It appears that the tree long known as Luehea speciosa Willd. has now
been found to have been earlier described as Cedrus alternifolia Mill.,
later Swietenia alternifolia (Mill.) Steud., and has become Luehea
alternifolia (Mill.) Mabb.

Has there been any proposal to conserve Luehea speciosa Willd.?
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

So it is related to cedars? Where does it live & what does it look like?
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Yogi Berra

"Stewart Robert Hinsley" wrote in message
...
It appears that the tree long known as Luehea speciosa Willd. has now
been found to have been earlier described as Cedrus alternifolia Mill.,
later Swietenia alternifolia (Mill.) Steud., and has become Luehea
alternifolia (Mill.) Mabb.

Has there been any proposal to conserve Luehea speciosa Willd.?

Haven't heard of one..., and there's nothing on the web. All I found
was:

http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/...jan04lit.shtml

which says

"Mabberley, D. J. 2002. The identity of Swietenia alternifolia (Mill.)
Steud. ('Meliaceae'). Gard. Bull. Singapore 54: 253-255.

Here is a shocker, and one that managed to slip by us first time around.
The name Swietenia alternifolia (Mill.) Steud. (based on Cedrus
alternifolia Mill.) had been rejected from Meliaceae (in Pennington &
Styles, Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 28: 385, 405. 1981), but there the matter
rested until now. Older names in limbo status are always intriguing,
and this one proves to be no exception. The original description of
Cedrus alternifolia was based on plants grown in England from seeds
collected at Campeche (Yucatán), supplemented by the field notes of the
collector, William Houstoun. Neotypification of the name is here
achieved on the basis of a recently discovered Houstoun collection from
Campeche at BM, appropriately annotated and unequivocally identifiable
as the sp. long known throughout the Neotropics as Luehea speciosa
Willd. (Tiliaceae, or Malvaceae s. l.). In fact, Miller's name predates
Willdenow's by over 40 years, prompting the new combination Luehea
alternifolia (Mill.) Mabb., which becomes (at least for the time being)
the correct name for the sp."

cheers

"Iris Cohen" wrote in message
...

So it is related to cedars?

No, the misnamed specimen was evidently thought to be one of the
tropical "cedars" in the mahogany family Meliaceae, like those in
the familiar genus Cedrela. They may have aromatic wood like Cedrus
and Juniperus, etc, but they're not conifers.

The fact that it had been put in the mahogany genus Swietenia makes
me wonder if this was a leafless specimen in fruit [Luehea fruits are
rather similar in superficial appearance to those of Meliaceae, but
the leaves are nothing alike, being simple in Luehea and pinnately
compound in Meliaceae].

Where does it live & what does it look like?

It's a widespread, common tropical tree of Central and South America,
formerly classified in the family Tiliaceae, but now included in the
expanded Malvaceae.

IIRC, it's usually a rather scruffy, large shrub or smallish tree:

For some image links:
http://images.google.com/images?q=+%...qdr=all&tab=wi
http://ctfs.si.edu/webatlas/english/luehsp.html
http://www.nybg.org/bsci/belize/Luehea_speciosa_1.jpg
http://www.nybg.org/bsci/belize/Luehea_speciosa.jpg
http://www.acguanacaste.ac.cr/pagina...magnoliophyta/
tiliaceae/luehea_speciosa/l_speciosa11ene98/l_speciosa11ene98.html

cheers

mel turner schreef

http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/...jan04lit.shtml

which says

"Mabberley, D. J. 2002. The identity of Swietenia alternifolia (Mill.)
Steud. ('Meliaceae'). Gard. Bull. Singapore 54: 253-255.

Here is a shocker, and one that managed to slip by us first time around.
The name Swietenia alternifolia (Mill.) Steud. (based on Cedrus
alternifolia Mill.) had been rejected from Meliaceae (in Pennington &
Styles, Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 28: 385, 405. 1981), but there the matter
rested until now. Older names in limbo status are always intriguing,
and this one proves to be no exception. The original description of
Cedrus alternifolia was based on plants grown in England from seeds
collected at Campeche (Yucatán), supplemented by the field notes of the
collector, William Houstoun. Neotypification of the name is here
achieved on the basis of a recently discovered Houstoun collection from
Campeche at BM, appropriately annotated and unequivocally identifiable
as the sp. long known throughout the Neotropics as Luehea speciosa
Willd. (Tiliaceae, or Malvaceae s. l.). In fact, Miller's name predates
Willdenow's by over 40 years, prompting the new combination Luehea
alternifolia (Mill.) Mabb., which becomes (at least for the time being)
the correct name for the sp."

cheers

***
On the face of it this looks bad.

In encountering such an old disused name it is good practice to see to it
that it does not come to life and displace a well established name. Or in
the words of the XV IBC:

===
The International code of botanical nomenclature is therefore published
under the ultimate authority of the International Botanical Congresses. The
Tokyo Congress at its final plenary session adopted the following resolution
relating to nomenclatu

