Lectotypus (designated here) : LEBANON. Prov. Mount-Lebanon: Djebaïl, ruines d'Afka, VI-VII.1880, fl. & fr., Blanche 55 (G-BOIS [G00330604]! ; isolecto- : BEI!, G [G00341654]!) (Fig. 1).

Notes. — Boissier (1888) published S. astartes in the “Supplementum of the Flora Orientalis”. He wrote “S. astartes (Blanche in litt.)” before the Latin description. The mention of Blanche as the author “in litt.” by Boissier has been interpreted in different ways in the literature. Floras of Lebanon have cited only C.I. Blanche as the author of the species (sometimes with the mention “in Boiss.”; Post, 1896, 1932; Thiébaut, 1936; Mouterde, 1966; Tohmé & Tohmé, 2007), whereas Bouloumoy (1930) interpreted the authorship as “Boiss. et B.” [Boiss. & C.I. Blanche].

In the Boissier's Herbarium of the “Flora Orientalis” (G-BOIS), Blanche 55 contains a handwritten note by Blanche himself with a Latin description of the species (Fig. 1). However this description differs considerably from the protologue where Boissier published a new and more complete description by validating the name (Boissier, 1888: 102). We therefore ascribe Boissier as the author of S. astartes in accordance with Greuter et al. (1984) and not as C.I. Blanche as mentioned in the latest flora of Lebanon treatment (Tohmé & Tohmé, 2007).

Boissier (1888) clearly cited two gatherings in the protologue : “Hab. in Libano supra Djebail ad minas Afka (Bl.!)” and “ad Ain Sufar (Peyron!)”. Only Blanche 55 [G00330604] is present in G-BOIS. We found three duplicates of the Peyron collection at G and one at P. Each of them bears the locality “Ain Sufar” and are dated June 11, 1882. Two of them have the collection number 1379 mentioned [G00341656, P04987226]) and two [G00341655, G00341657] without any number. All these collections have a glandular-pubescent calyx and match fully with S. italica (L.) Pers. and not with S. astartes, which has a calyx always glabrous. Therefore, we choose Blanche 55 housed at G-BOIS as the lectotype, which is the only material present at G-BOIS and exclude the remaining syntypes from S. astartes.

Lectotypus (designated here): CYPRUS. Prov. Troödos: circa Galata, 15.VI.1880, fl. & fr., Sintenis & Rigo 768 (G-BOIS [G00330606]! ; isolecto- : G-BOIS [G00330606]!, K [K000728598, K000728599] images seen, LD [LD1403097, LD1403157] images seen, P [P05019189, P05396106]!) (Fig. 2).

Notes. — A single gathering was designated for S. galataea (Sintenis & Rigo 768) by Boissier (1888). Two sheets of this collection are housed in G-BOIS, on which two and one specimens are mounted respectively, all clearly labelled. These specimens apparently correspond to distinct individuals, although it is not clearly obvious on the first sheet. We know that Boissier's material is not always homogenous and corresponds sometimes to different species (Jeanmonod, 1985), especially in Silene L. with numerous convergences and potentially cryptic species. For this reason we prefer to fix the morphology of this species by designating a single plant as lectotype. We therefore designate the single specimen in G-BOIS mounted on the second sheet as lectotype because it is the most complete specimen and the determination bears Boissier's handwriting (Fig. 2).The two other specimens in G-BOIS are therefore considered as isolectotypes as the remaining duplicates distributed in various herbaria.

Lectotypus (designated here) : TURKEY. Prov. Phrygia: Ouchak, 15. VII.1857, fl., Balansa 1312 (G-BOIS [G00330605 fl. material]! ; isolecto- : BM [BM000578616] image seen, G [G00226582]!, JE [JE00015717] image seen, K [K000442511] image seen, MPU [MPU021862] image seen, P [P05437211, P05437212, P05437213]!,US [US00289354] image seen, W [W1889-0016866]!, Z [ZT00036389]!) (Fig. 3). Syntypus: TURKEY. Prov. Phrygia : Ouchak, 17.VIII.1857, fr., Balansa 1312 (G-BOIS [G00330605 fr. material]! ; isosyn- : G [G00226583]!, JE [JE00015716] image seen, P [P05437210]!).

Notes — A single collection was designated by Boissier (1867) in the protologue of S. splendens (Balansa 1312). This collection clearly corresponds to two gatherings, one (in flowers) collected on July 15 and a second (in fruits) on August 17 (Fig. 3). These two gatherings have been widely distributed with a single label indicating both flowering and fruiting dates. We consider that the most complete material is in flower and therefore designate the specimen mounted on the left of the first sheet at G-BOIS as the lectotype (Fig. 3). Careful studies of all material available allow separating the two gatherings in the relevant herbaria where the fruiting material is designated as remaining syntypes.