Veronica laevis Lam.

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 : 52

Veronica laevis Lam.

Flore françoise, ed. 1, 2: 444 ( Lamarck 1778).

TYPE CITATION. — “ Veronica minima clinopodii folia, glabra, romana. Tournef. p. 144”.

LECTOTYPE (designated here). — [Icon in] Boccone (1697), Museo di piante rare, t. 102.

Nomenclatural note. As the case above suggests, Lamarck seemed to be rather liberal with the priority of names when the name does not fit to him. In the Flore françoise ( Lamarck 1778) he published two further names, citing older names in synonymy, V. sempervirens Lam. citing V. ponae Gouan in synonymy and V. digitata Lam. citing V. triphyllos L. in synonymy (later both corrected by De Candolle ( Lamarck & De Candolle 1815).

A third new name, V. laevis , is more difficult. Lamarck refers in his description to “ Veronica minima clinopodii folia, glabra, romana.Tournef. p. 144”. On page 144 of Tournefort (1700) the name is referred to: “Bocc. Mus. Part. 2. 19. Tab. 102”. Boccone (1697) gives an incomplete description on p. 19 but states a blue flower. The table clearly shows V. acinifolia based on habit, leaf shape, and bract and pedicel length and clearly not V. peregrina , to which this species of Lamarck has commonly been referred (e.g., Link et al. 1831; Aniotsbéhère 1999). No herbarium specimen was found in the herbarium of Lamarck, so the best solution is to lectotypify the name with the illustration in Boccone.