Aloestrela suzannae (Decary) Molteno & Gideon F.Sm., 2019

Smith, Gideon F. & Molteno, Steven, 2019, Aloestrela Molteno & Gideon F. Sm. (Asphodelaceae: Alooideae), a new alooid genus with A. Suzannae (Decary) Molteno & Gideon F. Sm. As the only species, Bradleya 37, pp. 3-7 : 5-6

Aloestrela suzannae (Decary) Molteno & Gideon F.Sm. , comb. nov.

≡ Aloe suzannae Decary in Bull. Econ. Madag. 18 (1): 26 (1921).

Type: MADAGASCAR. Ambovombe, 21 July [1923] 1924, [R.] Decary 2913, MNHN-P-P00413803 (neo-), here designated .

Note on the type of the name Aloe suzannae , basionym of Aloestrela suzannae :The name Aloe suzannae was published on page 26 of Decary (1921). There is no citation of specimens in the protologueof thename, only mention of localities, as follows: “sud d’Ambaro [south of Ambaro], nord est du Faux Cap [northeast of Faux Cap], Anta-ramaitsy, suddu cirquede Malaimpioky[south of the ‘circus’; in ageological sense it means ahalfopen, steep-sided hollow at the head of avalley or on a mountainside, formed by glacial erosion]”. Further, on page 10 of the text of Decary (1926), before starting his notes on plants, he states that he had an opportunity to record some observati-ons on a certain number of plants of the Tsihombe district, which he presented in the text that follo-wed [“Il m’a été donné de faire sur un certain nom-bre de plantes du district de Tsihombe quelques observations que je donne ci-après”.]

Seven of the Decary specimens of Aloe suzannae that are held at Herb. P are databased. In one case the specimen does not have a collector’s num-ber, i.e., it is to be cited as Decary s.n.; the six other specimens are numbered. The six numbered specimens and the unnumbered one resolve as fol-lows, with an indication of the type-status labels that have been affixed to them:

Decary 2913; MNHN-P-P00413800 ; 21 Juillet 1924; purple-stamped “ Ambovombe ” ; red-labelled “ ISOTYPE ” .

Decary 2913; MNHN-P-P00413801 ; 21 July 1924; specimen databased, but no image available online at P; “Verbatim locality Ambovombe ” .

Decary 2913; MNHN-P-P00413802 ; 21 Juillet 1924 [“donné par M. Henri Perrier de la Bâthie en 1932”; purple-stamped “ Ambovombe ” ; red-labelled “ ISOTYPE ” .

Decary 2913; MNHN-P-P00413803 ; 21 Juillet 192 3;“ Ambovombe ” written by hand in black ink ; red-labelled “ TYPE ”. This specimen was also seen by G.W. Reynolds, well-known student of Aloe ,as he placed his signature on the specimen, and dated his signature to “ 18/8/55 ” .

Decary 3450; MNHN-P-P00413806 ; 23 November 1924 [“Reçu le”, i.e., “Received on”, presumably at Herb. P] 1 octobre 1925; “ Ambovombe ” written by hand in black ink ;

Decary 9283; MNHN-P-P00413805 ; 2 October 1931, [“Reçu le”, i.e., “Received on”, presumably at Herb. P] 20 Mai 1932; red-stamped “ Ambovombe ” ; envelope with fragments .

Decary s.n.; MNHN-P-P00413804 ; no collecting date [“Reçu le”, i.e., “Received on”, presumably at Herb. P] 12 Novembre 1921; no locality given ; envelope with fragments .

Note that six of the seven specimens enumerated above unambiguously have collecting dates that postdate the publication of the name Aloe suzannae ,so they cannot be regarded as the holo-type /isotypes. Furthermore, the seventh specimen, Decary s.n., does not have acollecting date (nor a collecting locality, for that matter), with only adate on which it was received, presumably at Herb. P. Since the collecting date of Decary s.n. (and the locality from which it was collected) are unknown, and because it consists of only an envelope with fragments, we did not consider this specimen as aviable option for typification purposes. In addition, since Decary (1926) did not mention any specimens in the protologue of the name A. suzannae , this name clearly does not have a holotype.

We here neotypify the name Aloe suzannae , basionym of Aloestrela suzannae ,with R. Decary 2913, MNHN-P-P00413803, the only one of the seven specimens listed above that is dated 21 July 192 3.However, the date (July 1923) is considered to be amistake as other collections of Decary that fall in the 2900s range were made in 1924. For example, Decary 2985, P P00508553, dates from 20 July 1924. The other three Decary 2913 specimens (1 to 3, above) are all dated 21 July 1924, and therefore isoneotypes, i.e., duplicates of the neotype designated here.