Table 1. Authors for species names of Taxus interpreted 
according to their morphological and /or geographical data.  

Nomenclatural and Taxonomic Review of Three Species
 and Two Varieties of Taxus (Taxaceae) in Asia

Richard Spjut
World Botanical Associates
Temecula California 92593-0880

Authors1

Species concept, names applied

Distribution

Names that should have been applied (Cephalotaxus or Taxus)

Specimens cited, types indicated!

 

 

 

 

 

Linnaeus 1753

T. baccata

Eur., Canada

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Siebold & Zuccarini 1843

T. baccata

T. cuspidata

T. globosa

T. wallichiana

Eur., Canada

Japan

Mexico

India, Tibet, Nepal

 

 

Pilger 1903

T. baccata ssp.
     baccata
     brevifolia
     canadensis
     cuspidata
      var. chinensis

      var. latifolia

     floridana

     globosa

     wallichiana

N Afr, Eur., W As.

NW Am.
NE Am.
Japan
Sichuan, China

Manchuria, Sakhalin Is.

Am. (Florida)

Mexico

Nepal, NE India,
Myanmar, Philip.,
Indonesia

 

 

 

 

 

 

.


Yes  
Yes  
Yes  
Yes  
Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

Rehder 1919, 1949

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rehder 1936, 1940

T. baccata

T. brevifolia

T. canadensis

T. chinensis

T. cuspidata

 

T. floridana

T. wallichiana

 

T. chinensis

 

N Afr, Eur., W As.

NW Am.

NE Am.

Central China

Japan, Korea, Manchuria

 

Am (Florida)

?

 

China

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T. mairei

 

 

 

 

Yes!

 

 

 

 

 

Yes

Wilson 1916

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wilson 1926

T. baccata

T. brevifolia

T. canadensis

T. chinensis

T. cuspidata

 

T. floridana

T. wallichiana

 

T. chinensis

 

T. wallichiana

 

 

 

Eur.

NW Am.

NE Am

China incl. Tai.

SE Russia, Japan, Korea

 

Am. (Florida)

Nepal to China, Philip., Indonesia
 

E Himal., China, Indonesia, Philip.


NW Himal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T. wallichiana

 

T. contorta

 

 

 

Yes

 

 

 

 

 

Yes

3Florin 1948a

T. speciosa!

 

T. wallichiana
 
var. chinensis!
 

var. wallichiana!

China, Indonesia, Philip.

 

China

 

E Himal. to SW China

C. sumatrana

 

 

Yes!

 

Yes!

Hu 1964

T. chinensis!

T. cuspidata
var. cuspidata

 

var. microcarpa Hu

 

 

T. mairei!2

 

T. wallichiana!

China

China (Shaanxi, Jilin, Heilong.) Korea, Japan

 

 

China (Heilong.)

 

 

China

 

Nepal To China, Indonesia, Philip.

 

 

 

 

 
T. cuspidata
var.
microcarpa
Kolesn.

 


C. sumatrana
3

Yes!

 

Yes

 

 

Yes

 


Yes!

   

Yes

Cheng et al. 1975; Cheng & Fu 1978

T. chinensis
  var. chinensis
  var. mairei

 

T. cuspidata

 

T. wallichiana

T. yunnanensis!


China
China, Indonesia

 

China (Jilin), SE Russa, Korea, Japan


Himal., SW Tibet

Bhutan, Myanmar, China (SE Tibet, Yun., Sich.)

T. wallichiana
var. chinensis
C. sumatrana

 

 

   

T. contorta

T. wallichiana

 Yes!
Illustrated


 

Illustrated

 

Illustrated

Yes!

3de Laubenfels 1978, 1988

T. sumatrana!.

E Himal., China, Philip., Indonesia

T. wallichiana

Yes!

4Li & Mill in Li & Fu 1997

 

 

 

 

 

Fu, Li & Mill 1999

T. fuana!

T. wallichiana
 var. mairei

 var. wallichiana


var. chinensis

var. mairei

W Himal.

E Himal., China, Indonesia, Philip.

Bhutan, Myanmar, China (SE Tibet, Yun., Sich.)

China, N Vietnam

“N India?” Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, China

T. contorta

T. sumatrana

 

Illustration not
the same as type




?

5 Farjon 1998

T. baccata

T. brevifolia

T. canadensis

T. chinensis
    var. chinensis

    var. mairei

T. cuspidata
   
var.  cuspidata
  
  var. nana

T. floridana

T. fuana

T. globosa

T. sumatrana
T. wallichiana

 

N Afr., Eur., W As.

NW Am.

