Curarea crassa Barneby (1996: 22)

Feliz, Pablo Fernando, Fernandes, Thiago & Braga, João Marcelo Alvarenga, 2024, On the typification of Cocculus platiphyllus and synonymization of Cocculus platiphyllus var. ildefonsianus with Curarea crassa (Menispermaceae), Phytotaxa 647 (3), pp. 294-298 : 296-297

Curarea crassa Barneby (1996: 22) .

Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Uruçuca, Distrito de Serra Grande , 7.3 km na estrada Serra Grande / Itacaré , Fazenda Lagoa do Conjunto Fazenda Santa Cruz , 2 December 1993, fr., J.G. Jardim et al. 351 (holotype: CEPEC accession 59863 !; isotypes: K barcode K000544136 !, NY barcode 00038211 !, RB barcode 00717587 !, SPF barcode SPF232318 !) .

= Cocculus platiphyllus var. ildefonsianus A.St-Hilaire & Tulasne (1842: 135) , syn. nov., p.p., as ‘ Cocculus platiphylla var. ildefonsiana’. Type:— BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro: Rio de Janeiro, Andaraí Grande (“ Andarahi Grande ”, on the label), April 1836, fr., A. Richard s.n. (lectotype, designated here: P barcode P00748527!; isolectotype: P barcode P00748526!).

Notes:— Saint-Hilaire & Tulasne (1842) indicated that Cocculus platiphyllus var. ildefonsianus is common in Rio de Janeiro (In Latin: “ Propè Rio de Janeiro haud infrequens”, on the label), and also cite “ Mart. Herbar. Flor. Bras. N. 282 ”, likely in reference to Martius 510 (see Martius, 1837, p. 282). The P herbarium has two specimens belonging to the gathering of A. Richard s.n., made by Achille Richard (1794–1852), who was probably accompanied by Ildefonso Gomes (1794–1859) in expeditions to the state of Rio de Janeiro. These specimens belonged to the historic Richard Herbarium, first created by Louis Claude Marie Richard (1754–1821), and which passed to his son Achille Richard (1794–1852), then to Albert Belhomme de Franqueville (1814–1891), and finally to Emmanuel Drake del Castillo (1855–1904). After Drake’s passing, these collections were acquired by the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle and incorporated into the P herbarium (see Andreata 1984). This long history of transfers and manipulations of these materials over time might explain the addition of different herbarium labels, including the reassembly of the samples and curators’ notes. A tag with original collector’s notes is attached to Richard s.n. (P barcode P00748526), including the same medicinal information highlighted in the protologue (In Latin: “Radix amara, tonica, diuretica, usitatissima ”). The other specimen, Richard s.n. (P barcode P00748527), has two identification tags, one with the collector’s spelling citing “ Gomes ” (i.e., Ildefonso Gomes) and “ Cocculus ildefonsianus A.R. sp. nova ”, and another tag with Saint-Hilaire’s identification “ Cocculus platiphylla var. ss ildefonsiana ”. Saint-Hilaire & Tulasne (1842) characterized this variety by leaf blades widely ovate, base sub-cuneate or sub-truncate, and drupelets elliptical, tomentose. This gathering Richard s.n. (P) has basal to suprabasal acrodromous leaf venation, 5–7 primary veins, a plinerved inner pair, and secondary veins arising at one-third of the blade and bifurcating in a “Y” pattern. Although the drupelets are fragmented, the tomentose epicarp, thickened meoscarp and carpophore are quite distinctive, being sufficient to differentiate Curarea crassa from Chondrodendron platiphyllum , which has drupelets glabrous and carpophore absent (see also Feliz et al. 2022).

Two gatherings cited in Martius (1837) are also associated with the protologue, but Saint-Hilaire & Tulasne (1842) claim they have not seen the flowers from any of these gatherings (in Latin: “ Flores utriusque inobservati ”). Two anonymous gatherings that Martius (1837) associated with Cocculus platyphyllus in the listing of his Martii Herbarium Florae Brasiliensis (see Martius, 1837; Förther 1994; hereafter HM) are also mentioned by Saint-Hilaire & Tulasne (1842) in the protologue of Cocculus platiphyllus var. ildefonsianus . The specimens associated with C. platyphyllus by Martius (1837) are HM 510, recognized later as part of the syntypes of Chondrodendron aemulum Miers (1867: 192) , current synonym of Chondrodendron platyphyllum (“ in sylvis supra Serra do Mar ”, s.d, fl. ♂, Martii Herbar. Florae Brasil. nº 510 [BR barcode 000000529698 [image!], F [n.v.], K barcode K 000485680!, L barcode L1750160 [image!], M barcode M-0239801 [image!], M barcode M-0239802 [image!], M barcode M-0239803 [image!], MO accession 204172 [image!], NY [n.v.]). The other gathering, listed by Martius (1837) as Chondrodendron platyphyllum correspond to HM 1042, the label of which reads “ Habitat in sylvis ad Praes S. Joañ-Bapt. Provinciae MG”, [current Presídio de São João Batista, municipality of Visconde do Rio Branco, state of Minas Gerais], [s.d., fl. ♂], Martii Herbar. Florae Brasil. nº 1042 [M barcode M-0239804 (image!)]).

Based on these observations, we propose the synonymization of Cocculus platiphyllus var. ildefonsianus with Curarea crassa , and also we designate the specimen A. Richard s.n. (P barcode P00748527) as a as a lectotype, and the isolectotype as P00748526 ( Fig. 3 ).

Figures

FIGURE 3. A. Lectotype and B. isolectotype of Cocculus platiphyllus var. ildefonsianus A.St-Hil. & Tul. (Richard s.n. [Barcode P00748527] and [barcode P00748526]). Image reproduced with the consent of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle.