Nomenclature & Taxonomy

Accepted Names

The accepted names below are based upon Kükenthal’s monograph (Kükenthal, 1935).  There are two derogations from this treatment of the taxa.  First is to place C. papyrus ssp. siculus (Parl) Chiov. as a synonym of the type, ssp. papyrus.   This approach is taken because although Chiovenda published this name in 1927, as cited by Kükenthal, in his later monograph of 1931 he synonymised it himself under C. papyrus, in the narrow use of that species he had adopted, excluding all the other taxa Kükenthal and others have retained as infraspecies.  Second, is to retain C. papyrus ssp. hadidii Chrtek & Slavíková as an accepted name.  This is done because it is a significantly more recently published account, and therefore may have had due regard for the issues of taxon delimitation in this species, and, furthermore, because there is no reasoned published nomenclatural or taxonomic information, in the Plant List or elsewhere, for relegating it to synonymy.

Antiquorum

The use of the epithet “antiquorum” is fraught with difficulties which are not resolved here.  The literature sometimes implies that this is the type subspecies or species.  Chiovenda (1931) in publishing C. antiquorum, regards Papyrus Antiquorum Willd. as a synonym of it.  Kükenthal (1935) changes the rank to create ssp. antiquorum based upon P. Antiquorum Willd. pro parte.  Both regard P. Antiquorum in the sense used by Link (Enum. Pl. Horti. Bot. Berolensis, I (1821) 47) as a synonym of the type, C. papyrus and C. papyrus ssp. siculus, respectively.  Tournay, however, regards Willdenow’s material to fit both the type, named C. papyrus ssp. papyrus and also C. papyrus ssp. niliacus var. niliacus (=C. papyrus ssp. antiquorum (Willd.) Kük.), placing it in the synonymy of both.  Later authors also do not necessarily make any distinction, for example P. antiquorum Willd. is placed entirely in the synonymy of C. papyrus subsp. papyrus by Brullo et al., 2011.

Synonymy

Cyperus papyrus been described and named many times “depuis l’antiquite”, as Tournay (1950, p. 347) puts it.  Tournay’s synonymy covers published literature since the 1600s, and is comprehensive, although not exhaustive, nor did he access all the works cited.  The synonymy and list of specimens cited below is based on his work, as references prior to Chiovenda’s 1931 publication were not accessed for this study.   However, publications, specimens and names pre-dating Species Plantarum are omitted, for brevity and reflecting their lack of nomenclatural significance except as an historical record.

Tournay references two types of synonym, pro parte type (p. p. type) which can be regarded as homotypic; he references publications, herbarium material, material in country of origin and synonyms  which refer to the type.  He also uses pro parte non-type to refer to heterotypic material, places etc. which are included in the description of the synonym but which are not associated with the type.

Abbreviations and conventions:

p. p. – pro parte; herb. – herbarium;

[ ] – my notes; journal abbreviations follow Tournay (1950); author names are given in full where known; except “L.”, Chiovenda (Chiov.), and Kükenthal (Kük.) ;

synonyms are given in order of publication.

 

Specimens cited

Lectotypes are those cited by Tournay (1950), unless otherwise indicated.  All other specimens are as given by Kükenthal (1935), in the original German, even though clearly some have been translated by him into this language. 

! - specimens indicated as seen by Kükenthal.

§ – specimens seen by Kükenthal (1935) also Cyperus; Cyperus papyrus

Cyperus; Cyperus papyrus

Cyperus; Cyperus papyrus

Cyperus; Cyperus papyrus

Cyperus; Cyperus papyrus

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