Types of the herbarium "Atkins" of the botanical garden of Cienfuegos, Cuba

Abstract

Vascular plants Type specimens, housed since the first half of the twentieth century at Cienfuegos Botanical Garden Herbarium “Atkins”, in Cuba, formerly directed by the Arnold Arboretum of the Harvard University, are listed. The Historic Section of this collection has more than eighty botanists, authors of several publications, and contains duplicates in important international herbaria. The present research has the objective of detect their samples on which specie’s names were based. Types designated in the labels were confirmed consulting other herbaria and literature. Furthermore, botanist represented in our collection, were search in other herbaria. Results was 51 Types specimens, belong to 31 species, 19 genera and 15 botanical families; widespread in 15 herbaria with 118 duplicates. Was added, references of publication, distribution, and Endangered Category. Coccothrinax (Arecaceae) species are outstanding, while main collectors were Brother León, J. G. Jack, R. A. Howard and J.P. Carabia. This report raises the possibility of taxonomic studies of the Cuban Flora collections. The AJBC collection may contain other unidentified samples with taxonomic value, so it is important to continue its analysis.

Keywords

• botany
• collections
• nomenclature
• taxonomy
• typification