Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2020 May 29

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May 29

Looking for a source for Cotyledon tomentosa synonym

Hi, I am working on expanding Cotyledon tomentosa, and I am having trouble finding a source for an obscure taxonomic synonym. The SANBI website [1] lists that Cotyledon ladismithensis Boom may be a synonym for C. tomentosa subsp. tomentosa, but I haven't been able to track down this particular taxonomy, especially since the same name was used by Poelln. and is now a synonym for C. tomentosa subsp. ladismithensis. Here, Boom refers to Boudewijn Karel Boom, so I looked through the worldcat list of publications and narrowed my search to two works,

• An article: Boom, B. K. Notes on nomenclature for succulent plants. (In Dutch.) Succulenta 11:141-145. Nov. 1959.
• A book: Notities over succulenten [2]

The first article I was able to find in an archive here: [3] and even though I cannot read Dutch, this article does not mention C. tomentosa at all. So I'm assuming that the original SANBI Red List listing is referring to the book, but I have not been able to find this book anywhere online. In addition, I haven't been able to find any secondary sources listing C. ladismithensis Boom as a synonym for C. tomentosa. Any assistance in finding either the book or a secondary source listing Boom as a synonym would be greatly appreciated! Sn1per (talk) 05:23, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Another possible book: [4] mentions "The fourth and last part [of the books Flora Der Cultuurgewassen Van Nederland] will deal with the assortment of succulent plants grown in special collections" but I can't find any evidence of this part actually existing. Sn1per (talk) 05:40, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

I have found the original source! So the worldcat entry for the book gave the crucial insight that the book is actually "Articles reprinted from Succulenta, 1957-1958." And since I found the Succulenta archive, I searched the 1957 and 1958 archives and found the article. Indeed, it is "Codyledon ladysmitiensis Poellnitz" by B. K. Boom, in Succulenta 1958, issue 2, and the description of the article is much closer to subsp. cotyledon than subsp. ladysmithiensis. Cheers, Sn1per (talk) 15:15, 29 May 2020 (UTC)