A misrepresentation through a misleading diagnosis in Winberg’s Florula Javanica

Spiranthes sinensis (Pers.) Ames, also known under the synonym S. australis (R. Br.) Lindl., is a terrestrial orchid widely spread in Asia, which is rather well known in Western Europe, because it has repeatedly been found growing spontaneously in pots in orchidhouses. In Blumea 6(2): 361 (1950) the plant described as Ophrys lancea Thunb. ex Sw. was considered to be identical with the first and it was thought that the recombination Spiranthes lancea (Thunb. ex Sw.) B. B. S. was necessary. The reasons given for this transfer were: (1) the short diagnosis of Ophrys lancea given by Winberg in Florula Javanica, p. 8 (1825); (2) the original diagnosis of O. lancea in Swartz’s well-known dissertation on the classification of orchids in Kongl. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. 21: 223 (1800); (3) the presence of the apparent holotype in the Thunberg herbarium (Uppsala).