Odoardo Beccari’s Malesian herbarium in Florence: the disclosure of a hidden treasure. 1. Zingiberales

Abstract

Odoardo Beccari was one of the most important Italian naturalists in the second half of the 19th century, and a pioneer in Southeast Asia wildlife exploration. His Malesian Herbarium, kept in Florence, with more than 16,000 of exsiccata and hundreds of type specimens, represents the main legacy of his travels and scientific activity. While the 100th anniversary of his death was approaching, we decided to start an in-depth inventory and study of such a fundamental collection, aimed to provide an exhaustive account of its content to the scientific community, to trace every referenced type specimen and to select the lectotypes when still lacking. The present contribution, which must be intended as the first of a hopefully long series, is dedicated to the Zingiberales, one of the most diverse angiosperm groups within the Malesian area. A total of 83 original specimens were found, for which 73 new names had been published, and 40 new lectotypes are designated here.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/11263504.2021.1918786.

Keywords:

• Australasia
• botanical collection
• flora
• Tropical Asia
• typification

Acknowledgements

Authors wish to acknowledge the keepers of the herbaria of Geneve (G), Kew (K) and Leiden (L), who provided important information on the Beccari-linked types kept in their repositories, and Robert Vogt from Berlin (B), for checking (even if unsuccessfully) for Beccari’s duplicates among the Karl Moritz Schumann’s specimens. Many thanks to Dr. Stefano Miranda for his fundamental contribution in the first, extensive check for types in the herbarium.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.