Nees, Arnott and some forgotten Acanthaceae types from Asia

Abstract

During the 1830s Walker Amott sent a collection of Asian Acanthaceae to be identified by Nees von Esenbeck in Breslau. This material was used by Nees as the basis for describing one genus and 22 new species in Hooker's Companion to the Botanical Magazine in 1836. Both the publication and the collection were subsequently forgotten. During the course of work on the Flora of Ceylon the types were rediscovered in the general herbarium at Edinburgh. The present paper links Nees’ names with the types in Edinburgh, lectotypifying where appropriate and commenting on the taxonomic status of each species.