Proposal to Conserve the Name Curcuma euchroma against Erndlia subpersonata (Zingiberaceae)

Our previous studies on the complex nomenclatural history of Curcuma zedoaria (Christm.) Roscoe and Curcuma zerumbet Roxb. (Leong-Škorničková & al. in Taxon 57: 949–962. 2008; and Taxon 59: 269–282. 2010), explained that C. zerumbet as understood from Roxburgh’s description and plate represents a species that was named by Leong-Škorničková & al. (l.c. 2008) as C. picta. For nomenclatural reasons the name Curcuma zerumbet Roxb. has to be attached to the taxon described as Amomum zerumbeth J. König (nom. illeg., non L.) and is thus also a nomen illegitimum superfluum as at that time the legitimate name Erndlia subpersonata Giseke, based on the same element, existed. Amomum zerumbeth J. König is based on Zerumbed of Rumphius and thus both represent the same taxon. König (in Retzius, Observ. Bot. 3: 55. 1783) cited under A. zerumbeth : “Rumph. Herb. Amb. V. p. 68–72. [typo err., recte 168–172] tab. 68”. Rumphius (in Herb. Amboin. 5: 168–172. 1747) treated the name Zerumbed/Tommon as a group name for several species and described six of them (Tommon Besaar, Tommon Itam, Tommon Poeti, Tommon Giring, Tommon Dingin, Tommon Manga). Plate 68 is the only element eligible as a type, but it is not cited anywhere in Rumphius’s text and is not unambiguously linked to any of these six taxa. In the legend to plate 68 only the name Zerumbed appears. König (l.c.) also failed to specify to which of the six Rumphian taxa described in Chapter “Zerumbet” his name A. zerumbeth refers. Based on the descriptions, however, the first species, Tommon Besaar, which is according to Rumphius also called simply Tommon, is the best match to Rumphius’s plate and both agree well with König’s description featuring Curcuma species with the yellow rhizome, a central inflorescence, and leaves with a reddish-brown midrib. Taxon, Vol. 60, No. 4. Hal. 1214-1215