Taxonomic identity of Camelina armeniaca, a forgotten early name in Camelina (Brassicaceae)

Abstract

The long-forgotten and taxonomically problematic name Camelina armeniaca Desv. is one of the earliest speciesʼ names published in Camelina (Brassicaceae; Cruciferae). Because of that, the issue of its proper taxonomic application was important for the nomenclatural stability of taxa belonging to the C. sativa–C. microcarpa aggregate and containing the important oilseed and biofuel crop C. sativa and its wild relatives and progenitors. The name Camelina armeniaca is lectotypified here with the specimen P00652666 from the Tournefort Herbarium (Herbarium Tournefortianum No. 1634) in P, following the direct reference in the protologue. Judging from the morphological characters of the lectotype, taxonomically, it represents a morphotype of C. sativa sensu lato, probably most closely matching C. caucasica (C. sativa var. caucasica) from a morphological viewpoint. Contrary to the recent listing of C. armeniaca in synonymy (!) of C. microcarpa in several main biodiversity databases (such as GBIF, POWO, etc.), we conclude that C. armeniaca is definitely not conspecific with C. microcarpa. Because of that, nomenclatural conservation of the latter name against the earlier one is unnecessary, as well as a possible proposal to reject the name C. armeniaca. We prefer to treat C. armeniaca as a taxonomic synonym of C. sativa. A corrected typification (lectotypification and epitypification) of the name C. sativa var. caucasica is also provided.