Lachnagrostis batesii in Europe as Agrostis distans, 160 years before being described for South Australia (Poaceae)

Abstract

Mid-19th Century collections of the endemic South Australian Lachnagrostis batesii A.J.Br. were found in Vienna (W), Paris (P) and Saint Petersburg (LE), labelled as ‘ Agrostis distans Kze’. The species was described in the 1847 Leipzig index seminum and listed on several European indexes from 1851–1867. Although Kunze’s description was brief and the type destroyed in WWII, his taxon is very likely the same as that later described as L. batesii . Consequently, the new combination Lachnagrostis distans (Kunze) A.J.Br. is made. It is proposed that A. distans raised in Europe was originally derived from seed separated from a collection made by Hans Behr in the 1844–1845 summer and described by Dietrich von Schlechtendal as Deyeuxia aemula Kunth.