes or misleading synonymizations. We present the case of three names introduced by the Neapolitan botanist Michele Te