(3023) Mimulus violaceus Azaola in Blanco, Fl. Filip., ed. 2: 357. 1845 [Angiosp.: Scrophular. / Phrym.], nom. cons. prop. Typus: Philippines, [Luzon, Laguna Prov., Calauan, 1837–1839], Cuming 578 (MW barcode MW0747600), typ. cons. prop. (=) Torenia edentula Griff. in Madras J. Lit. Sci. 4: 376. 1836, nom. rej. prop. Neotypus (hic designatus): India, Assam, Jenkins (L 2D-code L.2807346; isoneotypus: L 2D-code L.2807345). Mimulus violaceus was described by Azaola from Calauan, Philippines, and first appeared in Blanco's Flora de Filipinas (Fl. Filip., ed. 2: 357. 1845). The original description of Mimulus violaceus says "Tallo de cuatro lados. Hojas opuestas, lampiñas y dentadas. Flores axilares, de color de violeta. Cal. tubuloso, prismático, de cinco dientes. Cor. hipogina, bilabiada el labio superior de dos lóbulos: el inferior de tres estam. cuatro didinamos, fijos en el tubo de la corola. Anteras de dos lóbulos, estilo simple, con el estigma de dos láminas; cagilla de dos valvas, dos aposentos y muchas semillas. Planta como de seis pulgadas de alto, con las hoja opuestas, lampiñas y dentadas. Descubierta y descrita por el Sr. Azaola, en Calauan" (Stem four-sided. Leaves opposite, hairless and toothed. Flowers axillary, violet in color. Calyx tubular, prismatic, with five teeth. Corolla hypogynous, bilabiate, the upper lip with two lobes, the lower one with three. Stamens four, didynamous, affixed to the corolla tube. Anthers two-lobed, style simple, with the stigma two-bladed; capsule with two valves, two chambers and many seeds. Plants about six inches high, with opposite, hairless, toothed leaves. Discovered and described by Mr. Azaola, in Calauan). Blanco (l.c.: LIII) treated both Torenia and Mimulus in class "Didinamia" (didynamous stamens), though separated by Torenia having a 2-parted calyx and Mimulus a 5-parted calyx. Mimulus violaceus was later synonymised under Torenia edentula Griff. (in Madras J. Lit. Sci. 4: 376. 1836) by Fernandez-Villar (in Naves & Fernandez-Villar, Nov. App.: 148. 1880). Merrill (Sp. Blancoan.: 347. 1918) agreed with Fernandez-Villar's (l.c.) generic placement, and synonymised M. violaceus with T. peduncularis Benth. ex Hook. f. (Fl. Brit. India 4: 276. 1884). Whereas T. edentula Griff. had been accepted by Bentham (in Candolle, Prodr. 10: 410. 1846) and figured by W.J. Hooker (in Bot. Mag. 72: t. 4229. 1846), Bentham's usage was considered a misapplication by J.D. Hooker (l.c.), who coined a new name for Bentham's taxon and dismissed Griffith's taxon as a "doubtful species" because of its "softly hirsute" pubescence, even though T. peduncularis was described by J.D. Hooker as sparsely hairy. Later authors like Merrill (l.c.) thus adopted T. peduncularis in lieu of T. edentula, until Pennell (in J. Arnold Arbor. 24: 255. 1943), citing Merrill's (l.c.) evidence, replaced T. peduncularis by transferring M. violaceus to Torenia violacea (Azaola) Pennell, treating M. violaceus as the earliest name for the taxon and not considering T. edentula, which had been published in 1836 before the description of M. violaceus in 1845. None of the authors who treated M. violaceus or T. violacea reported seeing any original material of M. violaceus. In describing Torenia edentula, Griffith (l.c.) did not cite any specimen, giving only the habitat, "Circa Suddiya, regionis Assamicae Superioris." Moreover, subsequent authors did not typify the name. Although we could only locate a single specimen labelled T. edentula and "East Bengal" from Griffith's herbarium (at M, barcode M-0188413), it differs from the original description of T. edentula by having only prostrate habit (vs erect), and only pseudo-axillary flowers (vs racemose inflorescence and pseudo-axillary) and belongs to a different taxon. Therefore, original material of T. edentula is lacking. Thus, we designate as neotype a specimen from Jenkins's collection (two herbarium sheets were found in L, viz., L 2D-code L.2807346 and L 2D-code L.2807345) from Assam, cited by Bentham (l.c.) as T. edentula. For Torenia peduncularis, J.D. Hooker (l.c.) cited "Benth. In Wall. Cat. 3956", where a single gathering "Moolmyne in Martabania 1827" is cited (Wallich, Numer. List: 139. 1831). Subsequent authors, viz., Pennell (l.c.), Yamazaki (in J. Jap. Bot. 30: 361. 1955), Saldanha (in Nelumbo 8: 128. 