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Blumea59,2014:37–41www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nhn/blumea http://dx.doi.org/10.3767/000651914X683476RESEARCH ARTICLE
INTRODUCTION
Jatamansi (Nardostachys jatamansi) is a traditional Indiandrugplantusedforincenseandmedicine(Baral&Kurmi2006:445,Mabberley2008:572).ItisharvestedfromthewildintheWestern Himalayas, where over-exploitation and degradation of its natural habitats give rise to concerns about its conserva-tionstatus.However,properassessmentoftheconservationstatus of jatamansi is hampered by confusion with Valeriana jatamansi,amedicinalplantofmorelocalimportance.Theitemof materia medica traded is, in the case of both species, the upper part of the rhizome and stem base, though these differ inappearanceinthetwospecies–inthecaseofjatamansi(Nardostachys jatamansi)itisclothedinpersistentfibrousleafbases,thestructureresemblingan‘ermine’s-tail’;intheVale-rianathefibresarelacking.AscanbeseenfromFig.1and2thefloweringplantsareeasilydistinguished.Although in many cases the names are currently used correctly, there is still much confusion, especially in web sources, where, forexamplesuperficialGooglesearchproducedanarticleonValeriana jatamansi illustrated with a drawing of Nardostachys jatamansi.Moreseriouslymuchoftheconservationliterature(seebelow)stillusesthenameN. grandiflora(potentiallyleav-ing N. jatamansi unconsidered and unprotected from the point of viewofphysical–asopposedtonomenclatural–conservation).Therehasalsobeenconfusionoverthecorrectauthoritiesforthenamesandthereasonsfortheiruse(e.g.,whichofDon’stwonamesisthebasionym),theroleofDeCandolle(whetherauthorofanewbinomialoranewcombination),thetaxonomy(howmanyspeciesofNardostachys)andoftypificationofthenames.For example,Hara (1975), through followingDon’sunacceptableinterpretationofJones’spublication,presentedDeCandolle’sbinomialasN. jatamansi DC.,i.e.,notaccept-ing itsDonian basionym, andplaced it in the synonymyof N. grandiflora (withwhich, as explained above,we cannotconcur);andWeberling(1978)gotthetypificationofN. jata-mansiwrong.
HISTORy
In1790,thegreatorientalistandpolymath,SirWilliamJones(1746–1794),describedanewspeciesofValerianaL.,basedonadescriptionanddrawingprovidedbyAdamBurt(1761–1814),anEastIndiaCompanysurgeonthenbasedinGaya(Bengal,nowintheIndianStateofBihar).JonesabstractedfromBurt’saccountits‘naturalcharacters’andmadeadiagno-sis‘intheLinneanstyle’(Mabberley1977,Noltie2013).Jonesappears to have had no specimen, so that the only ‘original ma-terial’availablefortypificationistheillustrationhereproduced.However, Jones had been led to believe that the plant described was the jatamansioftheherbalists(aspeciesofNardostachys DC.)and,inhisdiscussionofthatplant,quotedafewvagueremarks of ‘Mr.HARRINGTON [= JohnHerbertHarington(1764/5–1828), aBengal civil servant andorientalist]’,whohad interviewed ‘Twomercantile agents fromButàn’ on thematter.ItisthereforeunfortunatethatJoneschosejatamansi asaspecificnamefortheValeriana, according to his method ofusinglocalnamesasLinnaeanepithets(Noltie2013).How-ever, such a choice in no way invalidates the binomial, despite earlierpracticewherebotanistsoftensawfittoremedysuchinfelicities.Valeriana jatamansi is also a medicinal plant of local importance in the Himalaya, and this name is in current use (seee.g.,Mabberley2008).
