Heliotropium aequoreum, a new name for Heliotropium applanatum Craven, Nom. Illeg. (Boraginaceae)

In 1996, the present author described a new northern Australian species of Heliotropium, giving it the name H. applanatum (Craven 1996), unaware that the same specific epithet had been used in 1991 by M. Thulin and B. Verdcou rt for a new species of the genus from east Africa (Thulin and Verdcourt 19 91). The name H. applanatum Craven therefore is illegitimate under the Inte rnational Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Greuter et al. 1994) and a new na me, H. aequoreum Craven, is provided for the plant in question. The new epi thet is derived from the Latin aequor, an even, level surface, and refers t o the appressed, even hairs that, inter alia, distinguish the species from its close relative, H. ballii Domin (Craven 1996).