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In 1849, Ernest Saint-Charles Cosson published, on the page 69 of
"Notes sur quelques plantes de France critiques, rares ou nouvelles,
fasc. II", a new taxon collected from Iberia (Buxbaum, J.C. loc.
cit., near Caucasia, in modern Georgia) and Tauria (Tausch, I.F. loc.
cit.). He designated it as Ae. tauschii Cosson, in memory of
an outstanding botanist, Ignas Friedrich Tausch. This taxon is
actually the one which is now known as the D-genome diploid Triticeae
species. These specimens were confused with Ae. squarrosa L.
by J.C.D. von Schreber (1769) and I.F. Tausch (1837). It was confused
with Ae. caudata L. by James Edward Smith and John Sibthorp in
1806 (see Flora Graeca I, page 76). That specimen from Tauria was
confused and designated as Ae. cylindrica Host var. taurica
by Johann Jakob Roemer, and Jos. Augusto Schultes in 1817 (see
Caroli a Linne Systema vegetabilium secundum classes, ordines,
genera, species, cum characteribus, differtiis et synonymiis, II,
page 771 ).
In 1812, Ambrois Marie Francois Joseph Palisot de Beauvois combined
Ae. squarrosa L. to the genus Triticum and gave it a
new species name, aegilops. In 1896 he mix-identified the
D-genome diploid taxon as Ae. squarrosa L.. He reported and
named it as Triticum aegilops P. Beauv. in Flora of British
India, vol. VII, (which was edited by J.D. Hooker. and O. Stapf in
1896). He explained that his description was based on Ae.
squarrosa L. Because of his big name, de Beauvois'
mis-identificatiion had a strong influence on many people, including
some experts, such as P.M. Zhukovsky (1928) and A. Eig (1929), who
followed de Beauvois and made the same mistake by using the invalid
name Ae. squarrosa L. for the taxon of the D-genome diploid
species.
On page 654 of his book "The Grasses of Burma, Ceylon, India and
Pakistan", N.L. Bor (1960) reported :"A recent examination of the
type of Ae. squarrosa in Linnean Herbarium shows that it is a
form of Ae. triuncialis Linn., hence the species called
Triticum aegilops P. Besuv. in the Flora of British
India, based on Ae. squaresa Linn., must be known by the next
available name--Aegilops tauschii Cosson". The authors proved
this by a high quality photograph of the type specimen which was
stored in Copenhagen, Denmark. Therefore, Zeven and Zhukovsky (1975)
called the D-genome diploid species Ae. squarrosa auct. non L.
However, this designation, too, is not valid according to
International code of botanical nomenclature (Greuter et al.
1994).
Hackel (1887) combined genera Aegilops L. and Triticum
L. into one genus Triticum L. Following the suit,
Aegilops tauschii Cosson was included in genus Triticum
ten years later and changed the name to Triticum tauschii
(Cosson) Schmalh. (see Schmalhausen, Ivan Fedorovich (1827). F1.
Centr. et S. Russia, 2, page 662).
Discussion
Of the two species epithet names, squarrosa and
tauschii, which one is legitimate? This is the question often
being asked. A legitimate name has to follow the International Code
of Botanic Nomenclature. According to the Code, "the application of
names of taxonomic group is determined by means of nomenclature
types" (Principle II); "the nomenclature of a taxonomic group is
based upon priority of publication" (Principle III); and "each
taxonomic group with a particular circumscription, position, and rank
can bear only one correct name, the earliest that is in accordance
with the Rules, except in specified cases" (Principle IV). Obviously,
the legitimate name of the Dgenome diploid Triticeae species has to
meet these two criteria: priority and correctness. Of the two popular
species names for the D-genome diploid, squarrosa was
published earlier than tauschii, and that is why many
researchers regard it the right name. However, Linne (1753, 1763) did
not assign the name "squarrosa" to the D-genome diploid
species but to a form of the tetraploid triuncialis. It was a
misidentification made by de Beauvois (1896) that led to the popular
usage of the "squarrosa" to call the D-genome diploid. Cosson
(1849) was the first to assign the name "tauschii" to the
D-genome diploid, based on nomenclature types from Iberia and Tauria.
Hence the name tauschii has the priority, and, because it
follows the Code, it is correct. Obviously, "tauschii" is the
sole legitimate name of the D-genome diploid species, regardless
which genus, Aegilops or Triticum, it belongs to.
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