Myriophyllum spicatum Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 2: 992. 1753. "Habitat in Europae aquis quietis." RCN: 7198. Lectotype (Ghazanfar in Nasir & Ali, Fl. W Pakistan 113: 4. 1977): Herb. Linn. No. 1123.1 (LINN). Generitype of Myriophyllum Linnaeus (vide Green, Prop. Brit. Bot.: 188. 1929). Current name: Myriophyllum spicatum L. (Haloragaceae). Note: Aiken & McNeill (in Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 80: 216-218. 1980) provided a very thorough investigation of the original materials for this name, illustrating most of them, and concluded by designating Herb. Burser VII (1): 79 (UPS) as lectotype. However, they were evidently unaware of Ghazanfar’s earlier choice of material in LINN as type. Aiken & McNeill identified the material on Ghazanfar’s type sheet as mixed, the two specimens to the left being M. exalbescens Fernald, and only the right specimen being M. spicatum. Restriction of the type to the latter specimen appears to be highly desirable.

Published as part of Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part M), pp. 651-689 in Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London :Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum on page 687, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.291971