Aralia castanopsicola, synonymPentapanax castanopsicola, is a species of plant in the family Araliaceae. It is endemic to Taiwan.[1] It is threatened by habitat loss.[2] The specific epithet is spelt in various ways, including castanopsidicola.
Taxonomy
The species was first described by Bunzō Hayata in 1915 in the genus Pentapanax.[3] The epithet has been spelt in various ways. Hayata spelt it castanopsisicola, writing that it grew on the trunks of Castanopsis.[4] The element -cola means 'dweller',[5] so the epithet can be analysed as castanopsis-i-cola. Article 60.10 of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants requires such a construction to use the stem of the genitive of first element rather than the whole word before adding -icola.[6] Accordingly, the International Plant Names Index and Plants of the World Online have corrected Hayata's spelling to castanopsicola,[3][7] which uses the construction castanops-i-cola. In botanical tradition, the genitive ending of words ending -opsis has often been -opsidis[8] (rather than the classically correct -opseos[9]), so an alternative correction to Hayata's spelling is castanopsidicola, as used in the Flora of China for example.[10]
In 1993, Jun Wen transferred Pentapanax castanopsicola to Aralia on the basis of molecular phylogenetic evidence. Multiple studies since have confirmed that Pentapanax is nested within Aralia.[11]
^Hayata, Bunzō (1915). "Pentapanax castanopsisicola Hayata". Icones plantarum formosanarum (in Latin and English). Vol. 5. Shokusankyoku, Taiwan: Taihoku Bureau of Productive Industry. pp. 74–76. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
^Stearn, W.T. (2004). Botanical Latin (4th (p/b) ed.). Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. p. 387. ISBN978-0-7153-1643-6.
