Callianthe sylvatica (Cav.) Dorr

Dorr, Laurence J., 2025, The native species of Callianthe (Malvaceae, Malvoideae) in northern South America (Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas and adjacent Brazil), PhytoKeys 260, pp. 75-95 : 75-95

5. Callianthe sylvatica (Cav.) Dorr , in Jørgensen et al., Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 127: 1272. 2014.

Sida sylvatica Cav. , Diss. 2: 56. 1786 (“ Sylvatica ”); Diss. 5: 276, t. 133, fig. 2. 1788. Type: Peru. “ in sylvis prope flumen Maragnon, ” s. d. (fl), J. Dombey s. n. (holotype: MA [MA- 656281 as image!]).

Abutilon geminiflorum Kunth , in H. B. K., Nov. Gen. Sp. Pl. [qu. ed.] 5: 274, t. 474. 1822 [“ 1821 ”]; Ibid. [fol. ed.] 5: 213, t. 474. 1822 [“ 1821 ”]. Type: Venezuela. Caracas, [Jan-May / Jun 1800] (fl, fr), F. W. H. A. Humboldt & A. J. A. Bonpland 1132 [“ Bonpl . mss. n. 1132 ”] (lectotype, here designated: P [ P 00679726 as image!]; isotype: B [ B-W 12680-01 0 (= F neg. no. 9795) as image!]) .

Sida geminiflora (Kunth) DC. , Prodr. 1: 470. 1824. Type: Based on Abutilon geminiflorum Kunth.

Abutilon dianthum C. Presl , Reliq. Haenk. 2 (2): 114. 1835. Type: Peru. in montibus huanoccensibus Peruviae , s. d. (fl), T. Haenke s. n. (second step lectotype, here designated: PR [sheet no. 612209 as image!]; isolectotypes: HAL [ HAL 0118315 as image!], M [ M- 0211073 as image!], PR [sheet no. 612210 as image!], W [sheet no. W 0032650 (= F neg. no. 32630) as image!]) .

Abutilon sylvaticum (Cav.) C. Presl , Reliq. Haenk. 2 (2): 114. 1835 (“ sylvatico ”). Type: Based on Sida sylvatica Cav.

Sida diantha (C. Presl) D. Dietr. , Syn. Pl. 4: 856. 1847. Type: Based on Abutilon dianthum C. Presl.

Abutilon sylvaticum (Cav.) K. Schum., in Martius, Fl. Bras. 12 (3): 418. 1891 (“ silvaticum ”), isonym. Type: Based on Sida sylvatica Cav.

Abutilon laxum Rusby , Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 7: 296. 1927. Type: Bolivia. Rio Bopi Valley , 3000 ft elev., 11 Sep 1921 (fl, fr), H. H. Rusby 658 (holotype: NY [00188230]!; isotypes: BKL [00000980 as image!], K [ K 000328757 as image!]) .

Abutilon woronowii Ulbr. , Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 11 (107): 520. 1932 (“ Woronowii ”); Ulbrich, Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 14: 357. 1939. Type: Venezuela. Aragua: Colonia Tovar , 21 Oct 1926 (fl), G. J. N. Woronow 7480 (lectotype, here designated: LE-n. v.) .

Abutilon sylvaticum subsp. genuinum R. E. Fr. , Kongl. Svenska. Vetenskapsakad. Handl., ser. 3, 24 (2): 7. 1947, nom. inval.

Abutilon sylvaticum subsp. buchtienii R. E. Fr. , Kongl. Svenska. Vetensk. Acad. Handl., ser. 3, 24 (2): 8. 1947 (“ Buchtienii ”). Type: Bolivia. Cotaña am Illimani , 2450 m elev., Nov 1911 (fl, fr), O. Buchtien 3206 (holotype: S [ S 12-17687 as image!]; isotypes: NY [054955168]!, US [01049726]!, US [01105686]!) .

Abutilon sylvaticum subsp. klugii R. E. Fr. , Kongl. Svenska. Vetensk. Acad. Handl., ser. 3, 24 (2): 8. 1947 (“ Klugii ”). Type: Peru. San Martín: Zepelacio, near Moyobamba , 1100 m elev., Jul 1934 (fl, fr), G. Klug 3749 (holotype: S [ S 12-17685 as image!]; isotypes: CAS [0000019 as image!], F [ F 0042086 F as image (= F neg. no. 56220)!], MO-n. v., NY [04955169]!, US [00098289]!) .

Callianthe geminiflora (Kunth) Donnell , Syst. Bot. 37 (3): 719. 2012. Type: Based on Abutilon geminiflorum Kunth.

