| The somewhat peculiar genus Vahlia Thunb. (1782) was formerly regarded as an anomalous member of the Saxifragaceae, but in 1959 it was segregated as the monotypic family Vahliaceae by Dandy (in Hutchinson, Fam. Fl. Pl. ed. 2, 1: 461). The genus includes about three species, all of them highly variable in stature, flower size, and indumentum; this has resulted in the description of more than twenty “species”, whose names now appear in synonymy. This note, however, is chiefly concerned with the generic name, since it appears that Vahlia Thunb. is not correct under the Code and must be replaced by Bistella Adans. (1763). In the synonymy under the new combinations, all the relevant names so far traced are included, but it may well be that an experimental... |