David Don’s misguided good intentionsWhetherornotBurt(andthereforeJones)hadbeendeliberatelymisledbytraders(notanunusualcourseofeventsincommercethenornow)intothinkingtheValeriana was the true jatamansi is nowofonlyhistoricalinterest.However,DavidDon(inLambert1821)soughttoremedythingsbyapplying,incorrectly,Jones’sbinomial to the true jatamansi(i.e.,theNardostachys),bydis-missingnotonlythesoleoriginalmaterial(theplate)butalsoJones’sdescription,andthereforemakingmostimportanttheverbalinformationprovidedbyHarington.Thisisnotacceptableasa‘lectotypification’(apracticenotformulatedinthemodernsense inDon’s time in any case) andwe cannot thereforeconcurwithHara(1975),whoessentiallyfollowedDavidDon’ssettingasideofJones’s(andBurt’s)work(seebelow).In1825Dondecided(correctly) that the true jatamansi was not a Valeriana after all and therefore coined the name Patrinia jatamansi for it.Thisname isbasedonValeriana jatamansi sensuD.Don (1821), non Jones (1790), and includes in its
A note on Valeriana jatamansi Jones (Caprifoliaceae s.l.)D.J.Mabberley1,H.J.Noltie2
1 NaturalisBiodiversityCenter, sectionBotany,P.O.Box9517, 2300RALeiden,TheNetherlands;e-mail:[email protected].
2 RoyalBotanicGardenEdinburgh,20aInverleithRow,EdinburghEH35LR,UnitedKingdom;e-mail:[email protected].
Key words
conservationjatamansiNardostachys jatamansitypificationValeriana jatamansi
AbstractThetangledargumentsaroundthenamesofjatamansidrugplantsareexaminedandthecorrectsynony-miesandtypificationsforNardostachys jatamansi(D.Don)DC.andV. jatamansiJones(bothCaprifoliaceaes.l.)areprovided.Theconservationstatusoftheformer,andtheneedforfurtherworkonthesubject,isbrieflydiscussed.
Published on17July2014
38 Blumea–Volume59/1,2014
Fig. 1 Lectotype of Patrinia jatamansiD.Don(thebasionymofNardostachys jatamansi(D.Don)DC.).EngravingfromLambert(1821)(RoyalBotanicGardenEdinburgh).
synonymy‘V.spicaVahl,Enum.1[i.e.2(1805)].p.13’(asu-perfluousnameforJones’sV. jatamansi, and therefore also not applicable to what is now the Nardostachys).Inotherwords,Patrinia jatamansi D.Donwasineffectanewspeciesforwhatis now the Nardostachys, its type being the Wallich material fromBhutancitedbyDon.
The genus Nardostachys – later 19th-century treatmentsIn1830DeCandolleerectedthegenusNardostachys for the true jatamansi and coined the binomial N. jatamansi, which he clearly based on Patrinia jatamansi(andthereforeV. jatamansi sensu D.Don,nonJones).Healsoaddedasecondspecies, N. grandifloraDC.,basedonotherWallichmaterialfromKu-maon(nowinthestateofUttarakhand,India),butthisplantisnowconsideredconspecificwithN. jatamansi(seebelow). ItshouldbenotedthatintheProdromus(1830)DeCandollereferred to a publication that had, in fact, not yet been issued (DeCandolle 1832) inwhichboth species ofNardostachys (andValeriana wallichii–seebelow)wereillustratedandonceagaindescribed.Royle(1835:1:242-4;2:t.54),whohadaspecial interest in materia medica, discovered, while stationed atSaharunpur,andindependentlyofDon,thatJones’splantwas not the true jatamansi, and obtained and grew the correct plant from themountainsofKedarkanthaand/orShalma in
theWesternHimalaya(Uttarakhand,India).Bythetimethathe came to publish his conclusions, accompanied by a hand-someplate,hehadbecomeawareofDon’sandDeCandolle’sworkand followed their treatment (thoughwithoutsaying towhich species of ValerianaheconsideredJones’sillustrationtobelong).Clarke(1881)alsofollowedDonandDeCandolle,but made N. grandifloraDC.asynonymofN. jatamansiDC.Adopting theconventionofhisday,Clarkestated that “Thename V. Jatamansi [of Jones] is hence to be suppressed”andreferredJones’s illustration toValeriana wallichiiDC. InthisidentificationhefollowedDeCandolle,though,infact,DeCandolle had referred the Jones plate to his new species with aquery.
TAXONOMy
Weberling(1978)gavepersuasivemorphologicalreasonsfortreating the genus Nardostachysasmonospecific,theonepoly-morphicspeciesbeingcorrectlycalled(thoughwithoutgivinganynomenclaturalexplanation)N. jatamansi.Herecognisedthreemainvariantsof itand for theseheused theGermandesignation ‘Typ’: namely ‘jatamansi-Typ’, ‘grandiflora-Typ’,‘linearifolia-Typ’, whichwas unfortunately translated in hisEnglishsummaryas‘type’.
