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Type: Correspondence
Published: 2012-08-14
Page range: 31–32
Abstract views: 22
PDF downloaded: 1

The Tenasserim Banyan

Research Associate, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, UK
Burma Ficus fig Francis Mason Moraceae neotype nomenclature typification Eudicots

Abstract

In his Natural Productions of Burma published in 1850, Francis Mason described a fig species that he referred to as the Tenasserim Banyan and legitimately published the name Ficus benjaminoides for it. This name has been very largely overlooked in the botanical literature. In the absence of type material, the name is here neotypifed to make F. benjaminoides Mason a synonym of Ficus benjamina. Mason’s name makes Ficus benjaminoides Corner an illegitimate later homonym.