Carex vallis-pulchrae Phil., Anales Univ.

Jiménez-Mejías, Pedro, Alegría-Olivera, J. José, Beltrán, Hamilton W., Cano, Asunción, Granda-Paucar, Arturo, Maldonado Fonkén, Mónica S., Riva-Regalado, Sebastián, Ruthsatz, Barbara & Escudero, Marcial, 2020, Chorological and nomenclatural notes on Peruvian Carex (Cyperaceae), Caldasia 42 (1), pp. 63-69 : 67

Carex vallis-pulchrae Phil., Anales Univ. Chile 93: 487. 1896.

Lectotype (designated by Wheeler 1989): CHILE, Valle Hermoso , 1872, P. Ortega s.n., ( SGO barcode 000000893, digital image!; isolectotype: SGO barcode 000000894 digital image!); syntypes: CHILE, Cordillera de Colchagua, 1888, R. A. Philippi s.n. ( K barcode 000584710 digital image!; US barcode 02141441!).

Iconography: Barros (1969: 74).

Material studied. PERU. Arequipa: Chivay , Tutin a Ram Ram, 13 Jan 1999, B . Ruthsatz 10105 (Herbarium Trier University!; LPB!, UPOS!) . Huancavelica: Huancavelica, Tucumachay , bofedal de Lachocc, 4300 m, 23 Oct 2018, J . Curasma s.n. ( MOL) . Lima: Huarochirí, San Lorenzo de Quinti , sector Huachipampa, 4633 m, 30 Mar 2018, M. S . Maldonado Fonkén s.n. ( MOL) .

Notes: Carex vallis-pulchrae is a species belonging to the taxonomically complex group known as section Aciculares . The species is disjunctly distributed in Southern Patagonia (including Tierra del Fuego), the High Andes of central Chile and Argentina, and the Central Andes

AUTHOR’S CONTRIBUTION

PJM and ME planned and coordinate this study; PJM and ME studied plant materials with additional contributions from the rest of the authors; JJAO, PJM and ME drafted the manuscript. All authors contributed to improving the final version of the manuscript.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank anonymous reviewers and associated editor for helpful comments on the manuscript; to the of Bolivia and Peru ( Wheeler 1989, Wheeler and Beck 2011). Wheeler (1989) established two varieties, i.e., var. vallis-pulchrae restricted to High Andean territories and var. barrosiana G.A.Wheeler for Patagonian populations, both distinguished by minor features of the utricles (more or less abruptly contracted into the beak vs. gradually attenuated). Remarkably, the Bolivian and Peruvian populations seem to be morphologically close to var. barrosiana (the utricle is tapered into the beak). Further studies are necessary to figure out if these Central Andean populations actually belong to var. barrosiana or if those constitute a new variety.