Mallotus resinosus ( Blanco 1845: 562 ) Merrill (1918: 222)

Chakrabarty, Tapas & Krishna, Gopal, 2020, Typification of Adelia resinosa, the basionym of Mallotus resinosus (Euphorbiaceae), and its three new synonyms from India, Phytotaxa 446 (2), pp. 121-127 : 121-126

Mallotus resinosus ( Blanco 1845: 562) Merrill (1918: 222) .— Adelia resinosa Blanco (1845: 562) . Fig. 1 . Second step neotype (designated here):— PHILIPPINES. Luzon: Batangas Province, Mt. Batulao, 23 July 1914, Merrill Species Blancoanae No. 485 ( US 00689069 image!; isoneotypes A00135568 image!, GH00135569 image!, L0293511 image!, NY00888381 image!, P00432987 image!); see note below.

= Rottlera aureopunctata Dalzell (1851: 122) .— Mallotus aureopunctatus (Dalzell) Müller (1866: 973) , syn. nov. Fig. 2 . Lectotype (designated here): — INDIA. Maharashtra: Bombay, without precise locality, without date, Dalzell s.n. (K000247008 image!). Remaining original material:— INDIA. Maharashtra: Bombay, without precise locality, without date, Dalzell s.n. (CAL0000023792!, K000247007 image!, K000247009 image!).

= Claoxylon muricatum Wight (1852: 24 , t. 1886).— Rottlera muricata (Wight) Thwaites (1861: 273) .— Mallotus muricatus (Wight) Müller (1865: 191) .— Mallotus resinosus (Blanco) Merrill var. muricatus (Wight) Balakrishnan & Chakrabarty (1991: 39) . Lectotype (designated by Sierra et al. 2007: 88):— INDIA. Tamil Nadu: Tirunelveli District, Courtallam, July 1835, Wight Kew Distrib. No. 2672 (K000252580 image!; isolectotypes A00255151 image!, CAL0000023816!, CAL0000023817!, L0294677 image!). Remaining syntypes:— INDIA. Peninsular India, without precise locality, without date, Wight Kew Distrib. No. 2614 (CAL0000023815!, K000252579 image!). Tamil Nadu, Tirunelveli District, Courtallam, 1835, Wight 896 (E00179341 image!).

? = Axenfeldia intermedia Baillon (1858: 419) .— Mallotus intermedius (Baillon) Balakrishnan (1969: 245) . Type:— INDIA. No further details traced (P?).

Note:— Airy Shaw (1972: 294) united A. intermedia with M. resinosus based on the description. However, as we could not trace the type of the former, we are placing it here with doubt.

= Mallotus stenanthus Müller (1865: 191) .— Mallotus resinosus (Blanco) Merrill var. stenanthus Müller (1865: 191) Susila Rani & Balakrishnan (2007: 151) . Lectotype (designated by Sierra et al. 2007: 88): — INDIA. Tamil Nadu: Tirunelveli District, Courtallam, without data, Wallich 7751 B (G-DC; isolectotype K001127803 image!). Remaining syntypes: — INDIA. Malabar and Concan, without precise locality, without date, Stocks & Law s.n. (G00318156 image!, K000247005 image!). Without locality, without date, B. Heyne in Wallich 7751 A (G00318192 image!, K000247004 left hand side specimen image!, K001127802 image!).

= Mallotus lawii Müller (1865: 192) , syn. nov. Type:— INDIA. Malabar and Concan, without precise locality, without date, Stocks & Law s.n. (holotype G00318168 image!; isotypes BR0000008880215 image!, L0293849 image!, L0294680 image!, NY00888382 image!).

Note:—The isotype material at A (A00048375: image!) is a mixture as specified on the specimen.

= Mallotus walkerae Hooker (1887: 437) .— Mallotus muricatus (Wight) Müller var. walkerae ( Hooker 1887: 437) Pax & Hoffmann (1914: 190) . Lectotype (designated by Philcox 1997: 150):— SRI LANKA. without locality, without date, Walker s.n. (K000252574 top left hand side specimen, image!; isolectotypes A00048384 image!,A00048386 image!, CAL0000023811!, CAL0000023812!, P00635110 image!, P00635111 image!). Remaining syntypes:— SRI LANKA. Without locality, without date, Walker 25 (GH00048387 image!, K000252575 - lower specimen, images!). Central Province: without precise locality, without date, Thwaites CP 2108 (A00048385 image!, CAL0000023813!, CAL0000023814!, G00318174 image!, NY00069900 image!).

Note:—A separate barcode (K001044669) has been assigned to the lectotype but the digital image of the same was not seen by us. The word ‘type’ was first used by Airy Shaw (1980: 656): “Type: Ceylon, Mrs. Walker (K).” However, this was not an effective lectotypification because there are two different collections by Walker at K and none of them bears his signature.

= Mallotus walkerae var. laxiflorus Hooker (1887: 437) . Lectotype (designated by Philcox 1997: 150):— SRI LANKA. Without locality, without date, Walker 1217 (K000252576 image!, perhaps holotype).

