Taxonomic history

The genus Picris was first validly described by Linnaeus in 1753^[2] with the genus being accepted by a number of secondary sources including Plants of the World Online.^[16] Linnaeus initially described four species with P. hieracioides, P. echioides, P. pyrenaica and P. asplenioides.^[2] In 1913, Britton and Brown proposed P. asplenioides as the type species for the genus.^[14] Subsequently, in 1930, Hitchcock and Green alternatively proposed P. hieracioides as the type species.^[17] The Hitchcock and Green proposal was adopted by Lack in 1975 and accepted by Jarvis in 1992.^[18][19] Lack argued that Linnaeus never saw P. asplenioides which Linnaeus regarded as an obscure species and no specimen could be found in the Linnean Herbarium.^[18] For this reason Lack concluded that P. hieracioides should be designated as the type species.^[18]

In 1794, the German botanist Conrad Moench described the genus Medicusia and the species M. aspera.^[8] This genus has not been accepted and is considered a synonym of Picris. M. aspera has also been determined to be a synonym of P. rhagadioloides.^[20]

Etymology

Picris is from the Greek picros meaning 'bitter', in reference to the bitter taste of some species in the genus.^[15][14]

Species

Species^[21]