Iresine ajuscana Suessenguth & Beyerle

Sandoval-Ortega, Manuel Higinio & Zumaya-Mendoza, Silvia, 2023, Types of some Mexican names in Amaranthaceae s. l. (Caryophyllales), Phytotaxa 597 (1), pp. 8-14 : 9-10

1. Iresine ajuscana Suessenguth & Beyerle (in Suessenguth 1935: 10)

≡ Iresine ajuscana f. longiflora Suessenguth & Beyerle (in Suessenguth 1935: 10).

Lectotype [designated by Borsch et al. (2018: 963–964) as “ holotype ”, here corrected to lectotype (Art. 9.19 of ICN)]: ― MEXICO, Thal von Ajusco, 1870, Hahn 35 ( B 100177104 [image!] Image available at http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/ B 100177104).

= Iresine ajuscana f. minutiflora Suessenguth & Beyerle (in Suessenguth 1935: 11).

Lectotype (designated by Borsch et al. 2018: 964):― MEXICO. Sallo de aqua, December 1905, Purpus 1807 ( B100715445 [image!] image available at https://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100715445).

= Iresine grandis var. glabrata Suessenguth (in Suessenguth & Merxmüller 1952: 108).

Lectotype (here designated):― MEXICO. Oaxaca: Ayutla, Cañon Rio Tlahuitoltepec, 19–27 February 1937, Camp 2720 ( NY01259979 [image!] image available at https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh/specimen-details/?irn=1489059; isolectotype: NY01259978 [image!] image available at https://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh/specimen-details/?irn=1489058).

Notes on the type of Iresine ajuscana :― The protologue of I. ajuscana consists of a detailed morphological description; no mention of a type specimen or citation of a locality and/or a collector there is. Just after the morphological description of I. ajuscana, Suessength & Beyerle (in Suessenguth 1935: 11) describes two forms for this species, distinguishable each other by the size of the tepals: I. ajuscana f. longiflora Suessength & Beyerle (in Suessenguth 1935: 11) and I. ajuscana f. minutiflora Suessength & Beyerle (in Suessenguth 1935: 11). For each one of these forms, locality, collectors and collection numbers are reported (“ Mexico, Staat Mexico, Tal von Ajusco, [leg. L. Hahn, no. 35, anno 1870]; Mexico, Staat Mexico, Sallo de aqua, [leg. C.A. Purpus no. 1803 und 1807]; Amecameca, Sacro Monte 2300 m [Leg. H. Fröderström et E. Hultén no. 1207 und 1208 ― Herb. Stockholm]”).

Borsch et al. (2018) designated lectotypes for Iresine ajuscana f. longiflora and I. ajuscana f. minutiflora and proposed both names as synonyms (heterotypic) of I. ajuscana s.s. However, they also mentioned that the holotype of I. ajuscana was the same specimen as the one designated as lectotype of I. ajuscana f. longiflora . However, this cannot be possible according to Art. 9.1 of ICN, because no holotype was indicated in the protologue and the material cited are syntypes (Art. 9.6. if ICN). According to the Art. 9.10 of ICN, Borsh et al.’s indication as holotype (barcode B100177104) is treated as an error to be here corrected as lectotype. I. ajuscana and I. ajuscana f. longiflora are homotypic synonyms.

Note on the type of Iresine grandis var. glabrata : ―The protologue of I. grandis var. glabrata consists of a short description; a locality (Gebiet von Ayutla, Hoch-paβ zwischen Ayutla und Tumazulapa, canon des Rio Tlahuitoltepec.- Exp. New York Bot. Garden 1937), a collector (W.H. Camp), a collection number (2720), and the herbaria where the material was deposited (“Herb. Bot. Garden New York ”, referred to the Herbarium NY) are given. We traced two specimens at NY, one of which was reported by Borsch et al. (2018) as the holotype of I. grandis var. glabrata (the other specimen indicated as isotype). According to Art. 9.6 of ICN, these two specimens (barcodes NY01259978 and NY01259979) are syntypes, and a lectotypification is necessary. NY01259979 is here designated as lectotype, since it is a more complete specimen, matches with the protologue, and the current concept in Iresine ( Calderón de Rzedowski 2005) . NY01259978 is the isolectotype.

Notes on the identity of Iresine rubella Suessength (in Suessength & Merxmüller 1952: 109):― Suessenguth & Merxmüller (1952: 109) mentioned in the protologue that the type material of Iresine rubella is deposited at BM (“Herb.Brit.Mus.”). However, after a digital search, no original material was found by us in this or other herbaria. Further, after contacting the BM staff, we verified that no material of I. rubella collected before 1890 is currently deposited at the Herbarium (we also asked for specimen identified as I. ajuscana ). So, we reached to the conclusion that the specimen is probably lost.

Iresine rubella has been considered a synonym of I. ajuscana by Borsh et al. (2018), and so reported also in TROPICOS (2023) and POWO (2023). However, since the type is lost, the only information available to identify I. rubella is the collection locality (Mexico-Valle, Monte de la Parada) and the morphological description provided in the protologue, where it is mentioned that this species has glabrous pseudostaminodia, bisexual flowers and reddish tepals (Suessength & Merxmüller 1952: 109). I. ajuscana has unisexual flowers and pubescent pseudostaminodia, feature not described in the protologue (Suessenguth 1935: 10) but that can be observed in the type material (B100177104, S05-5664), so it is unlikely that I. rubella is a synonym of I. ajuscana . The species of Iresine reported to the Valley of Mexico are I. ajuscana , I. schaffneri Watson (1886: 437) , I. cassiniformis Schauer (in Nees ab Esenbeck & Schauer 1847: 709), I. latifolia ( Martens & Galeotti 1843: 349) Bentham & Hooker (1880: 42) , and I. interrupta Bentham (1844: 156) (see Calderón de Rzedowski 2005), but no one of these taxa matches with the morphological description in the protologue of I. rubella . Since the identity of I. rubella could not be confirmed, this name was not here considered as synonym of I. ajuscana .

Syntypes of Iresine ajuscana :― MEXICO, Sallo de aqua, December 1905, Purpus 1803 (B100715444 [image!] image available at https://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100715444); Amecameca, Sacro Monte, 3 March 1932, Fröderström & Hultén 1207 (S05-5665 [image!] image available at https://herbarium.nrm.se/specimens/S05-5665); Amecameca, Sacro Monte, 3 March 1932, Fröderström & Hultén 1208 [image!] image available at https://herbarium. nrm.se/specimens/S05-5664 ).