1992/01/01 by David J. Lehmiller · 3 citations
Chemistry · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Chemical synthesis and alkaloids #Botanical Research and Applications #Herbarium #Amaryllidaceae #Subspecies #Biology #Genus #Taxon #Botany #Type (biology) #Zoology #Ecology
paper · open access · doi:10.2307/3391605
published in Novon A Journal for Botanical Nomenclature 2(1), 33 (Missouri Botanical Garden Press)
openalex publication_date 1992/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
Lack of field observations previously hampered taxonomic discussions of Crinum nerinoides. Several investigators suggested that this plant might be Ammocharis rather than Crinum; however, definitive reclassification was impossible because pressed specimens often provide inadequate material to differentiate between the two genera. During a Namibian expedition in 1991, this taxon was observed in flower and in fruit; the morphological features were specific for Ammocharis. Baker (1903) worked from a single incomplete specimen when he described Crinum nerinoides Baker. The pressed specimen originated in Namibia (formerly South West Africa) 11 years prior to Baker's account and consisted only of a scape bearing an umbel of seven flowers; no drawings or descriptive field notes accompanied the specimen. After Milne-Redhead and Schweickerdt examined the type specimen, they attached a determinant slip annotated with probable Ammocharis coranica. However, in revising the genus Ammocharis, MilneRedhead and Schweickerdt (1939) made the following statement about C. nerinoides: This is most probably an Ammocharis, but the type material is too incomplete to be placed with certainty. Solch (1969) discussed C. nerinoides under the heading dubious of Ammocharis, but he also concluded that the type material was too incomplete to be classified generically. Verdoorn (1973) recognized Crinum nerinoides in her revision of the southern African species and cited two new herbarium collections of the species, both also from Namibia. Roessler (1974) followed Verdoorn's treatment in his review of Namibian Crinum. The paucity of herbarium materials led Roessler to remark that C. nerinoides was rare. Duncan (1982) cultivated and propagated bulbs of C. nerinoides collected in Namibia; these were illustrated by several artists, most recently Brodley (Plessis & Duncan, 1989). Ammocharis and Crinum are closely related genera and can be confused in herbarium mounts. The outstanding morphological feature that separates these genera is the leaf arrangement: distichous and biflabellately arranged in Ammocharis; rosulate or distichous but never biflabellately arranged in Crinum. Leaves are sheathed at the base in Crinum but not in Ammocharis. Unfortunately, the investigators who dealt with C. nerinoides were unaware of its leaf arrangement, a character best seen in the