Callianthe laxa (Rusby) Donnell , Syst. Bot. 37 (3): 719. 2012. Type: Based on Abutilon laxum Rusby.

Gaya sylvatica (Cav.) Krapov. , Bonplandia (Corrientes) 21 (1): 72. 2012. Type: Based on Sida sylvatica Cav.

Abutilon prolificum Rusby , nom. nud., in sched.

Type.

Based on Sida sylvatica Cav.

Distribution.

Found in the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia and the Cordillera de la Costa and Andes of Venezuela; 700–2300 m elev. This species also occurs in the Andes of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Guézou et al. (2007) reported that Callianthe sylvatica (as Abutilon dianthum ) was adventive in the Galapagos Islands and recommended that it be eradicated there.

Additional material examined.

Colombia • Boyacá: Mpio. Santa Maria, Sendero Ecologica: Aiku-Yala , 700–800 m elev., 21 Aug 2008 (fl, fr), J. L. Fernández-Alonso 26978 ( COL [ COL 000373753 as image]). • Moniquirá, Belchite , 05°55'N, 073°35'W, 1700–2000 m elev., 30 Dec 1995 (fl, fr), F. González 3528 ( NY [1579546]). • Municipio de Santa María, vereda Chalicana, Sendero Ecológico Hyka-Quye , 04°53.5'N, 073°15.9'W, 900 m elev., 1–10 Sep 2010 (fl, fr), M. F. González et al. 520 ( COL [ COL 000380272 as image], COL [ COL 000380512 as image], NY [03066136 as image]). • Cundinimarca: bei Anolaima , 2000 m elev., Jan 1883 (fl), F. C. Lehmann 2506 ( BM [ BM 013837154 as image], US [01223674]). • Chiefly near Bogota , ca. 1850 m elev., Aug 1915 (fl, fr), Mrs. J. [sic] A. Tracey 63 (K [ K 006358152 ]). • Cachipay , 5000–6000 ft elev., 1922 (fl), Mrs. [I. A.] Tracey 480 ( K [ K 006358095 as image]). • Santander: Vicinity of La Baja , 2200–2600 m elev., 14–28 Jan 1927 (st, immature), E. P. Killip & A. C. Smith 17120 ( NY). • Vicinity of La Baja , 2200–2600 m elev., 14–28 Jan 1927 (fl), E. P. Killip & A. C. Smith 17132 ( NY [04290816], US [01223672]). • Between El Roble and Tona , 1500–1900 m elev., 17 Feb 1927 (im fr), E. P. Killip & A. C. Smith 19424 ( GH [00255417 as image], NY, US [01223672]) . Venezuela • Aragua: Colonia Tovar , 1800–2000 m elev., Dec 1924 (fl, fr), A. Allart 316 ( NY, US [01223691]). • Muy cerca de la Colonia Tovar, entrando por La Lagunita , ca. 1700 m elev., 21 Oct 1972 (fl), C. E. Benítez de Rojas 1544 ( F [ V 0224938 F as image]). • Prope coloniam Tovar , 1854–5 (fl), A. Fendler 98 ( BR [ BR 0000013462093 as image], K [ K 006358109 as image], NY [05125048], P [ P 06595596 as image]). • Distrito Ricaurte, Fila El Socorro-Topo El Paují, al SE de La Victoria , 1300–1500 m elev., 25 Nov 1999 (fl, fr), W. Meier et al. 5892 ( US [01223693]). • Colon. Tovar, Columbia [sic], Sep 1847 (fl), M. Moritz 815 ( K [ K 006358108 as image]) , Colonia Tovar , 1865 (fl), M. Moritz 815 ( BM [ BM 013837155 as image]). • Colonia Tovar , 1852 (fl), M. Moritz s. n. ( P [ P 06595595 as image]). • Colonia Tovar , 5 Jan 1941 (fl), F. Tamayo 1572 ( US [01223694]). • Cerca de La Cumbre de Choroní , 1400 m elev., s. d. (fl), Ll. Williams 10490 ( F [ V 0224937 F as image], US [01223695]). • Barinas: 12 km N of Baramitas [sic, Baranitas ], 700 m elev., R. Jones 9 ( NY). • Distrito Capital: Serranias del Avila , 28 Dec 1943 (fl), T. Lasser 980 ( US [01223696]) . Cerro El Avila, Cabecera del Río Mata de Plátano , 2000 m elev., 1 Oct 1976 (fl), B. Manara s. n. ( NY [04290818]). • Parque Nacional El Avila, Cerro El Avila , vertiente sur, 10 Nov 1982 (fl), W. Meier 3035 ( US [01183942]). • Parque Nacional El Avila , 1500–1700 m elev., 26 Nov 2000 (fl), W. Meier et al. 7522 ( US [01223692]). • Chacaito Gorge, around Caracas , 800–1000 m elev., 11 Dec 1921 (fl), H. Pittier 9931 ( NY, US [01223698], US [01223699]). • Parque Nacional El Avila, entre la toma de agua de La Zamurera y Papelón , 29 Nov 1986 (fl), C. E. de Rojas & F. Rojas 3557 ( NY). • W and SW-facing slopes of Cordillera del Avila, above Caracas, between Los Venados and Guayabo Mocho , 1675–2075 m elev., 28 Dec 1943 (fl, fr), J. A. Steyermark 55054 ( F [ V 0224936 F as image], NY [04290817], US [01223700]). • Los Venados , ca. 1500 m elev., 1 Oct 1940 (fl), C. Vogl 478 ( F [ V 0224935 F as image]). • Mérida: Carretera Mucubají - Barinas, más abajo de Sto. Domingo , 10 Nov 1952 (fl, fr), L. Aristeguieta 1049 ( NY [05125047], US [01223701]). • Distr. Rangel, Barinas-Mérida highway, 6.7 km E of La Mitisus (08°53'N, 070°39'W) (5.2 km W of Mérida / Portuguesa state line), ca. 1600 m elev., 7 Nov 1990 (fl), L. J. Dorr & L. C. Barnett 7650 ( K [ K 006358134 ], NY [05125046], PORT). • 5 km W of Mérida-Barinas boundary on road to Barinas , 1680 m elev., 9 Jan 1989 (fl), W. Hahn & F. Grifo 5073 ( K [ K 006358124 as image], NY, U [ U. 1363669 as image], US [00511982]). • Miranda: Los Teques, in German plantations (Parque de los Bárbaros) , 1400–1500 m elev., Dec 1917 (fr), H. Pittier 7604 ( US [01223697]). • Trujillo: Distrito Bocono, La Morita, above the Río Sagurás, S of Campo Elías and ca. 3 km W of Trujillo-Portuguesa state line , 2300 m elev., 4 Jun 1998 (fr), L. J. Dorr et al. 5374 ( NY [04290819], PORT). • Distrito Carache, Alrededores de Cajingo (00°37'N, 070°09'W), Quebrada Cajingo , 2000 m elev., 1 Nov 1987 (fl), R. Rivero & W. Diaz 1391 ( FLAS [sheet no. 169022 as image], NY [00393841]) .

