Verbascum limnense Fraas (1845: 191).

Type:— GREECE. Chalkidos: Euboea, ‘ad Limni urbem’, date unknown, Fraas s.n. (not traced). Neotype (designated here):— GREECE. Chalkidos: Evvia (Euboea), near Limni, roadsides and small slopes on sedimentary (conglomerate) rocks, in phryganic formations /open Pinus halepensis woodland, 20 m, 38°47’N, 23°19’E, 2 May 2020, Zografidis 633 (UPA33037! & UPA 33038!, mounted on two sheets; isoneotype ATH!). Fig. 1.

Notes:—According to Hertel & Schreiber (1988) and Goerdten (2021), at least parts of Fraas’s herbarium are said to have survived in J.G. Zuccarini’s herbarium (now M, accessed 1849) or in the Herbarium of the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Munich (accessed 1929). Original material of V. limnense, however, could not be traced in Munich. Original material of Fraas’s taxon was kept in Spruner’s collection in B seen by Murbeck (1933: 408) who clarified its synonymy with C. tomentosa. Unfortunately, this material has most likely been destroyed during World War II (R. Vogt, pers. comm.). Since no original material of the name V. limnense is traced, a neotype based on a recent collection of the species is designated.

= Celsia tomentosa Zuccarini (1837: 330).— Verbascum graecum var. zuccarinii Boissier (1879: 336).— V. tomentosum (Zucc.) Kuntze (1891: 469), nom. illeg., non Lamarck (1779: 260).— V. zuccarinii (Boiss.) Nyman (1881: 531), nom. inval.— V. zuccarinii (Boiss.) Ferguson (1971: 230), nom. illeg. Lectotype (designated here):— GREECE. Lokridos: ‚Zweite Tagesreise v. Negrop. nach Zeitun‘, June 1833, Berger s.n. (M-0244375!; isolectotype M-0244376!). Fig. 2.

Notes:—The original material of Celsia tomentosa in M consists of two specimens collected in June 1833 by Franz Xaver Berger during his journey to Greece as a field chaplain of the Bavarian Brigade (Kalheber 2006). The indistinct handwriting of Berger on the label of the designated lectotype (Fig. 2) was not fully deciphered by Zuccarini (1837) who, in the protologue, cited “inter Megaram et Zeitun”. In fact, Berger wrote “Negrop.” instead of “Megaram”, hence the locus classicus of the species is between Negropont (Chalkida) and Zeitun (Lamia) in the general vicinity of the ancient city of Opus, what is today the Aegean coast of Nomos Fthiotidos by the town of Atalanti, opposite the city of Limni on the island of Evvia (Euboea). Both the words “Negropont” and “Opus” in Berger’s hand are readable on the label of another duplicate (Berger s.n., M-0244374!) which became available to Zuccarini only after the publication of C. tomentosa; it was part of the herbarium of Philipp Franz Wilhelm Ritter von Zwack-Holzhausen (1825–1903) that was transferred to M in 1845. In his Celsia monograph, however, Murbeck (1925) overlooked the citation of “Opus” on the label of the latter specimen and suggested that the plant was collected by Berger on Evvia (Euboea). In fact, V. limnense (= C. tomentosa) was long thought to be an Euboean endemic until corroborative records from mainland Greece in the general vicinity of the locus classicus of C. tomentosa were published (Zografidis 2017).