Nomenclatural updates in the sedge flora of western Uttar Pradesh

Establishing all plant ’ s correct identity and nomenclature is crucial in the current context. Therefore, an updated list and nomenclature status of sedges of western Uttar Pradesh, India has been provided in this article. This research paper incorporates extensive consultation of taxonomic databases, examination of type specimens and scrutiny of published works, including Ph.D. thesis, research papers, books, and floras. To ensure the accuracy of binomial nomenclature, a systematic approach is adopted, starting with the utilization of search engines to cross - verify and validate taxonomic information. This includes a rigorous examination of online databases and repositories to access up - to - date information on botanical nomenclature. This paper aims to provide accepted binomials with correct author citations of the sedges growing in western Uttar Pradesh because several names in the published literature are not accepted now. Such publications include several synonyms as accepted name, as well as mistakes in authority. A pivotal aspect of this work involves the verification of binomial identities through the examination of protologues and type specimens. Keeping this in mind, a comprehensive study for solving and updating nomenclature issues has been carried out using different databases, websites and recent publications. We updated the nomenclature of all sedges of western Uttar Pradesh included in publications after 1959. Review of literature and field studies shows that western Uttar Pradesh includes a total of 91 species belonging to 14 genera published in 18 publications. In this study, 25 names of past publications were corrected. This is the first report on updated name changes in the floristic component of western Uttar Pradesh, where 41 names of sedges have been updated. This research paper covers the accepted name, synonym, taxonomic treatment, and typification.

In this study, we have observed that there are a total of 91 sedges (Table 1) in the study area.Of these, 41 names have been changed (Table 2).In this study, the currently valid name has been given first, followed by basionym & synonym.Accepted names are given in bold.Besides, for the sake of convenience and easy reference, the names of taxa have been arranged alphabetically.Review of the literature reveals that in western Uttar Pradesh, there is no comprehensive report on sedges after 1959 and 1961, except for publication on the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh (44).In the present paper, 91 sedges have been enumerated with updated nomenclature published after 1959.Of these, 25 generic and specific epithets, along with author citations, have changed (Table 3).Such names need corrections.This study has been carried out in western Uttar Pradesh, covering ten districts (Fig. 1).

Materials and Methods
Research work and Ph.D. thesis (34,48) related to sedges were downloaded using search engines like Google Chrome and Shodhganga and the descriptions and names of all the published and unpublished taxa were studied from the journals.Several research papers published for the sedges of western Uttar Pradesh were also studied (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48).A list of the plants was prepared from the published literature.The nomenclature of all the taxa was studied with the help of POWO (https://powo.science.kew.org/),IPNI (https:// www.ipni.org/),BHL (https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/), world flora online (https://www.worldfloraonline.org/),Tropicos (https://www.tropicos.org/home)and Kew name matching service (http://namematch.science.kew.org/).Protologue of all the names and types of specimens for the same were also studied and examined.A table of accepted names for the nomenclature changes was prepared, and accepted names have been kept in place of synonyms.Type specimens and address of protologue for all the names of the sedges have been checked with the help of published literature and databases such as BHL, Tropicos, etc.

Results
In the published literature that covers ten districts of western Uttar Pradesh, one can find 18 genera and 158 species.Of the 158 species published, 57.59% (91 species) were found as accepted species name (Table 1).When the nomenclature of these published taxa was checked, it was found that most of the species names have become synonyms (Table 2).Besides synonyms, several spelling mistakes and problems related to authorities of the taxon names were also encountered.One such example can be seen in the name of Heleocharis artopurpurea Kunth, which was published chronologically (30)(31)(32) as Heleocharis artopurpurea Kunth.; however, here generic name is an orth.var.Thus, these authors repeatedly made mistakes in spelling Eleocharis as Heleocharis in their publication (Table 3).It has been observed that there is a difference in documented genera and species published year-wise.Such differences can be seen in many publications inspite of the same study area (Table 4).The accepted names of the binomials (Table 1), along with their type address are given below:

Link:
https://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/chg/adetail.php?id=599444&base=img&lang=en Type: Holotype: Senegal, s.a., Roussilon s.n.(P.Lamarck 673/14; n.v.) designated by Marhold et al., 2006 (57).(2).Review of the literature reveals that Cyperaceae include 14 genera in western Uttar Pradesh, with Cyperus as the largest genus.The status of different genera is given below (Fig. 2).The sedges diversity is more or less different in all the parts of the study area.Meerut region has the highest sedges diversity while Ghaziabad has the lowest.District-wise decreasing order of sedges diversity is as follows: Meerut > Pilibhit > Saharanpur > Gautam Budh Nagar > Baghpat > Rampur > Muzaffarnagar > Bijnor > Moradabad > Ghaziabad.Based on the above study, we can say that all the species of sedges have unequal distribution in all the districts.

Conclusion
Taxonomic name changes due to modern molecular phylogenetics have resulted in a state of confusion among plant growers, gardeners, designers, consumers, land managers, ecologists, conservationists, home decorators, and students.Plant producers feel panic due to name changes.Such professionals remain in fear that the consumer will no longer recognize the name and consumer will not purchase the plant, due to which there are chances of a reduction of the market value of such plants.Name-changing is also a problem for those who write books on plant gardening.Name-changing also affects phytochemical, toxicological & clinical publications.During the last few years, a large amount of literature has been published.This literature includes errors in binomials and their authority.Many of the published literature related to phytochemicals mentions the name of the taxon without authority.Such publications create confusion among students, research scholars & teachers.Authors have observed a concerning trend among research scholars who submit their research work or Ph.D. thesis without verifying the accepted names, instead accepting synonyms as the accepted name.From a scientific perspective, this poses a significant issue, as future generations may inadvertently rely on inaccuracies in the accumulated information as references for their own work.In western Uttar Pradesh, there is no comprehensive report on sedges except a few deeds.Keeping this all in mind, a comprehensive study for solving and updating nomenclature issues has been carried out.We updated the nomenclature of all the publications on sedges of western Uttar Pradesh published after 1959.During this study, we reported that several names mentioned in the published literature are not accepted.Such publications include synonyms as accepted names, as well as errors in authority.According to our findings, there are 14 genera and 91 species rather than 18 genera and 158 species in the study area.This is because of the 158 species published from 1959-2020, 51 names have become synonyms.Of the above-mentioned 25 names, 06 names have errors in binomials, and 17 names have spelling mistakes in authority.One binomial was found to be invalid.Besides, the names that have now become synonyms are given here with type, protologue address, and accepted names.We could not locate the type of 09 names (

Table 1 .
Sedges diversity of western Uttar Pradesh.

Table .
Changes in the binomials of sedges flora of western Uttar Pradesh.

Table 3 .
Error in the binomials of sedges flora of western Uttar Pradesh.

Table 4 .
Publication details from the study area.