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To support the work of the Global Conservation Consortium for Erica and update the Erica checklist in the World Flora Online (WFO), we have curated the taxonomic backbone in the WFO by expanding it to include updated nomenclatural information from the International Plant Name Index, missing names present in the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), the Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA), and from the "International register of heather names" database, a data source not readily available online. The result is the most robust database of Erica names to date, including 851 species, 111 subspecies, 244 varieties, and 2787 synonyms, which is a reliable reference for initiatives such as the Erica identification aid, conservation prioritisation, and gap analyses. We disambiguate common orthographic variants within the database and present an overview of these. We also comment on the correct orthography of E. heleophila Guthrie & Bolus and E. michellensis Dulfer and the validity of E. tegetiformis E.G.H.Oliv. are discussed, and the use of E. adunca Benth. for a South African species rather than E. triceps Link, which is here regarded as insufficiently known and of uncertain application, is clarified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Michael Francis Moloney (Micheál Proinnsias Ó Máoldhomhnaigh) (1888–1934) qualified as a physician and established his practice in Dungarvan, County Waterford, where he also served as Coroner. In 1919, his book Luibh-sheanchus, maille le gearr-chunntas ar shaothar lucht leighis i n-Éirinn: Irish ethno-botany and the evolution of medicine in Ireland was published in Dublin. Luibh-sheanchus is notable being one of the earliest books to employ the term 'ethnobotany'. It contained more than 950 Irish vernacular names for plants, representing about 525 different species of flowering plants, ferns and marine algae. For about one third of the species Moloney also provided brief notes about folk uses, mainly in treating illnesses but also for dyeing and in food. Moloney's sources are discussed but few can be fully elucidated as he made no direct acknowledgements but the Irish names probably were mainly those in use in the Gaeltacht na nDéise, an Irish-speaking area in County Waterford. Published during a period of violence and turmoil in Ireland, the author, who was bilingual in Irish and English, supported the Irish Republican cause and was locally noteworthy for being arrested and imprisoned in November 1920 in the aftermath of 'Bloody Sunday' when British troops shot and killed twelve people in Dublin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In support of ongoing taxonomic work on the large and complex flowering plant genus Erica (Ericaceae), we document nineteen pairs of homonyms representing currently used illegitimate names. We provide replacements for thirteen names and new typifications for five. We relegate five names to synonymy: Erica aemula Guthrie & Bolus under Erica distorta Bartl.; Erica armata Klotzsch ex Benth. under Erica umbrosa H. A. Baker; Erica capensis T.M. Salter under Erica turbiniflora Salisb.; Erica lanata Andrews under Erica flaccida Link; and Erica tomentosa Salisb. under Erica velutina Bartl. Finally, we suggest conservation of Erica aristata Andrews. The new names are: Erica adelopetala E.C. Nelson & E.G.H. Oliv. replacing Erica insignis E.G.H. Oliv.; Erica bombycina E.C. Nelson & Pirie replacing Erica niveniana E.G.H. Oliv.; Erica concordia E.C. Nelson & E.G.H. Oliv. replacing Erica constantia Nois. ex Benth.; Erica didymocarpa E.C. Nelson & E.G.H. Oliv. replacing Erica rugata E.G.H. Oliv.; Erica galantha E.C. Nelson & E.G.H. Oliv. replacing Erica perlata Benth.; Erica mallotocalyx E.C. Nelson & E.G.H. Oliv. replacing Erica flocciflora Benth.; Erica notoporina E.C. Nelson & E.G.H. Oliv. replacing E. autumnalis L.Bolus; Erica oliveranthus E.C. Nelson & Pirie replacing Erica tenuis Salisb.; Erica oraria E.C. Nelson & E.G.H. Oliv. replacing Erica spectabilis Klotzsch ex Benth.; Erica oresbia E.C. Nelson & E.G.H. Oliv. replacing Erica demissa Klotzsch ex Benth.; Erica poculiflora E.C. Nelson & E.G.H. Oliv. replacing Erica stenantha Klotzsch ex Benth.; Erica rhodella E.C. Nelson & E.G.H. Oliv. replacing Erica rhodantha Guthrie & Bolus; Erica supranubia E.C. Nelson & Pirie replacing Erica praecox Klotzsch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]