The following collections also may belong here. They differ principally in their inflorescences where flowers are found not only in the distal-most axils of leaves, but also in the 4 or 5 uppermost leaf axils below the terminal one.

Material examined.

Colombia • Putumayo: Municipio de Mocoa, Vereda Bajo Afán, Serranía El Churumbelo, sector Nor Oriental, orilla (margen izquierda) del río Mocoa , 1°11'37"N, 76°38'49"W, 630 m elev., 4 Oct 2000 (fr), D. Cárdenas et al. 12155 ( COAH [sheet no. 35566 as image]) . • San José, Río Putumayo , 5 Aug 1899 (fl), T. A. Sprague 614 ( BM [ BM 013837151 as image], K [ K 006358094 as image]) .

Discussion.

Presl (1835) transferred Sida sylvatica Cav. to Abutilon , but Presl’s action was overlooked by Schumann (1891) who nonetheless saw the same relationship. Schumann’s interpretation of the proper placement of this Peruvian species was followed by Garcke (1893), Macbride (1956) and Kearney (1958), the first reviewing Schumann’s treatment and the last two revising the Peruvian and South American species of Abutilon , respectively. Fryxell (1992), who treated the Ecuadorean species of Abutilon , however, adopted A. dianthum C. Presl as the name of this species since he argued that the name S. sylvatica could not be applied to a species of Abutilon because Cavanilles described the fruit as having uniovulate carpels. Fryxell (1992) circumscribed Abutilon as having (2 –) 3–6 ovules per carpel and, while his description of A. dianthum omitted a statement regarding ovule number, it has 7–9 ovules per carpel, which aligns it with the pluriovulate species of Abutilon that Donnell et al. (2012) transferred to Callianthe . Fuertes and Fryxell (1993) and Fryxell (2002) repeated Fryxell’s (1992) argument regarding S. sylvatica and even stated that the identity and generic placement of Cavanilles’s plant were problematic. Krapovickas (2012), relying on the original description of Cavanilles (1786) and a plate that Cavanilles (1788) published subsequently, also focused on the statement (and illustration) by Cavanilles that the carpels were uniovolute and opined on the basis of this character that the only possible generic placement was Gaya Kunth.

