Senna occidentalis Link 2001

Cassia occidentalis Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 1: 377. 1753.

"Habitat in Jamaica." RCN: 2966.

Lectotype (Reveal in Phytologia 71: 453, 454. 1991): Herb. Clifford: 159, Cassia 7, sheet 10 (BM-000558727).

Current name: Senna occidentalis (L.) Link (Fabaceae: Caesalpinioideae).

Note: De Wit (in Webbia 11: 257. 1956) indicated 528.13 (LINN) as the holotype but it is a Patrick Browne collection, not received by Linnaeus until 1758 and not original material for the name. Others, including Wijnands (Bot. Commelins: 60. 1983), treated this collection as a neotype but this is unacceptable because original elements are in existence. Brenan (in Milne-Redhead & Polhill, Fl. Trop. E. Africa, Leguminosae 2: 78 (1967), followed by many authors, treated a Clifford sheet (BM) as a syntype, but in any case did not distinguish between the two sheets that exist. Some authors have attributed a formal type choice to Brenan (e.g. Irwin & Barneby in Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35: 436. 1982. as “lectoholotypus”) but still fail to distinguish between the sheets. Reveal subsequently provided a detailed review, and designated one of them as the lectotype.