Pergularia tomentosa Linnaeus, Systema Naturae, ed. 12, 2: 191; Mantissa Plantarum: 53. 1767.
"Habitat in Arabia. Forskåhl.” RCN: 1748.
Lectotype (Goyder in Kew Bull. 61: 248. 2006): Forsskål 972 (C).
Generitype of Pergularia Linnaeus (vide Brown in Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1907: 324-325. 1907).
Current name: Pergularia tomentosa L. (Asclepiadaceae).
Note: Brown (in Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1907: 323-325. 1907) argued that Linnaeus’ generic description could not include either of the species included within the genus in 1767. The protologue of P. tomentosa indicates that the plant came originally from “Arabia”, via Forsskål, and was cultivated in Uppsala. However, sheet 306.2 (LINN) is from China, and Brown argues that it cannot be accepted as the basis of P. tomentosa. Swarapanandan (in Taxon 32: 468-469. 1983) provided a review of the confusion in the generic concept, but neither he nor Brown (his "I suspect that [308.6 LINN] may be the very specimen on which Linnaeus based …” Pergularia " is inadequate) provided a formal typification for" P. tomentosa. This was subsequently done by Liede (in Asklepios 51: 65. 1990) who designated Forsskål 269 (C) as a neotype. However, it is from Egypt, and Goyder (in Kew Bull. 61: 248-249. 2006) therefore rejected it in favour of Forsskål 972 from Arabia, which he treats as the lectotype. Published as part of Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part P), pp. 718-782 in Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London :Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum on page 731, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.291971