Baptisia alba Vent.

Crotalaria alba Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 2: 716. 1753.

"Habitat in Carolina." RCN: 2941.

Basionym of: Sophora alba (L.) L. (1767).

Lectotype (Barrie in Turland & Jarvis in Taxon 46: 467. 1997): Herb. A. van Royen No. 908.112-704 (L).

Current name: Baptisia alba (L.) Vent. (Fabaceae: Faboideae).

Note: Isely (in Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 25(3): 219. 1981) noted that the name could be traced back to Linnaeus’ Hortus Cliffortianus (1738) account, "and the associated specimen (BM)", and that material in LINN (evidently sheet 522.7) lacked fruit and could be Baptisia lactea (Raf.) Thieret. Turner (in Syst. Bot. 7: 351. 1982) was apparently confused about which sheet he had seen, and regarded as the type, suggesting that it was Clifford material at BM (which we have been unable to trace) but, from his description, was evidently 522.7 (LINN). Isely (in Sida 11: 434. 1986), assuming Turner to have typified the name using this Clifford material and accepting Turner’s determination of 522.7 (LINN), took up B. alba in the sense of B. leucantha Torr. & A. Gray. However, the material in LINN lacks a Species Plantarum number (i.e. “12”), did not reach the herbarium until after 1753, and is not original material for the name. Subsequently, Barrie located original material in L, and designated van Royen material as lectotype, restoring C. alba to its traditional usage in the process.