Plinia sulcata (Burret) M.C.Souza & D.K.Caldas, 2025

Caldas, Diana K. D., Stadnik, Aline M. S., Souza, Marcelo Da C., Do Rosário, Alessandro S. & Baumgratz, José Fernando A., 2025, A new species of Siphoneugena and a new combination in Plinia (Myrtaceae), Phytotaxa 683 (1), pp. 79-86 : 83-85

Plinia sulcata (Burret) M.C.Souza & D.K.Caldas , comb. nov. Basionym:— Paramitranthes sulcata Burret (1941:

542). Type:— BRAZIL. São Paulo: Cotia, Barragem Nova, 12 April 1930, A. Gehrt s.n. (holotype SP 25311, image!).

= Siphoneugena sulcata (Burret) Kausel (1966: 367) .

= Myrciaria plicatocostata O. Berg (1857 –1859): 366 [as “ plicato-costata ”]), nom. illeg., = Eugenia plicatocostata Glaziou (1908: 237) , nom. illeg., not Eugenia plicatocostata O. Berg (1857 –1859: 575). = Plinia plicatocostata Amshoff (1950: 11) . = Plinia anonyma Sobral (1985: 1) , nom. illeg. Type:— BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro, s.d., Sellow s.n. (lectotype, designated here, P [P05228948] image!; isolectotypes K [c] image!, BR [barcode BR0000005238873] image!, U [U1452514] image!), syn. nov.

Myrciaria plicatocostata was described by Berg (1857 –1859) based on a specimen collected by Sellow in Rio de Janeiro. However, Berg included in the synonymy a previously published species, Eugenia edulis Vellozo (1829: 208, = Plinia edulis (Vell.) Sobral, 1985: 2 ), making M. plicatocostata an illegitimate name (Arts. 52 and 53 of the International Code for Nomenclature (ICN; Turland et al. 2018). Later, Glaziou (1908) made the combination Eugenia plicatocostata , also an illegitimate name due to the existence of an earlier homonym. Amshoff (1950) proposed the new combination Plinia plicatocostata , erroneously considered as illegitimate by Sobral (1985), who in turn proposed the illegitimate name Plinia anonyma (Art. 52 of the ICN; Turland et al. 2018). We here designate the P specimen (barcode P05228948) as the lectotype of Myrciaria plicatocostata because it is well preserved, fertile and displays the morphological characteristics described in the protologue Berg, O. (1857–1859) Myrtaceae . In: Martius, C.F.P. (ed.) Flora brasiliensis . Frid. Fleischer, Monachii, v. 14, p. 1, 656 p.

Paramitranthes sulcata was described by Burret (1941) and later transferred by Kausel (1966) to Siphoneugena , under the new combination Siphoneugena sulcata . This species, however, was excluded from Siphoneugena by Proença (1990: 268) in her revision of the genus, based on its foliar blades with adaxially sulcate midvein (while Siphoneugena has the “midvein somewhat raised or rarely flush with the upper surface, never sunken”, Proença 1990: 244). When discussing Siphoneugena sulcata , this author already suggested a relationship of this species to Plinia, ( Proença 1990: 268) .

Based on the analysis of the protologues and type specimens of Paramitranthes sulcata and Myrciaria plicatocostata , we observed that both species are characterized by lanceolate and bullate leaf blades, with base cuneate or attenuate, apex acute or attenuate, midvein and lateral veins heavily grooved on the adaxial surface and prominent on the abaxial surface, and inflorescences in axillary glomerules with sessile flowers. Therefore, based on the congruence of similar vegetative and reproductive diagnostic characters, we here consider Myrciaria plicatocostata and Paramitranthes sulcata as conspecific; since P. sulcata is a legitimate and available name, it must supersede Plinia anonyma and be taken as the basionym for the new combination proposed here.