Monteverdia ilicifolia (Mart. ex Reissek) Biral (2017: 689)

Biral, Leonardo, 2020, New synonyms in Celastraceae toward an update of the flora of Brazil, Phytotaxa 446 (4), pp. 237-244 : 239

Monteverdia ilicifolia (Mart. ex Reissek) Biral (2017: 689) .

≡ Maytenus ilicifolia Martius ex Reissek (1861: 8 , t. I, f. 11 a, b, t. VI).

Type:— BRAZIL, URUGUAY. In Brasilia meridionali extratropica et ad Montevideo , 1821-1823, Sellow d768 (lectotype, M, designated by Biral & Lombardi 2012: 468) .

= Maytenus acanthophylla Reissek (1861: 6 , t. I, f. 5) var. eurostos Loesener in Kuntze (1898: 37). Type:— BRAZIL. Mato Grosso do Sul: Corumbá, [late] August 1892, Kuntze s.n. (holotype, NY [NY01031056]!). syn. nov.

= Maytenus castaneiformis Reissek (1861: 7 , t. I, f. 7, as “ castaneaeformis ”, see the article 60.10 of the Shenzen Code, Turland et al. 2018). Type:— BRAZIL. Goiás: [Buenolândia] ad Rio Bugres [prope Barra], s.d. [April 1819], Pohl s.n. [1710] (lectotype, W [0059514]! image, designated here; isolectotypes, BR [BR0000005739677]!, W [0059515]! image, B† [F neg 13276]). syn. nov.

= Maytenus macrodonta Reissek (1861: 6-7 , t. I, f. 6). Type:— BRAZIL. [Goiás] Habitat in Brasiliae meridionalis interioribus [Rio Pillano], s.d. [late March 1919 - February 1820], Pohl s.n. [2444] (lectotype, W [0059540]! image, designated here; isolectotypes, F [frag., 870042, barcode V0044275F]! image). Syn. nov.

Maytenus acanthophylla var. eurostos is a forgotten name, absent in all Celastraceae literature I accessed after its publication. I came cross the holotype (not annotated as such) when examined New World Maytenus specimens provided on loan from the NY herbarium. The specimen is derived from the Herbarium of Otto Kuntze (purchased by Andrew Carnegie for the New York Botanical Garden, see Zanoni 1980), signed by Ludwig Eduard Theodor Loesener (the species’ author) and its label includes the following diagnosis: “ Maytenus acanthophylla Reiss. forma eurostos Loes. forma nova foliis paullo latioribus, basi magis truncatis spinis robustioribus diversa ”. Later, when the name was validly published, Loesener (in Kuntze 1898) did so as a variety of Maytenus acanthophylla and not as a forma. Some specimens of Monteverdia ilicifolia , especially those from Bolivia and Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, are confused with Monteverdia acanthophylla ( Reissek 1861: 6, t. I, f. 5) Biral (2017: 688) because they have broad leaves with long spines on the margin but can be differentiated by their spherical fruits, as opposed to the tetragonal fruits of Monteverdia acanthophylla . Monteverdia ilicifolia is widely distributed in the forests of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil (chiefly, in south region), Paraguay and Uruguay, whereas Monteverdia acanthophylla is endemic to Brazil, especially in areas with caatinga vegetation ( BFG 2015).

Carvalho-Okano (1992: 228) considered Maytenus castaneiformis in the “Untreated species” section of her thesis because she did not have access to any original material from this species. In addition to this mention, I found no citation of this name in literature. The morphological characters available from the type specimens and mentioned in the protologue overlap those found for Monteverdia ilicifolia . The leaves with two or three pairs of spines concentrated only on the apex presented in the type specimens are quite characteristics of M. ilicifolia ; thus, Maytenus castaneiformis is considered here as its synonym. The specimen Pohl 1710 in W [0059514] is designated here as lectotype for M. castaneiformis because it is constituted by a complete branch with an attached label bearing a handwritten morphological description by Reissek that is identical to that provided by him in the protologue (see Recommendation 9a.3. from the Shenzen Code, Turland et al. 2018). The collection date is not provided on the label but was taken from the Pohl’s itinerary in Brazil according to Urban (1906).

Maytenus macrodonta was described by Reissek (1861) in Martius’ Flora Brasiliensis . The description presented in the protologue is short and essentially based on vegetative characters, such as branches and leaves (shape, measures, number of spines and secondary veins). No flower or fruit features are mentioned and the unique information cited about the inflorescence [“ Flores axillares, aggregati ”, Reissek (1861: 7)] is not informative since all Maytenus / Monteverdia species with spinose leaves share this type of inflorescence. Because the description lacks details and no original material was accessible, Carvalho-Okano (1992) excluded the name from her thesis. Now, considering the protologue, the type collections and the Celastraceae collections from Goiás state, it is determined that M. macrodonta is conspecific with Monteverdia ilicifolia . Monteverdia ilicifolia is easily characterized by young twigs flattened or carinated, coriaceous leaves spirally arranged, leaf with one to seven pairs of spines regularly arranged in the margin or concentrated in the apex, and multi-flowered fasciculate inflorescence. The protologue of M. macrodonta does not mention locality, collector number, or date of collection. The collector number [2444] and the locality [Rio Pillano] included in this paper are taken from the label of the designated lectotype. According to Pohl’s itinerary, provided by Urban (1906), he visited the Pilões river in the Brazilian state of Goiás twice between late March 1919 and February 1820.