Tarenna nilagirica (Beddome) Bremekamp, 1934

Nair, Maya Sukumaran, Prabhukumar, Konickal Mambetta & Pillai, Sunilkumar Trivikraman, 2023, Neotypification Of The Names Tarenna Canarica And T. Nilagirica (Rubiaceae) From The Western Ghats, Phytotaxa 603 (3), pp. 297-300 : 298-300

Tarenna nilagirica ( Beddome (1872, 134/8) Bremekamp (1934: 200)

≡ Pavetta nilagirica Beddome (1872: 134 /8); Webera nilagirica (Beddome) Hooker (1882: 106) ; Stylocoryne nilagirica (Hooker) Gamble (1921: 448) .

Type: Tamil Nadu, Ouchterlony Valley and Sispara Ghat of Nilgiri ; Kerala Peria peak of Waynnad (not traceable). Neotype (here designated): — INDIA, Kerala, Wayanad, Periya Peak , 1600 ft, 05 May 2022, Maya S. Nair KUBH 10592 ( KUBH, barcode 11173, digital image). Figure 2 .

Likewise, the proceeding species of Beddome described as Pavetta nilagirica ( Beddome 1872: 134 /8), which is now part of Tarenna , with the diagnostic features such as “young stem pilose almost scabrous, the leaves pilose beneath, pentamerous flowers and the style included, and glabrous”. Beddome has provided heterogenous collections as “ Ouchterlony Valley and Sispara Ghat of Nilgiri and Peria peak of Wayanad ” without any collection details of original material. All our efforts to trace out original material in any of the herbaria are in vain and it is confirmed that, no original material referred to Pavetta nilagirica is extant at present and it warrants the need of neotypification. Hence, one of our collections from the Periya peak of Wayanad (Maya S. Nair 10592) of T. nilagirica , which bears flowers and perfectly matching with the description like the pilose young stem, the abaxial surface of the leaves are pilose, flowers are pentamerous and the style is included in the corolla tube as in the protologue, is chosen as neotype (Art. 9.8 of the ICN) and duplicate of the same as isoneotype. The choice is also congruent with the provenance indicated in the protologue.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Digital image of neotype housed at KUBH (barcode 11173).