Introduction

In Volume 6 of the Flora of Iraq (Compositae), published in December 2019, it was pointed out to me by member of the IPNI team that the new combination Centaurea benedicta (L.) L. var. kotschyi (Sch.Bip.) Ghaz. was not validly published. This is rectified in this communication.

Centaurea benedicta (L.) L. var. kotschyi (Boiss.) Ghaz. was published as a new combination (‘comb. et stat. nov.’) (Ghazanfar in Wagenitz 2019) based on Boissier’s variety kotschyi of Cnicus benedictus L. (Boissier 1875: 705 – 706). This combination was invalid, contrary to Art. 6.10. ICN (Turland et al. 2018), as the name Cnicus kotschyi Sch.Bip. was published in Index Seminum [Berlin]: 24 (Schultz Bipontinus 1857) and is therefore the basionym for this combination. In this publication in Emendanda on page 24 the name Cnicus kotschyi Sch.Bip. is erroneously recorded as published earlier by Schultz Bipontinus in Hohenacker (ed.) on plants of Aleppo, Kurdistan & Mossul collected by Carl (Karl) Georg Theodor Kotschy in 1841 (Hohenacker 1843: no. 29). On searching through this publication, I have not found Cnicus kotschyi Sch.Bip. mentioned.

Based on Carl (Karl) Heinrich Schultz ‘Bipontinus’s publication, the new combination for Centaurea benedicta var. kotschyi and its synonymy is as follows:

Centaurea benedicta (L.) L. var. kotschyi (Sch.Bip.) Ghaz. comb. et stat. nov.

http://www.ipni.org/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77204631-1

Basionym: Cnicus kotschyi Sch.Bip., Index Seminum [Berlin] (Schultz Bipontinus 1857: 24).

Cnicus benedictus L. var. kotschyi (Sch.Bip.) Boiss., Fl. Orient. [Boissier] (1875: 706).

Centaurea benedicta var. kotschyi (Boiss.) Ghaz. (Ghazanfar in Wagenitz 2019: 142), nom. inval.