Ficus subtriplinervia Martius.

Mitidieri-Rivera, Nicole, Damián-Parizaca, Alexander, Gardner, Elliot M., Plata-Castro, Angelo D., Zerega, Nyree J. C. & Pederneiras, Leandro C., 2025, A Nomenclator of Ficus sect. Americanae (Moraceae). Part I: South America, Phytotaxa 711 (3), pp. 215-262 : 242

238. Ficus subtriplinervia Martius. Flora 24 (Beibl. 2): 67. 1841. ≡ Urostigma subtriplinervium (Mart.) Miquel. London J. Bot. 6: 542. 1847. ≡ Ficus prinoides var. subtriplinervia (Mart.) Kuntze. Revis. Gen. Pl. 3(3): 294. 1898. TYPE:— BRAZIL. s.l., s.d., K. F. P. von Martius s.n. in Herb. Fl. Bras. No. 584 (lectotype, designated by Berg & DeWolf [1975: 258]: M–0275045 [digital image!]). Remaining syntypes: Cuiabá, A.L. P. da Silva Manso 73 in Herb. Fl. Bras. No. 584 (B–100347089!, BR–0000005228423 [digital image!], BR–0000005228454 [digital image!], F–0360549F!, G–00438334 [digital image!], K–000442940!, LE–00006617 [digital image!], LE–00006618 [digital image!], NY–00025340!, P–00756575!, U–0004674 [digital image!]); Formigas, K. F. P. von Martius s.n. (M–0275022 [digital image!]).

Nomenclatural notes:— K.F.P. von Martius (1841) described this taxon based on syntypes collected from Cuiabá (Matto Grosso) and Formigas (Minas Gerais). Berg & DeWolf (1975) first suggested “ Martius 179 (“not the specimen photographed by Macbride”)” in M as the type, while. Berg & Villavicencio (2004) indicated Martius 584 in M as the holotype. This discrepancy in collection numbers likely arises from the way Martius enumerated several new species published in the journal Flora under “ Herbarium Florae Brasiliensis ”. Specifically, Ficus subtriplinervia was listed as species #584. In contrast, “ Martius 179 ” does not refer to a collection number but rather a tag later appended by a curator at M who numbered the specimens in Martius’ herbarium (Hajo Esser, pers. comm.). The reference to this tag number confirms that Berg and DeWolf (1975) intended sheet M0275045 to serve as the lectotype.

Three sheets housed at M can be regarded as original material. On of these, designated as the lectotype, bears the curator’s tag number 179, although the label accompanying this specimen lacks any locality information. Consequently, it is not possible to definitively associate this specimen with Formigas (Minas Gerais), particularly since a second sheet (M0275023) explicitly identifies Pará as the collection locality. Only the third sheet (M0275022) lists Formigas (Minas Gerais) as the provenance of the specimen.

Many of the species described by Martius were based on collections made by himself and other botanists between 1830 and 1840. This material was later distributed to several European herbaria, typically accompanied by printed labels bearing the inscription “ Martii Herbar Florae Brasil Nº. ” ( De Moraes et al. 2013). The original material prepared for the “ Herbarium Florae Brasiliensis ” was preserved in Martius’s private herbarium, initially held at Botanische Staatssammlung München (M) and later transferred to the Meise Botanic Garden (BR) in 1870. Meanwhile, collections made personally by Martius remained at M. Specimens housed at BR often include information about the collectors who provided material to Martius (Hind 2022).

In the specific case of F. subtriplinervia , the syntype collected from Cuiabá was gathered by António Luiz Patrício da Silva Manso, a Brazilian botanist based in Mato Grosso, who sent numerous specimens to Martius between 1830 and 1833 ( Falcade 2013). The sheets housed in BR represent this syntype and include label data consistent with the protologue. For examples, Martius noted that the specimen was collected in the forests of Cuiabá in September and described key morphological features, such as “receptaculis globos.” (= receptaculis globosis) and “fol. oval.” (= “foliis... ovato-lanceolatis”).