39D.J.Mabberley&H.J.Noltie:AnoteonValeriana jatamansi Jones
Fig. 2 Lectotype of Valeriana jatamansiJones.EngravingfromJones(1790),fromthefirst,Calcutta,editionofAsiatic Researches(courtesyoftheRoyalAsiaticSociety,London).
CONSERVATION STATUS
AlthoughnoGlobalConservationassessmentexistsforNar-dostachys jatamansi(or‘N. grandiflora’)ontheIUCNwebsite,there has been concern for many years over its conservation statusatnationallevels.Forexample,in1988,intheIndianRedDataBook,underthenameNardostachys grandiflora, the plant’sstatuswasdescribedas“Vulnerable,andmuchdepleteddue to over-exploitation of rhizomes for medical properties, and also due to habitat degradation and other biotic interfer-encesinitsdistribution”(Nayar&Sastry1988).Theseauthorsrecommendedthat“Collectionofthisplantshouldbebanned”.Thesecondauthorofthepresentpaper(HJN)haspersonalexperienceof this,having in1996seenhillsidesatThanguinnorthernSikkimpock-markedbyexcavationswhereplantshadbeenuprooted;andin1998inthemarketatThimphuinBhutanlargebasketsofthe‘ermine-tail’basalpartswereforsale–saidtobeusedforthemakingofincense.Arecentstudy(Larsen2008)oftheplant’sstatus,underthenameN. grandi-
flora, especially in Nepal was presented to a workshop in Mexicoandcontainsusefulreferences.DespitethefactthatN. grandiflorahasbeenonAppendixIIofCITESsince1997(http://www.cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php -accessed17February 2014),Larsenmadeitclearthatinternationaltrade(e.g.,betweenNepal,BhutanandIndia)istakingplaceonalarge scale, and that there is urgent need for data collection, documentationandconservationassessment.
CONCLUSION
Inshortitisfortunatethatthelocalname(paradoxicallyratherinthespiritofJones’ssystemasitturnsout!)fortheimportantdrug plant jatamansi is Nardostachys jatamansi(D.Don)DC.,indeedthenameincurrentuseinthescientificliterature(e.g.,Clement2001,Mabberley2008:572,890,Hongetal.2011,thePlantList–www.theplantlist.org,accessed17February2014)ifnotyetinmanywebsources.Thesynonymyforthetwo species is as follows:
40 Blumea–Volume59/1,2014
Fig. 3EpitypeofValeriana jatamansiJones–arecentspecimenfromwesternNepal(E).—Scalebar=10cm.
1. Nardostachys jatamansi(D.Don)DC.(1830)624—Fig.1
[Valeriana jatamansi sensuD.Don,inLamb.(1821)180,t.,nonJones(1790)].
Patrinia jatamansiD.Don(1825)159.Citedmaterial:‘inBhotaniaealpibus.Wallich’.
Lectotype(heredesignated).Theplatelabelled‘ValerianaJatamansi’inLambert(1821). Epitype.ThematerialcitedbyWeberlingas‘Typus’:‘Wallich431(1)resp.431(A),Tibet,Gossainthan(Gphoto!;isotypusinK,LE,M,W)’.
Note—IntheNumericalList(Wallich1829)thetwocollec-tionsunder431aredesignated‘(1)’and‘(2)’,butinsomeofthedistributed duplicates these appear to have been re-numbered as‘(A)’and‘(B)’.Don (in Lambert 1821) originally quoted the source of hismaterialas“inBootaniaeetNepaliaeAlpibus...(V.S.)”,butin
hisdiscussionLambert(inthesamework)referredonlytoasinglecollection:“fineNepalesespecimenssenttomeby...Dr.Wallich”fromwhichtheplate(heredesignatedaslectotype)wasmade.The formalcitation isambiguous,and itseemspossiblethatthecitation‘Bootaniae’couldmerelyhavebeena repetition of one of the traditional localities of Jones, rather thanWallichianspecimenstherefrom.Fromthedateofcollec-tion(beforeWallichhimselfhadvisitedNepal),thiscollectionmusthavebeenmadeby,orfor,theHon.EdwardGardner(ResidentattheNepalesecourt,andbotanicalcorrespond-entofWallich–seeFraser-Jenkins2006,M.Watsonpers.comm.).Any‘Wallich’specimensintheEastIndiaCompanyherbariumwouldhavereachedLondontoolateforDon’s1825publication, and it appears that the Valeriana work had, in fact, beencompletedintimeforpublicationin1821.