"Considering the great importance of a stable system of scientific names of
plants for use in the pure and applied sciences and in many other domains of
public life and economy;

"noting with satisfaction recent important improvements in the International
code of botanical nomenclature and ongoing efforts to explore new avenues
for increased stability and security in the application of plant names;

"the XV International Botanical Congress urges plant taxonomists, while such
work continues, to avoid displacing well established names for purely
nomenclatural reasons, whether by change in their application or by
resurrection of long-forgotten names;

"resolves that the decisions of the Nomenclature Section with respect to the
International code of botanical nomenclature, as well as the appointment of
officers and members of the nomenclature committees, made by that section
during its meetings, 22-27 August, be accepted."
===

So prof Mabberley should not have made the new combination without giving
thought to either conserving Luehea speciosa or rejecting Cedrus
alternifolia. Maybe he did indeed do so and decided Luehea speciosa is not
well-known enough to be worth preserving?

I see that the TROPICOS database switched to L.alternifolia already.
So far nobody published a proposal. Apparently nobody is feeling strongly
enough about Luehea speciosa to do something about it?
PvR

In article , mel turner mturner@sni
pthis.acpub.duke.edu writes
Has there been any proposal to conserve Luehea speciosa Willd.?

Haven't heard of one..., and there's nothing on the web. All I found
was:

http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/...jan04lit.shtml

That was my source. (I'd been provided with some digital photos of
Luehea grandiflora, for my website, and I was digging around the web to
educate myself about the genus, and to confirm the identification - the
plant photographed was growing in a Brasilian park with the label Luehea
divaricata - Martius Fl. Bras. has grandiflora sunk in speciosa.)

It seemed a sensible name for conservation.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley
http://www.malvaceae.info/Genera/Luehea/gallery.html

In article , P van
Rijckevorsel writes

So prof Mabberley should not have made the new combination without giving
thought to either conserving Luehea speciosa or rejecting Cedrus
alternifolia. Maybe he did indeed do so and decided Luehea speciosa is not
well-known enough to be worth preserving?

As we've only seen a secondary source, it is always possible that in his
paper he did propose conservation. (Are there any possible grounds for
rejecting Cedrus or Swietenia alternifolia?)

I see that the TROPICOS database switched to L.alternifolia already.
So far nobody published a proposal. Apparently nobody is feeling strongly
enough about Luehea speciosa to do something about it?
PvR

BTW, do you know what happened to the proposal to conserve Adansonia
gregori?
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

"Stewart Robert Hinsley" wrote in
message ...
In article , mel turner mturner@sni
pthis.acpub.duke.edu writes
Has there been any proposal to conserve Luehea speciosa Willd.?

Haven't heard of one..., and there's nothing on the web. All I found
was:

http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/...jan04lit.shtml

That was my source. (I'd been provided with some digital photos of
Luehea grandiflora, for my website, and I was digging around the web to
educate myself about the genus, and to confirm the identification - the
plant photographed was growing in a Brasilian park with the label Luehea
divaricata - Martius Fl. Bras. has grandiflora sunk in speciosa.)

It seemed a sensible name for conservation.

Yes, since it's a familiar, common and widespread species. There's
nothing to be gained, and likely inconvenience for many, in
resurrecting "Cedrus alternifolia" to replace its specific epithet.

Stewart Robert Hinsley
http://www.malvaceae.info/Genera/Luehea/gallery.html

Very nice photos!

cheers

Stewart Robert Hinsley schreef
As we've only seen a secondary source, it is always possible that in his
paper he did propose conservation. (Are there any possible grounds for
rejecting Cedrus or Swietenia alternifolia?)

***
All proposals for conservation / rejecting are published in Taxon.
If it is not in Taxon it does not count

Grounds for rejection would be that it is an upsetting change.
* * *

BTW, do you know what happened to the proposal to conserve Adansonia
gregori?

***
The very latest news (unpublished): Adansonia gregorii is here to stay!
PvR

BTW, do you know what happened to the proposal to conserve Adansonia
gregori?

P van Rijckevorsel schreef
The very latest news (unpublished): Adansonia gregorii is here to stay!
PvR

***
Oops, it has been published. At the same time as the result on Acacia, so
early in October. Just scraped by, with a minimum majority.
The only weird thing in the report is that they assign Adansonia to
Sterculiaceae
PvR

In article , P van
Rijckevorsel writes
BTW, do you know what happened to the proposal to conserve Adansonia
gregori?

P van Rijckevorsel schreef
The very latest news (unpublished): Adansonia gregorii is here to stay!
PvR

***
Oops, it has been published. At the same time as the result on Acacia, so
early in October. Just scraped by, with a minimum majority.
The only weird thing in the report is that they assign Adansonia to
Sterculiaceae
PvR

Thanks
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley