Dipcadi erythraeum Webb & Berthelot 1848

Dipcadi erythraeum Webb & Berthelot (1848: 341)

Type (lectotype designated here):— EGYPT. Káhirae in desertis, Forsskal 692 [barcode C10002396], Fig. 1.

Webb and Berthelot (1848: 341) cited four specimens in the protologue. The specimens collected by Forsskal and Delile were mentioned under Hyacinthus serotinus Forsskal (1775: 209) whereas those of Weist and Schimper under Uropetalum serotinum. In the protologue, it was not specified that in which herbarium or institution, the specimens are stored. Forsskal collected the specimen of Hyacinthus serotinus from the Kahira desert (Cairo) in Egypt while he was on a Danish Expedition during 1761-1763 (Stafleu & Cowan 1976). The expedition lasted for around seven years, six people were appointed for this expedition and Forsskal was one of them. His main task in the expedition was to find evidence for a number of Linnaeus accounts (Rasmussen 2022). There are two specimens of Forsskal that are presently available at the Museum Botanicum Hauniense, University of Copenhagen (C) bearing the numbers 692 and 17. Both these specimens have been annotated by P. Ascherson, a German botanist (Ascherson, 1862 -1876). In the present investigation, the specimen with field no. 692 [barcode C 10002396] has been chosen as the lectotype as this is the only specimen with much of its part preserved. The specimen with field no. 17 [barcode no. C 10002395] remains the syntype as the exact dates of collection could not be ascertained.

Delile, a French botanist, had been to Egypt during the expedition of the French army where he made observations, descriptions of plants, which he published individually in Fl. Aegyp. Illustr. in 1813 and also in Description de l’ Egypte, in 1812 (Stafleu & Cowan 1976). There are no specimens or illustrations that can be linked to D. erythraeum.

Schimper, a German botanist and naturalist and Weist, a Roman botanist, were both travel companions as both were working with Esslinger Botanical Travel Association (based in Esslingen, near Stuttgart, Germany) that existed between 1825-1845 and was to collect, identify and distribute herbarium specimens, seeds, and to a lesser extent minerals and zoological specimens for research work (Worz 2016). Schimper and Weist undertook a research trip to Egypt and Arabia where they collected Uropetalum serotinum in 1835 (Worz 2016). We could not locate Weist’s specimen, that might have been destroyed during World War II whereas Schimper’s specimen was discovered in the Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata (CAL) and bears field no. 405 [barcode no CAL 0000031365] and the collection year 1835 as mentioned by Webb & Berthelot (1848). This specimen is treated here as syntype.