The demise of the name Astragalus tenellus Pursh ( Fabaceae )

Rupert Barneby (1964) expressed “doubts of the legality” in adopting “ Astragalus tenellus Pursh” (1813) over A . multiflorus (Pursh) A. Gray (1864). His concern was justified since Pursh invalidated his own name when he simultaneously published Ervum multiflorum (the basionym of A . multiflorus ) on a different page in the same work and cited “ A . tenellus ” in synonymy. By the time Astragalus tenellus Pursh ex E. Sheld. (1894) was validly published, it was a later homonym as well as superfluous. Given the status of A . tenellus Bunge (1869), the name of an Old World species in current use, conservation of A . tenellus Pursh ex E. Sheld. is unlikely, and we recommend adoption of A . multiflorus for the North American plant.