Neotypification of Pancratium sanctae-mariae (Amaryllidaceae)

Abstract

The genus Pancratium was established by Linnaeus (1762: 417). This genus is represented by ca. 20 species, mainly distributed in the Canary Islands, West Africa, Mediterranean, and Namibia (Mabberley 2008). Hooker (1892) enumerated 6 species and Karthikeyan et al. (1989) enumerated 7 species from India. At present the genus is represented by 8 species including the newly described Pancratium nairii Sasikala & Kumari (2013: 543). Pancratium sanctae-mariae Blatter & Hallberg (1921: 52) is endemic to Western Ghats in India (Ahmedulla & Nayar, 1986). An examination of specimens at BLAT, BSI and CAL (acronyms according to Thiers 2015) and scrutiny of literature shows that the name P. sanctae-mariae is lacking nomenclatural type.