Miconia capilliflora (Naudin) R.Goldenberg

Valente, Beatriz Do Nascimento, Baumgratz, José Fernando A. & Maia, Vitor Hugo, 2020, Nomenclatural novelties in Miconieae (Melastomataceae): new synonym and typifications, Phytotaxa 443 (2), pp. 179-188 : 180-182

1. Miconia capilliflora (Naudin) R.Goldenberg in Michelangeli et al. (2019: 89)

≡ Staphidiastrum capilliflorum Naudin (1852: 331)

≡ Sagraea capilliflora (Naudin) Triana (1871: 138)

≡ Clidemia capilliflora (Naudin) Cogniaux in Martius, Eichler & Urban (1886: 508)

≡ Leandra capilliflora (Naudin) Reginato (2016: 262) .

Type:— BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro: H. Lalande s.n. (lectotype P-506237 ! designated by Reginato 2016 ; isolectotype P-506236 ! ). Remaining syntype: BRAZIL: C. Gaudichaud-Beaupré 720 ( G-00328171 !) .

= Clidemia raddiana Cogniaux (1888: 509) . Type:— BRAZIL. In Brasilia, G. Raddi s.n. (lectotype FI-010743! designated here). Syn. nov. — Figs. 1 & 2 .

Cogniaux (1888: 509; 1891: 1011) noted that when combining Melastoma capillaris Sw. in the genus Leandra, Raddi (1829: 141) misidentified one of his collections under the newly proposed combination ( L. capillaris (Sw.) Raddi ). Therefore, Cogniaux (1888: 509) proposed a new species, C. raddiana Cogn. , to accommodate this new sample, which was assumed to be a distinct taxon from M. capillaris , and mentioned in the synonymy only L. capillaris , excluding M. capillaris . He and did not use the epithet capillaris because it had previously been used in Clidemia for both C. capillaris Don (1823: 308) [= Miconia leptopus (Triana) Michelangeli & R.Goldenberg ) and C. capillaris (Swartz) Grisebach (1860: 184) (= Miconia capillaris (Sw.) Gómez )].

Cogniaux (1888: 509) mentioned that he had not seen Raddi’s specimen but that his description was based on the description and figure of Raddi (1829), and noted as material examined “habitat in prov. Rio de Janeiro secund. Raddi”, which presumably refers to the specimen analyzed by Raddi. Thus, Cogniaux (1888) created a new taxon based on Raddi’s description and figure, according to the ICN ( Turland et al. 2018: Art. 41). The differences between C. raddiana and Melastoma capillaris , mainly in the morphology of the leaf and geographic distribution, support the exclusion of M. capillaris from the synonymy of C. raddiana according to Cogniaux (1888: 509), as a distinct species.

Goldenberg & Baldini (2002: 740) noted that most collections of Melastomataceae studied by Raddi came from the city of Rio de Janeiro and environs. They commented that it is almost certain that the collections of Melastomataceae in the PI herbarium were those used by Raddi for the descriptions presented in two important publications ( Raddi 1820, 1829), since they bear annotations in Raddi’s own handwriting. Goldenberg & Baldini also pointed out that Raddi’s collections, now in the FI herbarium, were deposited as part of the first access to the material from his trip to Brazil, having been re-labeled by F. Parlatore after Raddi’s death, in 1829, and usually mentioning “ In Brasilia legit Cl. Raddi ” or “Erbario del Brasile di Raddi”. In the FI herbarium we found a specimen (Raddi s.n. FI-010743) with a label reading “Typus”, in addition to three other labels: one reading “ In Brasilia legit Cl. Raddi ”; another “ Clidemia raddiana Cogn. , det J. J. Wurdack 1970”, and a third “ Sagraea capilliflora ; Leandra capillaris Raddi , t. 5, f. 6” ( Figs. 2 , 3 ). Presumably, this was the specimen used by Raddi (1829) to illustrate L. capillaris in his work, and we designate it as the lectotype of C. raddiana according to the ICN ( Turland et al., 2018: Art. 9.12 and Rec. 9A.1).

Clidemia raddiana present the same set of diagnostic characters as M. capilliflora : plants apparently glabrous; inflorescences axillar, lax, with capillary branches; flowers tetramerous; hypanthium urceolate, with sparse glandular trichomes; and calyx with internal lobe short-triangular and external lobe triangular-subulate. Thus, we here propose C. raddiana as a synonym of M. capilliflora .

Reginato (2016: 33), based on morphological and phylogenetic studies, transferred C. capilliflora (Naudin) Cogn. to Leandra , establishing L. capilliflora (Naudin) Reginato. He did not mention C. raddiana , probably because he was not aware of the nomenclatural problems associated with this name and did not know about Raddi’s collection. In the later transfer to Miconia by Michelangeli et al. (2019), this issue was also not mentioned.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lectotype of Clidemia raddiana Cogn. (Raddi s.n. FI-010743), collected in Brazil.

FIGURE 2. Details of the labels of the lectotype of Clidemia raddiana Cogn. (Raddi s.n. FI-010743):A. Label reading “Typus”; B. Label reading “Leandra capillaris”; C. Label reading “Sagraea capilliflora; Leandra capillaris Raddi, t. 5, f. 6” and “Clidemia raddiana Cogn., det J. J. Wurdack 1970”; D. Label reading “Leandra capillaris Raddi; In Brasilia legit Cl. Raddi”.

FIGURE 3. Lectotype of Melastoma capillaris Sw. (Swartz s.n. S R-3455), collected in Jamaica.