1966), did not mention any herbarium collections. We found two sheets of this gathering in K (barcode K001117717) and BM (barcode BM000797942). As lectotype of Torenia peduncularis Benth. ex Hook. f. (Fl. Brit. India 4: 276. 1884), we here designate the sheet in K (barcode K001117717), which has the Wallich catalogue label "3956, Torenia peduncularis Benth., Moolmyne in Martabania 1827" attached to it. The plants mounted on the sheet match the original description of T. peduncularis, and show much branched, erect to ascending habit, with petioled leaves and axillary to sub-umbellate inflorescence. Regel (in Gartenflora 26: 34. 1877) described Torenia exappendiculata based on cultivated plants originally collected from South China ("Patria verosimiliter China australis"). Regel (l.c.) cited no specimens, but provided an illustration, t. 892, in the protologue. Later authors, J.D. Hooker (l.c.), Pennell (l.c.), and Saldanha (l.c.), also did not mention any herbarium collection, nor were we able to find any such specimen in different relevant herbaria. The illustration, which appears to be the only available original material, matches well the erect habit, spreading branches, clustered flowers at branch apices, bi-lipped calyx, etc., in the description and the captions in the protologue, so t. 892 in Gartenflora 26. 1877 is here designated as lectotype of Torenia exappendiculata Regel. Torenia edentula, T. exappendiculata, and T. peduncularis all apply to a taxon with winged (plicated or keeled) calyces and toothless lower staminal filaments (Griffith, l.c.; Regel, l.c.; Hooker, l.c.). Additionally, the taxon exhibits a bi-lipped calyx and axillary, racemose, or pseudo-axillary inflorescences (Saldanha, l.c.; Hong & al. in Wu & Raven, Fl. China 18: [42]. 1998, http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200021293 [accessed 13 Dec 2023]). No potential type material for the name Mimulus violaceus can be located and the original description does not match the descriptions of either Torenia edentula, T. exappendiculata, or T. peduncularis, or specify any characteristics that would be exclusive to Torenia. The characteristics of opposite leaves, 5-toothed tubular calyx, violet corolla, 4 didynamous stamens affixed to the corolla, 2-lobed anthers, bilamellate stigma, 2-celled superior ovary, and numerous seeds applied to M. violaceus apply equally to the T. crustacea group (Linderniaceae) and tribe Mimuleae (Phrymaceae) (Fischer & al. in Willdenowia 43: 209–238. 2013; Liu & al. in J. Syst. Evol. 58: 1–17. 2019). In the absence of any original specimens the exact application of M. violaceus is uncertain. However, the name Torenia violacea is now commonly used for a widespread southeastern Asian and Malesian species, with T. edentula, T. exappendiculata, and/or T. peduncularis listed as synonyms (e.g., Pennell, l.c.; Yamazaki, l.c.; Dutta in Bull. Bot. Soc. Bengal 19: 25. 1965; Saldanha, l.c.; Hong & al., l.c.; Fischer & al., l.c.: 231; https://powo.science.kew.org/; http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200021293), despite little actual understanding of the proper application of three of the four names. The usage of the earliest T. edentula as the accepted name for the taxon would cause instability, as T. violacea is the most widely used name. Therefore, in order to avoid any disadvantageous change to nomenclatural stability, we propose to conserve the name T. violaceus against T. edentula (under Art. 14.9 of the ICN, Turland & al. in Regnum Veg. 159. 2018) with a conserved type, a specimen that matches the description of T. edentula. Here, we select the collection Cuming 578 from the Philippines at MW (barcode MW0747600), cited by Bentham (l.c.) for T. edentula. The sheet contains two individuals, with winged (plicated or keeled), bi-lipped calyces, and axillary, or pseudo-axillary inflorescences. AP thanks UGC, Govt. of India for providing financial support. The authors are thankful to curators of K, L, M, and MW for making the specimens available for examination; to Kanchi N. Gandhi, for his nomenclatural advice; to James Lendemer, for his comments on the improvements of the early versions of the manuscript; and to John H. Wiersema, for his comments on the improvement of the final versions of the manuscript.
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