NE Am.

China main., Vietnam

   

China main., Tai.

SE Russia, NE China, Japan, Korea
Japan

Am. (Florida)

China (SW Tibet)

Mexico, Guatemala

Philip., Indonesia
W Himal. to SW China

 

 

 

T. mairei  
T. wallichiana
var. chinensis

 

Spjut this paper

T. baccata!

T. brevifolia!

T. caespitosa!

 

 

T. canadensis

 

T. chinensis!

6T. aff. chinensis!

 

6T. aff. chinensis!

 

6T. aff. chinensis

T. contorta!
  var. contorta
 
var. mucronata!

 

T. cuspidata!

T. biternata

 

T. globosa!


T. sumatrana
!
     (T. celebica!
      T. mairei!
      T. speciosa!
      Taxus kingstoii.)

 

T. wallichiana  
  var. wallichiana!

 
var. yunnanensis!

 

 

6T. aff. wallichiana

 

6T. aff. wallichiana!

N Afr., Eur., W As.

NW Am.

China (Shaanxi), SE Russia (Primorye), Korea, Japan

 

NE Am., N Afr. Eur., W As.


China main., Vietnam

China (Yun., Sich., Hubei)


 

China (Yun., Tai.), Philip., Indonesia


Vietnam  

W Himal, Sikkim  SW Tibet
Nepal, Bhutan,



Japan

China (Shaanxi, Heilong., Jilin), SE Russia, Korea, Japan, SW Asia?

Mexico to El Salvador, Honduras

E Nepal to China, Philip., Indonesia (Species Group under study)

 

 

Nepal to China (Sichuan, Yunnan)

NE India to China (Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan)




China (Sichuan, Yunnan)




Myanmar

 

Yes!

Yes!

Yes

 

 

designated

 

Yes!

Yes!

 

Yes!

 

Yes!


Yes!  
Yes!



Yes!  

Yes!

 

Yes!

Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!

 


Yes!

Yes!  

 

 

Yes!  

 

Yes!

 

Table 1. Authors for species names of Taxus interpreted according to their morphological and /or geographical data.

 1Omission of names does not mean that the author did not recognize the species.  Based on the authors’ data, the species name was interpreted as correct (italics) or incorrect (plain type). 

 2Hu (1964) excluded T. celebica because a specimen from Sulawesi did not meet her taxonomic criteria for T. mairei; however, her exclusion of T. celebica, and also Cephalotaxus sumatrana (not mentioned) does not mean that her new combination was legitimate; the earliest available epithet still should have been applied. She recognized Pilger (1903) who cited both C. celebica and C. sumatrana, and for him to do so he would almost certainly have had to seen their types.  Moreover, Florin (1948a) also cited C. celebica and its type, which Hu should have accepted since she employed the same taxonomic character as Florin did for distinguishing T. mairei (T. speciosa) from T. wallichiana. 

3The combination for Taxus sumatrana made by de Laubenfels (1978) was based on his study of the holotype at Utrecht. While it may be argued that previous authors may not have accepted Pilger’s reference to Cephalotaxus sumatrana as a synonym of T. wallichiana without seeing the type, they did not explicitly exclude C. sumatrana.  Therefore, this is the name that should have been applied by Cheng & Fu (1978), Florin (1948a), Hu (1964), and Li & Fu (1997), instead of T. chinensis or T. mairei.

4Li & Fu (1997) published an illegitimate combination T. wallichiana var. mairei (Art. 11.5, 43.5) as seen in the protologue by reference to elements (geographical data) for which earlier names exist—T. sumatrana and T. celebica, but later excluded these (Fu et al. 1999), and arbitrarily attributed all plants in the Philippines and Indonesia to T. sumatrana; however, T. sumatrana has never been applied correctly.

5Farjon (1998) implies morphological distinction of species because his geographical species data are not the same as that of his predecessors. In the absence of morphological and specimen data in Farjon (1998), his distinction of species in Taxus appears arbitrary and inconsistent.  For example, he does not distinguish between the western Himalayan and eastern Himalayan yews but does recognize T. fuana from only the type locality, while he also indicates the Indonesian and Philippine plants (T. sumatrana) are different from those in China (T. chinensis).

6Spjut (in adnot., A, BM, GH, K, P, U, US) recognized T. kingstonii Spjut (ined.), T scutata Spjut (ined.), T. ocreata Spjut (ined.), T. florinii, Spjut (ined.)T. suffnessii, Spjut (ined.)T. phytonii, Spjut (ined.) and T. obscura Spjut (ined.).  These names were published in 2007, J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas Vol. 1.