Urochloa ramosa

Oulo, M., Zon, A. P. M. van der & Sosef, M. S. M., 2023, New combinations in and typification of tropical African species of Urochloa (incl. Brachiaria) (Poaceae), Blumea 68 (2), pp. 73-84 : 80

Urochloa ramosa (L.) T.Q.Nguyen

Urochloa ramosa (L.) T.Q. Nguyen (1966) 13. — Panicum ramosum L. (1767) 29. — Brachiaria ramosa (L.) Stapf (1919) 542. — Echinochloa ramosa (L.) Roberty (1954) 398. — Lectotype (designated by Cope 1982: 207): Anonymous s.n. (lecto LINN [LINN 80.44]), India, cult. at Uppsala.

Panicum arvense Kunth (1831) t. 109. — Lectotype (designated here): Lelièvre s.n. (lecto B [B 10 0366167]), Senegal, Richard-Tol, 1829.

Panicum brachylachnum Steud. (1853) 62. — Lectotype (designated by Clayton & Renvoize 1982:600): Leprieur s.n. (lecto P [P00731431];isolecto K [K000282188]), Senegal, 1830.

Panicum ozogonum Steud.(1853) 68. — Lectotype (designated here): Leprieur s.n. (lecto P [P00731448]; isolecto K [K000282187]), Senegal, 1830.

Panicum cognatissimum Steud. (1853) 69. — Lectotype (chosen by Clayton & Renvoize 1982:600): Leprieur s.n. (lecto P [P00731463]), Senegal,1830.

Panicum breviradiatum Hochst. (1855) 195. — Type: Schimper 1513 (holo STR [ STR031525 ];iso P [P00442094,P00442095]), Abyssinica [ Ethiopia], Dscha-Dscha, 22 Aug. 1853.

Panicum nidulans Mez (1904) 136. — Lectotype (designated here): Schweinfurth 1171 (lecto G [G00002374]; isolecto K [K000282111], US (fragm.) [ US 00139796]), Nubia (= Sudan), Ssoturba Mts., 5 Mar. 1865.

Panicum petiveri Trin. var. puberulum Chiov. (1908) 302. — Lectotype (designated here): Pappi 4006 (lecto FT [ FT000220 ]; iso K [K000282213], US [ US 00811043]),Eritrea,Amasen, pianura di Sabarguma, 2–10 Mar. 1902.

Panicum pallidum Peter (1928) 45. — Type: Peter 12274 (B, lost), Tanzania, Pare District, Makanya; lectotype (designated here, drawing):Taf.VIII-3a-h in Peter (1929).

Brachiaria multispiculata H. Scholz (1982) 287. — Type: M.Kappel s.n. (holo B [B100168263]), Sudan,Kordofan,Kawahla, Gerih el Sarha, 13Aug.1981.

Distribution — Native to the dryer parts of tropical Africa, from Senegal east to Egypt and Sudan, and from Ethiopia south to Mozambique and South Africa, absent from Central Africa, extending to Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula and southern Asia to the Malesian region; introduced in Peru, the south-eastern part of the United States and Australia.

Nomenclatural notes — The protologue of Panicum arvense cites material collected by Lelièvre around Richard-Tol (in Hb. Kunth) and of Leprieur , both from Senegal. Material of the second could not be found, but B holds a sheet of the first exactly matching the protologue and hence it was selected as the lectotype.

The protologue of Panicum nidulans cites two specimens: Schweinfurth 1171 from the Ssoturba Mts. near the Red Sea , and Ehrenberg s.n. from an unknown locality. Material from the first is present in G, K and US, while at B there is an Ehrenberg specimen from Abyssinica that seems to match the protologue. Because of the slight doubt about the second specimen (why did Mez explicitly state it was without a locality indication?) and the fact that the Schweinfurth specimen at G carries an identification label from Mez, we prefer to select that material as the lectotype. It also has several duplicates in contrast to the Ehrenberg material .

The species Panicum pallidum was described by Peter (1928) in the key to a group of Panicum species, without referring to any material or locality. One year later, Peter (1929) provided information of the single specimen, Peter 12274, with locality data (see above), which would logically serve as the type, but which was destroyed at B during the WWII fire. The 1929 publication is accompanied by a drawing which can only have been drawn after the type material and hence belongs to the original material following the ICN (Art. 9.4; Turland et al. 2018). It shows sufficient detail to be able to identify the species, and hence we selected it as the lectotype.