These arguments concerning the identity of Sida sylvatica are curious because the holotype of S. sylvatica , a specimen collected by Joseph Dombey ( MA [MA- 656281]), which also appears to subsequently have served as the basis of the plate that Cavanilles (1788: t. 133, fig. 2) published to illustrate S. sylvatica , exists. The rules of the International Code of Nomenclature ( Turland et al. 2025: Arts. 9.1, 9.14) are clear that the type, not a description, fixes the application of the name concerned. Thus, in this case, while the description of the carpels by Cavanilles (1786) is at variance with the definition of Abutilon (and Callianthe ), the holotype of S. sylvatica nonetheless represents a species best placed in Callianthe because material from Peru that matches the type is pluriovulate with more than six ovules per carpel. Interestingly, the holotype of S. sylvatica does not now have fruit, which begs the question as to the source of this discordant element in Cavanilles’s (1786, 1788) description and illustration.

Fuertes and Fryxell (1993: 663) stated that “ an apparent isotype ” of Sida sylvatica was found in the general herbarium in Madrid ( MA [MA- 265804 as image!] [= F neg. no. 29760]), but the locality on the label of this specimen, Cochexo (or Tochexo), differs from that of the holotype and there is no evidence that the specimen was collected by Dombey. It clearly represents the same taxon, but cannot be considered type material. Krapovickas (2012) confused this specimen with the holotype of S. sylvatica , citing the correct locality and collector, but “ MA 29760 [sic], foto F 29760 ” as the holotype.

Fryxell (1992: 10) designated a Haenke collection in Prague (PR) as the lectotype of the name Abutilon dianthum , but he failed to distinguish between two duplicates of that collection held in PR ( Turland et al. 2025: Art. 9.17). Consequently, a second-step lectotype is necessary and is designated here. The locality on the lectotype label matches exactly that given in the prootologue. The locality on the isolectotype labels is slightly different (viz. “ Peruviae ”), but the handwriting is identical on four of the five specimens cited. The label on the specimen in Munich (M) was copied by a different person.

Ulbrich (1932) indicated that the type of Abutilon woronowii was a collection made in Venezuela, “ Colonia Tovar (bluhend 21. Oktober 1926 – G. Woronow n. 7480 typ.) ”, which was deposited in Berlin (B). This specimen subsequently was destroyed in World War II and consequently a duplicate of the type, which Ulbrich (1939) noted later and indicated was deposited in St. Petersburg ( LE), is here designated as lectotype of this name. Although the type of A. woronowii was not examined in the present study, two paratypes (Allart 316 and Pittier 9931) ( Ulbrich 1932, 1939) were studied and they are indistinguishable from C. sylvatica .

‘ Abutilon prolificum ’ is a herbarium name that Rusby wrote on sheets of one of his Bolivian collections, Rusby 737 ( GH [0052675 as image], K [K 000328758 as image], US [01217797]), which was made during the Mulford Biological Exploration of the Amazon Basin.

Callianthe sylvatica is interpreted here as an erect shrub with ovate to broadly ovate leaves, oblique to cordate bases, acute to acuminate apices, crenate-dentate margin and stellate-pubescent (often ferruginous) indumentum above and below; flowers solitary (or paired) in uppermost leaf axils, drooping or pendent; peduncles exceeding subtending petioles in length; calyx ca. half-lobed, ferruginous stellate-pubescent; petals spatulate, clawed, pale to bright yellow (or white), with impressed veins of the same colour; staminal column glabrous; schizocarps with ca. 10–12 (– 16) mericarps, persistent calyx; and pubescent seed.

Although a number of authors (e. g. Candolle (1824); Don (1831); Schumann (1891); Baker (1893); Fryxell (2002)) have recognised both Callianthe sylvatica and C. geminiflora (Kunth) Donnell or their respective synonyms, there is no clear distinction between the former species described from Peru and the latter described from Venezuela. At best, the Venezuelan species can be described as having slightly more oblique leaves than those of C. sylvatica . Similarly, while Kearney (1958) suggested Abutilon laxum Rusby was a synonym of A. sylvaticum (= C. sylvatica ), Donnell et al. (2012) recognised it as C. laxa (Rusby) Donnell. There is nothing to distinguish C. laxa from C. sylvatica and Dorr in Jørgensen et al. (2014: 791), who reviewed the Bolivian taxa of Malvaceae , listed the former as a synonym of the latter.

Donnell et al. (2012) noted that species relationships within their Callianthe and Bakeridesia s. str. clades are poorly resolved, but did not elaborate on the possible reasons.

Excluded name