Vascular Plants
Australian Plant Name Index (APNI)
The Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) is a tool for the botanical community that deals with plant names and their usage in the scientific literature, whether as a current name or synonym. APNI does not recommend any particular taxonomy or nomenclature. For a listing of currently accepted scientific names for the Australian vascular flora, please use the Australian Plant Census (APC) link above.
Comment:Reference to basionym indirect. Wight lists the name Asparagus asparagoides under a dictionary entry for Myrsiphyllum, which he indicates is "a section of the genus Asparagus". This is here considered to be an indirect reference to Myrsiphyllum asparagoides (L.) Willd. and through it to the basionym, Medeola asparagoides L.
Text:"Most recent scientific papers incorrectly assign the authorship of A. asparagoides to W. Wight. The correct authorship is A. asparagoides (L.) Druce, as W. Wight, a contributor to the 1909 Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia, lists A. asparagoides under the genus Myrsiphyllum in the context of the treatment by Baker (1875), where A. asparagoides is in the sub-genus of Myrsiphyllum (Willd.) Baker. Druce (1914) made the first new combination of A. asparagoides, based on Medeola asparagoides from Linnaeus (1753)."
Comment:Batchelor & Scott indicate that the publication of the name Asparagus asparagoides by W.Wight, Century Dictionary & Cyclopaedia 12: 845 (1909), was "under the genus Myrsiphyllum". While Wight's name appears in a dictionary entry for Myrsiphyllum the entry indicates that Myrsiphyllum is "a section of the genus Asparagus". Therefore the publication of the name Asparagus asparagoides by Druce in 1914 is here considered to be an isonym without nomenclatural status.