= Mallotus beddomei Hooker (1887: 438) , syn. nov. Fig. 3 . Lectotype (designated here): — INDIA. Tamil Nadu: Tirunelveli District, Courtallam, September 1835, Wight 834 (Kew Distrib. No. 2671) ( K000252831 lower fruiting twig, image!; isolectotype S08- 1775 image!). Remaining syntypes:— INDIA. Tamil Nadu: Coimbatore District , Anamallay Hills, without date, Beddome s.n. [8] ( HBG515984 image!, K000252830 image!).

= Mallotus andamanicus Hooker (1887: 439) . Lectotype (designated by Sierra et al. 2007: 89)— INDIA. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, South Andaman Island, without precise locality, without date, Kurz s.n. (L0292814 image!). Remaining syntypes:— INDIA. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, South Andaman Island, Phoenix Bay to Haddo, without date, Kurz s.n. (CAL, herb. acc. no. 414758!). Katchal Island, without precise locality, without date, Kurz s.n. (CAL0000023824!).

Note:—The species was described on the basis of staminate flowering specimens. Though Hooker (1887) only cited “S. Andaman Islands”, the syntype from Nicobars (Katchal) bears staminate inflorescences and was identified by Hooker in his own handwriting. The syntype specimen cited by Balakrishnan & Chakrabarty (1991: 38) from Crab Island, South Andamans (CAL0000023823!) bears fruits and can, therefore, not be a type.

= Mallotus subramanyamii Ellis (1985: 199) (‘subramanyamili’).— Mallotus resinosus (Blanco) Merrill var. subramanyamii (Ellis) Chakrabarty (1985: 704) . Type:— INDIA. Tamil Nadu: Nilgiri District, Moolakadu, Ouchterlong valley, 1510 m, 29 July 1970, Ellis 34863 (holotype CAL0000023793!; isotype MH!).

Notes:—Blanco botanical materials did not survive until today ( Merrill 1918). His names got recognition only after Merrill’s publication (1918), who transferred the name Adelia resinosa to Mallotus . Merrill (1918: 222) cited a specimen for M. resinosus : “Illustrative specimen from Batangas Province, Luzon, August 1914 (Merrill: Species Blancoanae No. 485).” A perusal of the introductory chapter of Merrill’s publication (1918) reveals that he regarded an “illustrative specimen” as the equivalent of a neotype: “specimens that to a large degree would take the place of Blanco’s ‘types’ which were never preserved” (p. 36). Thus, Merrill made a first-step neotypification of the name Adelia resinosa because he designated a single gathering, “ Species Blancoanae No. 485 ”, as the type. Moreover, there was no requirement to specify a single herbarium before 1990 as per Art. 9.22 ( Turland et al. 2018), so long as the type element (the single gathering) is clearly indicated (Art. 7.11). Hence, a second-step neotype has been designated here following Art. 9.17 ( Turland et al. 2018). The material at US is chosen here for this designation following the recommendation of Nicolson & Arculus (2001) (see also Sierra et al. 2007: 88).

Susila Rani & Balakrishnan (2007) maintained M. aureopunctatus as a distinct species with M. lawii as its synonym. Both are reduced herein as synonyms of M. resinosus . Rottlera aureopunctata was described from western India, without precise locality. Dalzell (1851) did not cite any locality, nor specimen (see Art. 40.1 concerning valid publications; Turland et al. 2018). However, there are three collections of Dalzell at K and one at CAL matching well with the protologue and bearing handwriting of Dalzell. Hence, these specimens may be regarded as uncited original materials of R. aureopunctata and these can be used for designating a lectotype as per Art. 9.12 ( Turland et al. 2018). Of the four specimens, the lectotype (designated here) is identified in pencil as “ Rottlera aureopunctata Dalz. ” by Dalzell. Moreover, this specimen exhibits the diagnostic characters of the combined species, M. resinosus , as specified above. The holotype of M. lawii at G-DC also matches well with M. resinosus .

Susila Rani & Balakrishnan (2007) also treated M. beddomei as a narrow endemic, so far known to occur in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, India. It was described on the basis of two specimens collected by Beddome and Wight from Tamil Nadu, India and these two collections used by Hooker (1887) for describing the species are available at K. Of these, the specimen of Beddome contains two twigs, the upper one bearing pistillate inflorescences while the lower one with staminate inflorescences indicating that this is a mixed assemblage because the plants of Mallotus are dioecious (although to be regarded as a single gathering as per Art. 8.2, footnote 1). The other specimen, of Wight is also a mixture, containing three twigs of which the upper right hand twigs bears staminate thyrses, the upper left hand side specimen bears a single leaf and the lower specimen is a fruiting material. In our opinion, the pistillate twig of the Wight’s collection is most appropriate for lectotype designation because it represents a typical condition. It is used here to designate a lectotype.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Neotype of Adelia resinosa. Available at: https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/botany/

FIGURE 2. Lectotype of Rottlera aureopunctata (© The Board of Trustees of the RBG, Kew). Available at: http://specimens.kew.org/ herbarium/K000247008

FIGURE 3. Lectotype of Mallotus beddomei (© The Board of Trustees of the RBG, Kew). Available at: http://specimens.kew.org/ herbarium/K000252831