De nomenclatuur van Speenkruiden (Ficaria verna Huds. s.l., Ranunculaceae)

Molecular research has shown that Ficaria (Ranunculaceae) is not closely related to Ranunculus. In this study I regard the genus as monospecific with 7 subspecies. It is an arbitrary choice to regard these taxa as species or subspecies. In most of the recent literature a choice has been made for the latter and this is followed here. The type is Ficaria verna (≡ Ranunculus ficaria). Benson (1954: 369)1 was the first to designate a lectotype: Herb. Linn. 715.12 (LINN) without provenance, but most likely from either the Netherlands or Sweden. Another syntype is Clifford s.n. (BM 000628882), surely collected by Linnaeus in the Netherlands on Clifford’s estate the Hartekamp, Heemstede/Bennebroek. Erroneously, Sell (1994: 32)2 designated this as the lectotype: too late and with wrong arguments. He exacerbated the situation by identifying this with a fertile diploid without axillary bulbils that does occur in the United Kingdom, but has never been recorded for Sweden and only since 1976 for the Netherlands. In these countries occurs a usually sterile heterotetraploid with axilllary buds, that in much recently published literature (internet!) is known as R. ficaria L. subsp. bulbilifer Lambinon. This, however, is the ‘true’ F. verna subsp. verna (≡ R. ficaria subsp. ficaria). The diploid must be called F. verna subsp. fertilis (≡ R. ficaria subsp. fertilis). This has been taken up incorrectly by Van der Meijden in his 23rd edition van de Heukels’ Flora van Nederland3 as F. verna subsp. grandiflora (‘Vreemd speenkruid’). This is a wrong identification with a superfluous name for F. verna subsp. ficariiformis. Two new combinations are proposed.