Schriften zu Genetischen Ressourcen - Genres

K. PISTRICK
Solid information for the 3 rd Mansfeld edition has been provided by recent taxonomic
revisions of germplasm collections at Gatersleben, such as those of Brassica L. by
GLADIS and HAMMER (1992) or Coriandrum L. by DIEDERICHSEN (1996). During her
recent analysis of morphological and chemical characters of the genus Ocimum L.,
Sabine Eckelmann found a rather isolated position for O. basilicum ssp. minimum (L.)
Danert in Mansf. This taxon had been combined as a subspecies of Ocimum
basilicum L. by Danert in the 1 st edition and its position needs further investigation by
comparison with all closely related taxa, such as the botanical varieties of Ocimum
basilicum L. ssp. basilicum and Ocimum americanum L. ssp. americanum.
The paragraph on the genus Ocimum in the “Vorläufiges Verzeichnis” (Mansfeld’s
draft catalogue) is a good example of the more detailed presentations down to the
infraspecific level generally provided in the first edition of Mansfeld’s Encyclopedia.
This can be explained by a closer look at the conception of the original encyclopedia.
Following his “Verzeichnis der Farn- und Blütenpflanzen des Deutschen Reiches”
(MANSFELD 1940), Mansfeld prepared a list of cultivated plants as early as 1943, but
the manuscript was destroyed during the war. In Gatersleben, he initially intended to
write a comprehensive flora of cultivated plants with descriptions of all important
infraspecific taxa. This plan was changed pragmatically, taking into account the large
number of species and the limited Gatersleben staff resources. That this was a wise
decision is obvious from the recent edition of Mansfeld’s Encyclopedia, which is still
considered as a short version in spite of consisting of six volumes, or from the
amount of information on the now eight Ocimum species.
Nevertheless, practical solutions in infraspecific plant taxonomy have been a major
goal for research in Mansfeld’s tradition (HAMMER 1981). In the genus Raphanus for
instance, one taxon produces long edible fruits: this commodity group has been
classified as Raphanus sativus L. convar. caudatus (L. fil.) Pistrick. Those taxa used
as vegetables for their thickened roots and tubers have been named convar. sativus
(PISTRICK 1987). Further infraspecific classification based on different colour
characters may be difficult within genebank management, particularly for allogamous
taxa, such as a radish accession from Maramures (Romania), displaying the whole
spectrum of secondary rind coloration of taproots and tubers. For infraspecific
grouping, the taxonomic category “convarietas” (convar.) has proved to be suitable in
species of cultivated plants. It has been used for a long time by the Gatersleben
school, e.g. by Igor GREBENŠCIKOV (1949) in Zea mays L. or by Rudolf MANSFELD
(1950) in Hordeum vulgare L., and cannot be replaced by the category “cultivargroup”
proposed by the “Cultivated Plant Code” (TREHANE et al. 1995) for
“assemblages of two or more similar, named cultivars”, because the convariety is
also applicable for land-races or primitive forms, which cannot be classified into
cultivar-groups.
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