Campanula fragilis and linked names (Campanulaceae): their history, their types

The naming and typification of plants is a fundamental part of taxonomic work usually regarded as a simple examination of specimens and their printed descriptions. However, in some cases, it is a voyage in the past through the search and analysis of manuscripts, letters, notes, illustrations, and travelogues. The Italian endemic Campanula fragilis is an emblem of this recherche. From the first observations by the pre-Linnaean botanists Ray and Boccone and the evidence in the world’s oldest herbarium in Rome, passing through the destruction by fire of the herbaria of Barrelier and Cirillo up to the examination of the specimens, the correspondence, and personal library of Michele Tenore, we present in this study the intricate history of the names linked to Campanula fragilis. We proposed a complete and revised taxonomic treatment with all the known synonyms of the two currently accepted taxa, i.e., C. fragilis subsp. fragilis and subsp. cavolinii, contextually proposing 11 types, including those of the two subspecies. In addition, we discuss a very rare booklet, gathering some of the expedition reports which served as the basis for Tenore’s Prodromus.