‘Taliev’s Tulip’ in Kazakhstan: History of Names and Taxonomic Interpretation

In the botanical literature of the former USSR, the name “Taliev’s tulip” became attached to whiteflowered tulips from Kazakhstan, although it conflated two independent nomenclatural histories. This paper reconstructs the sequence of use of Tulipa talievii Vved. and T. talijevii Klokov & Zoz and separates the history of the names from the taxonomic interpretation of the plants concerned. Primary and reference works published between 1935 and 1987, IPNI and POWO records, recent regional revisions, and cytometric and phylogenomic evidence were compared. Vvedensky mentioned T. talievii only as a name he had considered for a northern race of T. buhseana and did not accept a separate taxon under that name; no valid publication has been located in the sources examined. T. talijevii Klokov & Zoz was independently published pro synonymo in the East European T. biebersteiniana–T. sylvestris complex. The association of T. talievii with Kazakhstan plants was consolidated mainly through later literature, beginning with Botschantzeva. Morphological and molecular evidence does not support recognition of “Taliev’s tulip” as a distinct taxon. The name is best retained informally for a Kazakhstan morphotype of T. buhseana within the T. biflora s.l. complex.

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