Bauhinia holophylla ( Bongard 1838: 121 ) Steudel (1840: 191)

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 : 155-156

7. Bauhinia holophylla ( Bongard 1838: 121) Steudel (1840: 191)

= Pauletia holophylla Bongard (1838: 121)

Type:— Brazil. Mato Grosso do Sul: Camapuã [“Hab. in sylvis siccis Serrado dictis prope Camapuã”], November 1826, L. Riedel s.n. (lectotype designated here: LE00002271 photograph!; isolectotypes: G, OXF) .

Shrubs, ca. 2 m tall. Branches unarmed, extrafloral nectaries present. Stipules caducous, not observed. Leaves unifoliolate, petiole ca. 2.3 × 0.2 cm; leaf blade ca. 19 × 10.2 cm, entire, base obtuse, apex acute, leaflets ovate. Inflorescence terminal, peduncle ca. 1.5 cm long; rachis ca. 7.5 cm long, floral bracts ovate, 0.1 cm long. Flowers ca. 14 per inflorescence; pedicel ca. 1.0 cm long; developed floral bud ca. 4.0 cm long, striated, tubular; hypanthium ca. 0.8 cm long, internally glabrous; sepals ca. 3.7 cm long; petals ca. 3.0 × 0.1 cm, clawed, linear, apex acuminate; fertile stamens 10, heteromorphic, filaments 1.2–2.0 cm long; gynoecium, stipe ca. 1.5 cm long, ovary ca. 1.0 cm long, tomentose, style 1.5 cm long, stigma clavate. Fruits not observed.

Examined material: — Brazil. Mato Grosso: rodovia Cuiabá–Chapada dos Guimarães, às margens do Rio do Peixes, 23 March 1982, (bd.), J. R. B. Monteiro 21 & H. F. Leitão Filho ( UFMT).

Distribution: This species is endemic to Brazil, occurring in the North (RO), Central-West (DF, GO, MS and MT), Southeast (MG and SP) and South (PR) regions ( Vaz & Santos 2023). The species is restricted to the Cerrado ( Vaz & Santos 2023) and in the study area it is found in ciliary forest.

Taxonomic comments: The species belongs to Bauhinia sect. Pauletia ser. Cansenia . This species is characterized by the entire ovate leaves, with acute apex, tubular and striate floral bud and ovate floral bracts. According to Vaz & Tozzi (2003a), B. holophylla belongs to the B. longifolia complex, which contains five species that share the same type of petal (linear with acuminate apex), costate or striate floral bud, and glabrous hypanthium and stamen tube.

Bongard (1838) described Pauletia holophylla based in a material from Mato Grosso, Brazil, but the original publication does not mention where the type specimens were deposited. Vaz (2011) cites three specimens belonging to the collection Riedel s.n. at LE, OXF and G, confirming only the last two, but without designating a lectotype. According to Stafleu & Cowan (1976, 1983), Riedel’s original collections are deposited at LE. We analyzed and selected as lectotype the specimen LE00002271, here designating it.