Callmander, M.W., G.E. Schatz, R.E. Gereau & M.M. Hanes (2020). A new name in Hibiscus (Malavaceae) for Madagascar. Candollea 75: 323–324. In English, English and French abstracts.
The combination Hibiscus involucratus (Hochr.) M. Hanes et al. (Malvaceae), based on Macrostelia involucrata Hochr., is a later homonym of Hibiscus involucratus Salisb. Macrostelia involucrata is here replaced by the new name Hibiscus benedicti Callm., G.E. Schatz & M. Hanes.
Introduction
A recent work establishes that members of the genus Macrostelia Hochr. are better placed in the genus Hibiscus L. (Hanes et al., 2020). The two species previously described by Hochreutiner (1952) in Macrostelia, Macrostelia calyculata Hochr. and M. involucrata Hochr., were therefore transferred to Hibiscus. One of the new combinations, Hibiscus involucratus (Hochr.) M. Hanes et al., is illegitimate because it is a later homonym of H. involucratus Salisb. The new name H. benedicti Callm., G.E. Schatz & M. Hanes is published here as a replacement name for Macrostelia involucrata Hochr. following ICN Art. 6.11 (Turland et al., 2018).
Hibiscus benedicti Callm., G.E. Schatz & M. Hanes, nom. nov.
= Macrostelia involucrata Hochr. in Notul. Syst. (Paris) 14: 230. 1952. ≡ Hibiscus involucratus (Hochr.) M. Hanes, G.E. Schatz & Callm. in Candollea 75: 196. 2020 [nom. illeg., non Salisb. 1796].
Holotypus: Madagascar. Reg. Atsimo-Atsinanana [Prov. Fianarantsoa]: Vondrozo, [22°49′S 47 °19′E], 11.IX.1926, fl., Decary 5257 (P [P00037126]!; iso-: G [G00014442]!, P [P00365083, P00037127]!, TEF).
Etymology. – The specific epithet honors Bénédict Pierre Georges Hochreutiner (1873 – 1959), who described the genus Macrostelia, now considered as a synonym of Hibiscus (Hochreutiner, 1952). Hochreutiner was a Swiss botanist and theologian, director of the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques in Geneva from 1931 to 1943. He described more than 550 taxa and made some 150 new combinations within 60 plant families, but mainly in the Malvaceae, which he treated for the Flore de Madagascar et des Comores (Hochreutiner, 1955).
Notes. – In his Prodromus stirpium, Salisbury (1796) provided his own specific epithet (nomen triviale in Linnaeus' vocabulary) for many species that had already been named by Linnaeus or other previous botanists, thus creating hundreds of superfluous and illegitimate names. Salisbury renamed Hibiscus surattensis L. as H. involucratus Salisb., which is clearly superfluous and illegitimate under ICN Art. 52.1 and 52.2 (Turland et al., 2018), but nevertheless validly published, and thus blocks the epithet involucratus in Hibiscus.
Acknowledgments
The authors thanks Helen Hartley and Rafael Govaerts (K), Pete Phillipson (MO) and Lorenzo Ramella (G) for advice and discussions about this nomenclatural issue.
