Nymphoides parviflora (G.Don) Tippery, 2021

Tippery, N. P., Pawinski, K. C. & Jeninga, A. J., 2021, Taxonomic evaluation of Nymphoides (Menyanthaceae) in eastern Asia, Blumea 66 (3), pp. 249-262 : 260

10. Nymphoides parviflora (G.Don) Tippery , comb. nov.

[ Villarsia parvifolia Wall.(1828) ,nom.inval.,nom.nud.] — Villarsia parviflora G. Don (1837) 169. — Limnanthemum parvifolium Griseb.(1845) 141,nom. inval., nom. superfl. — Nymphoides parvifolia (Griseb.) Kuntze (1891) 429, nom. inval., nom. superfl.; Cramer (1981) 210 ( ‘parviflora ’). — Type: Gomez in Wallich Numerical List 4351 (holo K001038786; see Majumdar & Banerjee 1976), Myanmar, Dawei.

Note — The original publication of Villarsia parvifolia by Wallich (1828) constitutes a nomen nudum, as there was no description to accompany the specimen. Don (1837) later validly published V. parviflora , an apparent typographical variant, based upon the same specimen. The orthography of V. parviflora was clearly intentional, however, as Don (1837) provided the common name ‘Small-flowered Villarsia ’. The existence of the validly published name V. parviflora invalidates subsequent names that are based on the invalid synonym V. parvifolia , because such names are superfluous to the homotypic V. parviflora . Unfortunately, the orthography of ‘ parvifolia ’ has become common in publications, with almost no acknowledgement of the name established by Don (1837). Nevertheless, the epithet ‘ parviflora ’ must be adopted as the earliest validly published name. Prior publication of ‘ Nymphoides parviflora ’ ( Cramer 1981) appears to have been made through a typographical error because the author cited the basionym Limnanthemum parvifolium , without any reference to the name established by Don (1837). Thus, we provide the first valid and intentional publication of this name as a new combination.