1592) Proposal to conserve the name Tina (Sapindaceae) with a conserved type

When Tina was validated by Schultes in 1819, the protologue referred to Gelonium of Gaertner (Fruct. sem. pl. 2: 271. 1791) and to treatments of that genus by Du Petit-Thouars (Gen. Nov. Madagasc.: 13. 1806) and by Roemer (Collecteana 1: 205. 1809). Gaertner's treatment of Gelonium contained only a description of a fruit that was reportedly collected in Mauritius. Du Petit-Thouars (I.c.), in his description of plants of Madagascar, expanded Gaertner's description of Gelonium by adding a description of the flower and vegetative characters. Roemer (I.c.) merely repeated Du Petit-Thouars's description. The fact that Schultes (I.c.), in his description of Tina, primarily referred to the treatment of Du Petit-Thouars and its verbatim treatment by Roemer, gives the impression that Schultes was describing Tina as a new genus solely based on the elements (flower) introduced by Du Petit-Thouars in the description of Gelonium. This may be a sensible interpretation, except for the fact that in Schultes's index, the name Gelonium Gaertn. and Gelonium cupanioides Gaertn. are treated as synonyms of Tina (as indicated by asterisks fide D. H. Nicolson, pers. comm.). As a result, Tina is an illegitimate and a superfluous renaming of Gelonium Gaertn. The name Gelonium has priority over the name Tina. However, Gelonium was used only for a short period of time and consistently replaced by Tina after 1819. In the meantime, the later homonym Gelonium Willd. (Sp. PI. 4: 831. 1806) was used by many authors for a genus of Euphorbiaceae (now a synonym of Suregada Rottler, 1803) contributing to the disuse of Gelonium Gaertn. The name Tina has been widely used since its inception (e.g., Steudel, Nomencl. Bot.: 838. 1821; Candolle, Prodr. 1: 614. 1824; Radlkofer in Sitzungsber. Math.-Phys. Cl. Konigl. Bayer Akad. Wiss. Miinchen 9: 661. 1879; Radlkofer in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 3(5): 342. 1895; Choux in Mem. Acad. Malgache 4: 69. 1927; Radlkofer in Engler, Pflanzenr. IV. 165 (Heft 98f): 1116. 1933; and Capuron in Mem. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., Ser. B, Bot., ser. 2, 19: 163. 1969), and is listed in NCU-3 (Greuter & al. in Regnum Veg. 129: 1152. 1993). In 1933 Radlkofer concluded that Tina as originally described contained elements assignable to two genera. Accordingly, he emended Tina to comprise only the elements of Du Petit-Thouars cited by Schultes and excluded from it the fruit element of Gaertner which he put in the synonymy of Molinaea. However, Article 7.5 of the ICBN (Greuter & al., Regnum veg. 138. 2000) calls for the automatic typification of an illegitimate superfluous name on the type of the name that ought to have been adopted under the rules. So Tina, being an illegitimate superfluous name, must be typified by G cupanioides (the fruit element in Schultes' diagnosis), the type of Gelonium Gaertn. The type of G cupanioides, in the absence of any extant material, is typified by Gaertner's illustration of a sapindaceous fruit (Gaertner, l.c.: t. 139) and the application of this type to the genus Tina may change its circumscription as we know it. For example, following Radlkofer's identification of its current type, Tina would become a synonym of Molinaea Juss., and what we currently know as Tina would need a new name. While the application of Gaertner's type may be debated (see below), one certainty is that Tina, being illegitimate, cannot now be used. To avoid this name change for purely nomenclatural reasons, Tina needs to be conserved with a new type. Capuron (l.c.) already designated T thouarsiana (Camb.) Capuron [Cupania thouarsiana Camb.] the type of Tina. Capuron's designation is here proposed as a conserved type to preserve the current circumscription of Tina. However, Capuron added confusion by equating T thouarsiana with T gelonium Schult., a nomenclatural synonym of G cupanioides, a conclusion that I do not support since G cupanioides (and consequently T. gelonium) is the type of Gelonium Gaertn. Therefore, it is essential that the type of Tina be T. thouarsiana (Cupania thouarsiana Camb.) typified by the specimen of Du Petit-Thouars s.n. from Madagascar deposited in the PJussieu herbarium (no. 11403) and not G cupanioides (=