41D.J.Mabberley&H.J.Noltie:AnoteonValeriana jatamansi Jones
Later,Don(1825)citedasinglelocality“inBhotaniaealpibus”andthecollector’snameWallich–thatis,withno‘v.s’.,but,ashe referredback to ‘Lambert’, thatpaperand itsoriginalmaterials can be used in typification. Lambert’s herbariumwassoldandwidelydispersedafterhisdeath(somedispersalhavingpredatedthis),thoughmuchoftheNepalesematerialwaspurchasedbyRobertBrownandisnowatBM–fordetailsseeMiller (1970).Although it isconceivable thatanoriginalspecimenmayexistinanotherherbarium(CGE,G,etc.)thisisunlikely.Asthere isnorelevantspecimenfromLambert’sherbarium at BM, and the published plate is an excellent one, it seemssafesttolectotypifythenameontheplate.AsWeberling(1978)citedas‘Typus’materialthatwasnotavailabletoDonin1821,thiscannotbeacceptedasalectotypification,thoughintheinterestsofcontinuityitishereredesignatedas‘epitype’.
Nardostachys grandifloraDC.(1830)624,Hara(1975)107
Citedmaterial:‘inEmodoadKamaonNepalensium.Wallich...(v.s.comm.abhon.coetumerc.andl.Ind.or.[i.e.,inherb.E.I.C.]’.
LectotypifiedbyWeberling(1978),whocited‘Typus:Wallich431(2)resp.431(B),Kumaun[sic]Range,“EmodusadKamaon”(Gphoto!;isotypusK,LE)’.
Note—Fornumberingof‘Wallich’specimensseeaboveun-der N. jatamansi.TheentryintheNumericalList(Wallich1829)givesthecollectingdetailsas“Kamaonalpes.R.B[linkworth]”.
Nardostachys chinensisBatalin(1894)376
Citedmaterial:‘Chinaborealis,prov.SzechuanseptentrionalismonsKungala,custodiachinensisShindshetan,inpaludibus,25July1885,flor.(Potanin)[s.n.,LE]’.WeberlingcitedisotypesatKandZ,thoughnospecimenap-pearsontheKewonlinelistoftypes.
Nardostachys gracilisKitam.(1954)134 Type.‘Nepal,Tsumje3900m(24July1953S.NAKAOTypus)[KYO]’.
ThetypewasnotseenbyWeberling,buttheillustrationpublishedbyKitamurathefollowingyear(1955)confirmstheidentification.
Distribution—India,Nepal,Bhutan,China(Gansu,Qinghai,Sicuan,Xizang,Yunnan).
Thejatamansiofinternationalcommerce.
2. Valeriana jatamansiJones(1790)405,f.and416—Fig.2,3
V. spicaVahl(1805)13,nom.superfl.,illegit.
Lectotype(designatedhere).Jones’sillustration.
Epitype (designatedhere).Nepal,MidWesternDevelopmentRegion,KarnaliZone,MuguDistrict,BelowGhurchiLagna,N29°28’17”E82°8’21”,alt.3230m,C.A. Pendry et al. JRS A81,7June2008(E[E00397525],KATH,MAK,TI,TUCH).
Note—Thehazyportrayalofthe(shade?/)groundinwhichit is growing may have been misinterpreted as indicating a rhizome or root, but it is merely hatching with no outline unlike therestoftheplate.
V. wallichiiDC.(1830)640,C.B.Clarke(1881)213
Citedmaterial:‘inNepaliaetadKamaon...Wallich...(v.s.comm.abhon.aulamerc.angl.Indiaeor.[no433underV.villosaWall.ms]’G,isoBM,E,K-Wetc.
Distribution—Pakistan,India,Nepal,Bhutan,China(Chong-qing,Gansu,Guizhou,Henan,Hubei,Hunan,Sichuan,Xizang,Yunnan),Thailand,Vietnam.
A locally significant incenseanddrugplant, forexample, inNepal(Baral&Kurmi2006:445).
AcknowledgementsWearegratefultoMarkWatson(E)forinformationonWallich’searlycollectionsandtoMartinGardner(E)forfindingoutinformationon the conservation status of jatamansi.
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