426 
Telopea 9(2): 2001 
Dan Nicolson (US, pers. comm.) suggested, "Linnaeus did not view species as being 
composed of nothing but varieties alpha onward but what we would call "typical" he 
did not number. To this element he attached what he numbered (in Greek) what we 
call varieties that he sometimes named. I do not know why he did not number the 
alpha attachment but it, like the beta, gamma, delta, etc. varieties are not "typical" in 
the modern sense ... I note that Pyrus Malus, surely the cultivated taxon, would not 
have been called "sylvestris" (the forest or wild apple). By the same token, the 
preceding species involving the cultivated pear, Pyrus communis, surely should not be 
typified on an element Bauhin called Pyrus sylvestris and Linnaeus called [var.] pyraster 
(false pear)". 
We agree: in this interpretation, var. sylvestris is therefore not a superfluous renaming 
of the 'typical' variety and can continue to be used for the native apple of Europe - as 
Malus sylvestris (L.) Mill. If the contrary view is taken, M. sylvestris Mill, is a new name 
for Pyrus malus L., i.e. it would be a contender for the name for the cultivated orchard 
apple, as used long ago by, e.g. Moench (1794), though perhaps he was then referring 
to apples in the wild that were derived from orchard apples. In this case, the European 
plant would have to bear a different name: this is not in the interests of nomenclatural 
stability. The synonymy for the native European tree is therefore: 
Malus sylvestris (L.) Mill., Gard. Diet. Ed. 8: Malus n. 1 (1768). 
Type: see above. 
= Pyrus malus L. var. sylvestris L., Sp. PL: 479 (1753). 
= M. communis Desf. var. sylvestris (L.) Desf., Hist. Arb. 2: 140 (1809), nom. illeg. 
Europe to C Asia. This is a rare and rather invariable species armed with spines. 
The name of orchard apples 
In publishing Malus pumila, Miller (1768) cited as a synonym M. purnila quae potius 
frutex quam arbor Bauhin (1623: 433) and referred to the his plant as "Paradise Apple". 
This synonym is shared with Pyrus malus var. paradisiaca L. Although Miller did not 
explicitly cite Linnaeus's name, he "applied Linnaeus's method entirely" in the eighth 
edition of The gardeners dictionary (Miller 1768). Under the ICBN (Greuter et al., 2000), 
Arts 32. 1(c), 32. 3,32.4 and 32 Ex. 7, in citing the Bauhin polynomial and linking it to 
the Paradise Apple, Miller provided an indirect but clear reference to P. malus var. 
paradisiaca. We therefore accept M. pumila as a nomen novum for P. malus var. paradisiaca, 
with which it is therefore homotypic. Malus pumila is, in consequence, the correct 
binomial, in Malus, for the orchard apple and its wild antecedents. Commonly used 
names and the Linnaean names discussed above are included in the synonymy below 
(* = additions to Index Kewensis and other lists): 
Malus pumila Mill., Gard. Diet. ed. 8: Malus n. 3 (1768); Rehder, Bibl. Cult. Trees 
Shrubs: 267 (1949). 
Type: as for Pyrus malus var. paradisiaca (see above). 
= P. malus L. var. paradisiaca L., Sp. PL: 479 (1753). 
= M. paradisiaca (L.) Medik., Gesch. Bot.: 78 (1793), nom. superfl. 
= M. communis Desf. var. paradisiaca (L.) Desf., Hist. Arb. 2: 140 (1809), nom. illeg. 
= P. pumila (Mill.) Mill, ex Steud., Nomencl. Bot.: 670 (1821). 
[= P. paradisiaca (L.) Steud., l.c., nom. in synon.] 
-AL paradisiaca (L.) Medik. var. pumila (Mill.) Koehne, Deut. Dendr.: 259 (1893), nom. illeg. 
s M. pumila Mill. var. paradisiaca (L.) C.K. Schneid., Ill. Handb. Laubh. 1: 715 (1906). 
