Myrcia bicarinata

Santos, Matheus F., Sano, Paulo T. & Lucas, Eve, 2016, Lectotypifications of some Nineteenth Century names and other nomenclatural updates in Myrcia s. l. (Myrtaceae), Phytotaxa 257 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

1. Myrcia bicarinata (O. Berg 1857 –1859: 118) D. Legrand (1961: 298)

≡ Aulomyrcia bicarinata O.Berg. Type:— BRAZIL (“Brasilia” on label). No date (fl.), Sellow s.n. (lectotype P [P00161322]! designated here, isolectotypes BM!, BR!, F!, K!, LE!, P [P00161321]!, U [image!], W!). Figure 1 .

= Aulomyrcia rufa O. Berg (1857 –1859: 65). Myrcia rufa (O.Berg) N. Silveira (1985a: 66) , syn. nov. Type:— BRAZIL (“Brasilia” on label). No date (fl.), Sellow s.n. (lectotype K [K000344213]! designated here, isolectotypes BM!, BR!, F!, LE!, P!, W!). Figure 2 .

Aulomyrcia bicarinata :—Specimens of Aulomyrcia bicarinata seen by Berg with certainty are those bearing his handwriting on the label (BR, LE, P and U herbaria). The duplicate of the P herbarium ( Figure 1 ) was chosen as the lectotype as it matches the protologue and is representative of the species morphology. The number “431” appears in the label of some duplicates (in the BR, F, P, U and W herbaria).

A fragment of material at the F herbarium is indicated to be from a Sellow collection of A. bicarinata at the P herbarium. Despite the scarcity of material (a fragment of leaf and some flowers), it is morphologically similar to the other type specimens and the number written on the label is the same present in other duplicates (“431”). Thus, we also considered this specimen as an isolectotype. The localities on the labels (if present, “Brasilia”, i.e., Brazil) and in the protologue (“Brasilia meridionali”) are vague but congruent with the species distribution and Sellow’s route ( Herter & Rambo 1953).

Aulomyrcia rufa :— Govaerts et al. (2015) considered Aulomyrcia rufa to be a synonym of Myrcia pulchra (O.Berg) Kiaerskou , but analysis of the available collections of A. rufa shows it to be a synonym of Myrcia bicarinata . Both species share a mainly monopodial branching pattern (vs. mainly sympodial in M. pulchra ) and keeled young twigs (vs. young twigs not keeled), characters that do not vary intraspecifically in clade 7 ( Santos 2014). Examination of multiple specimens did not reveal relevant differences between these species. Both A. rufa and A. bicarinata were described in the same publication and A. bicarinata was chosen as the specific epithet refers to the diagnostic keeled young twigs.

Again, there is fragmentary material in the F herbarium (accession number 936962) identified as a Sellow collection of A. rufa from the P herbarium. The number written on the label is the same as on other duplicates (“466”, see below). The material is poor (a piece of a young twig with leaves and one flower). The branch morphology is similar to the morphology of other type duplicates, but the flower is clearly from another species (globose, with five persistent lobes). We consider the twig as part of the type gathering, but exclude the flower assuming it to be included in error.

The material housed in the herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (K) ( Figure 2 ) was chosen as the lectotype because its label bears Berg’s handwriting (“ Aulomyrcia rufa Bg ”); the specimen matches the protologue well and is representative of the species’ morphology. Type collections of A. rufa with Berg’s handwriting are also found in other herbaria (BR, LE, P and W). The number “466” is present in the label of some specimens (BR, F, K, LE, P and W herbaria, and there is also the number “279” in LE and W). As for A. bicarinata , the localities in the labels (“Brasilia”, if present) and in the protologue (“Prov. Rio de Janeiro ”) are vague but agree with the species distribution and Sellow’s route ( Herter & Rambo 1953).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lectotype of Aulomyrcia bicarinata O. Berg (Sellow s.n., P [P00161322]). Image used with permission and provided by the Herbier National de Paris.

FIGURE 2. Lectotype of Aulomyrcia rufa O.Berg (Sellow s.n., K [K000344213]). ©The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Reproduced with the consent of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.