Stellaria cryptantha (Mattf.) M. T. Sharples & E. A. Tripp

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 : 131

5. Stellaria cryptantha (Mattf.) M. T. Sharples & E. A. Tripp in Syst. Bot. 44: 871. 2019

≡ Plettkea cryptantha Mattf. in Schriften Vereins Naturk. Unterweser, n.s., 7: reprint p. 15 (19). 1934 ≡ Pycnophyllopsis cryptantha (Mattf.) Molinari in Polish Bot. J. 61: 276. 2016.

– Holotype: Peru, Morococha , A. Raimondi 8392 (B†). – Neotype (designated by Timaná 2017: 6): Peru, Lima, Huarochirí, Paso de Anticona , Ticlio , 4850 m, 16 Dec 1998, Timaná & Tate 3767 ( USM; isoneotype: MO- 1100075 !) .

Morphological description — See Timaná (2005).

Distribution — The species is found in highland passes in Andean mountainous ranges between the departments of Puno and Lima in Peru at altitudes of 4800–5200 m.

Notes — According to Timaná (2017), this distinctive species, has tetramerous flowers and 2 free styles. The species, originally described by Mattfeld (1934) as Plettkea cryptantha , is characterized by decussate sepals with the inner pair shorter and non-ciliate as opposed to the outer pair. Molinari-Novoa (2016) described the new combination Pycnophyllopsis cryptantha (Mattf.) Molinari , without studying any type specimen; the holotype was destroyed and no neotype had yet been selected. Timaná (2017) solved this by selecting a new type for the species based on a specimen collected near the type locality by Raimondi in Lima. Later, Sharples & Tripp (2019) stated that Greenberg & Donoghue (2011) recovered a sample of Pycnophyllopsis cryptantha (Mattf.) Timaná from Peru as embedded within core Stellaria . The trnL-F sequence available in GenBank is resolved as sister to CAR 431 (Supplementary appendix S6) that is the representative of S. cryptantha in our analysis.