Veronica anagallis-aquatica L. var. pubescens Benth.

Albach, Dirk C., 2025, From just a few to the most type-rich herbarium for Veronica L. (Plantaginaceae) - The effect of digitization of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle herbarium in Paris, Adansonia (3) 47 (7), pp. 47-130 : 68

Veronica anagallis-aquatica L. var. pubescens Benth.

Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis 10:468 ( Bentham 1846).

TYPE CITATION. — Iran, Gilan, “in prov. Ghilan Persiae (Aucher! n. 5100)”.

LECTOTYPE (designated here). — “ Ghilan. Aucher-Éloy-Herbier d’Orient no. 5100 ”(likely collected 1837), G[ G00768623 *].

ISOLECTOTYPE. — P[ P03529680 *, P04049206 *].

Nomenclatural note. Veronica anagallis-aquatica var. pubescens is described as being short pubescent from all sides. As type, Bentham stated the Iranian collection Aucher-Éloy no. 5100. The type material has the pyramidal capsule and long style characteristic of V. michauxii . So, it is best considered to be a synonym of that taxon rather than V. anagallis-aquatica s.str. Since Bentham again seems to have seen only the material of Boissier in Geneva (“v.s.”) and no specimen is available in Kew, that material is chosen as lectotype, although it is not labelled with the name. Morphological and molecular analyses did not suggest a deeper significance for pubescence in the taxonomy of the species ( Hosseinnejad Azad et al. 2020, 2021).