Albizia falcata Backer 1992
Creators: name: Jarvis, Charlie
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Asterales
Asteraceae
Albizia
Albizia falcata

description: <b>Adenanthera falcata</b> Linnaeus, <i>Herbarium Amboinense</i>: 14. 1754. ["Habitat in India."] Sp. Pl., ed. 2, 1: 550 (1762). RCN: 3025. Lectotype (Merrill, <i>Interpret. Rumph. Herb. Amb.</i>: 33, 248. 1917): [icon] <i>"Clypearia alba’”</i> in Rumphius, Herb. Amboin. 3: 176, t. 111. 1743. Current name: <b> <i>Albizia falcata</i></b> (L.) Backer (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae). <i>Note:</i> Linnaeus originally based this name on two Rumphius plates <i>(Herb. Amb.</i> 3: t. 111; t. 112. 1743). In 1759 (<i>Syst. Nat.</i>, ed. 10, 2: 1020), Linnaeus cited only t. 112, and then in 1762 (<i>Sp. Pl.</i>, ed. 2, 1: 550) <i>Ad. falcata</i> did not appear, but <i>Ad. falcataria</i> L. (which has essentially the same diagnosis as <i>Ad. falcata</i> in 1759, though with Rumphius’ t. 111 now the only synonym) was described. In 1767, Linnaeus reverted from “falcataria” to “falcata” with t. 112 again reinstated, as in the 1759 account. Complications have arisen because of disagreements over the typification of the name, and over the identity of the two illustrations. Merrill <i>(Interpret. Rumph. Herb. Amb.</i>: 33, 248. 1917) treated t. 111 as the type, and <i>Ad. falcataria</i> as a homotypic synonym (of <i>Albizia falcata</i> (L.) Backer). However, Fosberg (in <i>Reinwardtia</i> 7: 88-90. 1965) instead regarded t. 112 (which he identified as a species of <i>Pithecellobium</i>) as the type of <i>Ad. falcata</i>, and therefore took up <i>Al. falcataria</i> (L.) Fosberg instead, typified by t. 111. Kostermans (in <i>Ceylon J. Sci., Biol. Sci.</i> 13: 256-257. 1979) followed Fosberg, and made the combination <i>P. falcatum</i> (L.) Kosterm. for <i>Ad. falcata</i> (with t. 112 as type). However, Nielsen (in Nielsen &amp; al., <i>Opera Bot.</i> 76: 53. 1985), while accepting t. 112 as type, has argued that the identity of the plate is uncertain and that <i>Ad. falcata</i> (and <i>P. falcatum)</i> should be treated as <i>nomina dubia.</i> He accepted <i>Archidendron clypearia</i> (Jack) Nielsen as the current name (and described <i>A. falcatum</i> Nielsen to preclude any future transfer of <i>Ad. falcata</i>). Despite some confusion on Merrill’s part over Linnaeus’ 1759 treatment of the two plates (noted by Kostermans), t. 111 was original material for <i>Ad. falcata</i> and Merrill was therefore entitled to choose it as the type. Indeed, his decision to treat <i>Ad. falcata</i> and <i>Ad. falcataria</i> as homotypic seems not unreasonable bearing in mind that Linnaeus seems to have treated the latter as a substitute name for the former in 1762, then reverted once more to <i>Ad. falcata</i> in 1767. Later authors have not justified the rejection of Merrill’s typification, which results in <i>Al falcata</i> being the correct name. <i>Albizia falcataria</i> (syn. <i>Paraserianthes falcataria</i> (L.) Nielsen; <i>Falcataria moluccana</i> (Miquel) Barneby &amp; Grimes), however, appears to be in wider current use.
description: Published as part of <i>Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part A), pp. 252-342 in Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London :Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum</i> on pages 261-262, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.291971