Bauhinia bauhinioides ( Martius 1828: 555 ) Macbride (1919: 22)

Amorim, Daniele Dos Santos De & Pessoa, Edlley, 2025, Bauhinia s. s. (Fabaceae-Cercidoideae) from Baixada Cuiabana, Mato Grosso, Brazil: a neglected center of diversity for the genus, Phytotaxa 681 (2), pp. 146-166 : 150-151

1. Bauhinia bauhinioides ( Martius 1828: 555) Macbride (1919: 22)

= Perlebia bauhinioides Martius (1828: 555)

Type:— Brazil. Minas Gerais: Alagadisso, Rio San Francisco, August , Martius 1284 (lectotype designated here: M0174069 ; isolectotype: M0174070 photograph!) .

Shrubs, ca. 3 m tall. Branches armed, extrafloral nectaries absent. Stipules persistent, triangular. Leaves bifoliolate; petiole 1.5–3.0 × 0.1–0.2 cm; blade 3.9–7.0 × 2.2 cm, base cordate, apex obtuse, leaflets ovate. Inflorescence terminal, peduncle 2.8–4.0 long; rachis ca. 12.5 cm long, floral bracts absent. Flowers ca. 16 per inflorescence; pedicel 1.3–4.5 cm long; developed floral bud 6.5–8.2 cm long, smooth, clavate; hypanthium 0.5–3.0 cm long, internally glabrous; sepals 1.2–6.3 cm long; petals ca. 1.2 × 0.1 cm, clawed, linear, apex acute; fertile stamens 5, homomorphic, 5 stamens with infertile anthers, fertile stamen filaments 0.7–5.6 cm long; gynoecium not observed. Fruits 9.0–10 × 0.9–1.2 cm.

Examined material: — Brazil. Mato Grosso: Poconé, Transpantaneira higway approx. at km 85: Fazenda Nova Berlim, 16°56’S, 56°54’W, 13 December 1991, (bd., fl., fr.) M. Schessl 85 ( NY, UFMT)

Distribution: The species is distributed in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Venezuela ( POWO 2023). In Brazil, its occurrence is confirmed in the Northeast (BA, MA and PI), Central-West (MS and MT) and Southeast (MG and SP) regions ( Vaz & Santos 2023). It is found in the Caatinga and Pantanal domains ( Vaz & Santos 2023), inhabiting areas prone to seasonal flooding.

Taxonomic comments: This species belongs to Bauhinia sect. Pauletia ser. Perlebia . It is distinguished by its bifoliolate leaves, with triangular stipules with acute apex, clavate floral bud and petals with indument all over, including the claw. We infrequently found specimens with unifoliolate bilobed leaves among the examined material.

Martius (1828) described Perlebia bauhinioides based on one specimen from Minas Gerais, Brazil. The original publication does not mention where the type specimens were deposited, but most of Martius’s collections are currently at M ( Stafleu 1976). Fortunato (1986) indicated the presence of two samples in this herbarium, numbered 1284 and 1285, and called them syntypes. We analyzed these samples, M0174070 and M0174069, and concluded the latter is more complete and better represents the taxon, being therefore selected and here designated as lectotype.