Stellaria andina (Rohrb.) Montesinos & Borsch, 2023

Montesinos-Tubée, Daniel B. & Borsch, Thomas, 2023, Molecular phylogenetics and morphology reveal the Plettkea lineage including several members of Arenaria and Pycnophyllopsis to be a clade of 21 South American species nested within Stellaria (Caryophyllaceae, Alsineae), Willdenowia 53 (3), pp. 115-148 : 129-130

2. Stellaria andina (Rohrb.) Montesinos & Borsch , comb. nov.

≡ Arenaria andina Rohrb. in Linnaea 37: 255. 1872.

– Lectotype (designated here): Bolivia, Prov. Larecaja, viciniis Quiabaya via ad Tacacoma , 20 May 1860, G. Mandon 954 ( K000471618 image!; isolectotypes: F0053255 image!, P00335843 image!, P00335844 image!, P00335845 image!, P01902983 image!, S-R-351) .

Morphological description — Annual herb, sometimes forming large mats or carpets, 5–8 cm high and up to 30 cm in diam.; roots fibrous. Stems erect or decumbent, diffuse, usually loose, internodes 4–6 mm long, glabrous. Leaves opposite, lamina ovate, 2.5–3.5 mm long and 1–1.5 mm wide, surface glabrous on both sides, bright green to yellowish with age, margins bearing c. 0.1 mm long trichomes, midrib imposed on adaxial side, base petiolate and hirsute, apex acuminate. Plants bisexual-hermaphrodite. Flowers on short 1–4 mm long glabrous peduncles, terminal; perigynous, campanulate to subglobose, 4–5 mm long and wide, crateriform,; sepals 5, imbricate, oblong, slightly involute, apex obtuse-acute, base attenuate, 3–4 mm long and c. 2 mm wide, bright green to green-yellowish with age, glabrous to rarely covered by thin white trichomes (<0.1 mm long) at margins; petals 5, ovate, translucent to pale yellowish, rarely whitish, 1–1.8 mm long and 0.5–1 mm wide, apex rounded to obtuse; stamens 5, episepalous, 0.7–1 mm long; ovary ovoid, 0.8–1.1 mm long, style 3-fid, stigma terete to aciculate. Capsule ovoid, c. 2 mm long, containing 4–6 seeds, these ovate, c. 0.3 mm long; testa maroon, tuberculate.

Distribution and ecology — The species is only known to occur in SW Bolivia and SE Peru, inhabiting highland Puna environments and humid grasslands at altitudes of 4600–5100 m.

Vernacular name — Wanupi Tika, given in Quechua language (Zoilita Salazar Patiño, Arequipa, pers. comm.).

Notes — Paul Rohrbach (Berlin) aimed at a taxonomic synthesis of Andean Caryophyllaceae but died at an early age, so Garcke arranged to have his manuscript published in Linnaea. Rohrbach himself wrote (p. 184) “… so bildet die Mandon’sche Sammlung aus Bolivia den Kern des mir von dort vorliegendem Materials. Ich habe dieselbe in ziemlich gleicher Vollständigkeit in drei Herbarien, dem des k.k. botanischen hofkabinets zu Wien, dem De’Candolleschen und dem des Grafen Franqueville gesehen; …” in the protologue, Rohrbach (1872) mentioned “Mandon 954!” but without designating any particular specimen as a type. There is no specimen in W because Mandon material appears to have been lost due to a fire in the Second World War (Heimo Rainer, pers. comm. and as stated in https://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/en /research/botany/collections/lost_families).