Maytenus apurimacensis Loesener (1913: 8)

Biral, Leonardo & Lombardi, Julio Antonio, 2016, New synonyms and lectotypifications in the genus Maytenus (Celastroideae, Celastraceae) and a new name for the illegitimate Maytenus nemorosa from Brazil, Phytotaxa 261 (1), pp. 97-100 : 98-99

Maytenus apurimacensis Loesener (1913: 8) . Type:— PERU. Apurimac: in prov. Andahuaylas, in valle fluminis

Apurimac in ejus latere sinistro inter fluvio Pachachaca et Pampas in pratis (Savannen) in 2400 m altitude. vigens.,

s.d., Weberbauer 5873 (holotype B [destroyed] [F neg. 13268])

= Maytenus andicola Loesener (1913: 9) , syn. nov. Type:— PERU. Ayacucho: in declivibus saxosis fruticigeris, herbigeris praecipueque graminigeris prope Ayacucho in 3000–3200 m altitud., May 1910, Weberbauer 5507 (lectotype S! [S-R-10955], designated here, isolectotypes F! [548431, F neg. 71322], GH! [00049840], US! [1496235]).

Loesener described Maytenus andicola and compared it with M. viscifolia Grisebach (1874: 110) . However, M. viscifolia is a very distinctive species from Argentina with fleshy leaves, subsessile flowers and fruits open by three valves (vs. membranaceous leaves, pedicelate flowers and fruits open by two valves in M. andicola ). MacBride (1951, p. 260) differentiated M. andicola from M. apurimacensis by ‘leaf-nerves obsolete above’ in the first species, and ‘leaf-nerves and usually the veins obvious above’ in the second. Nevertheless, when we compare a large amount of material it is impossible to distinguish both because of the continuous variables in their characters, not only their veins, but also the shape and the size of their leaves, flowers and fruits. Due to this fact, we opt to assign the name M. andicola to its synonym. MacBride (1951) related both species as close to M. cuzcoina . Even though they are similar, M. cuzcoina can be differentiated by slender young twigs, profuse branching and obovate leaves with an attenuated base and entire margins.

Both species have their types based on the collections of August Weberbauer. It is known that the main collections of Weberbauer were deposited in B (HUH Database 2016), but Celastraceae species were destroyed during the World War II ( Hiepko 1987). Because of that, we selected Weberbauer 5507 deposited in S, the most complete material of this collection that we have seen, as the lectotype of Maytenus andicola . For M. apurimacensis , as only a photo from the original material is known, we prefer to wait and try to discover more duplicates to the same collection, before of possibly select a neotype. Once both names appear for the first time in the same publication, we decided in favor of M. apurimacesis because it is used the most in literature and in herbarium collections.

Maytenus apurimacensis occurs in Peru in paramos and cloudy forests, between 2400 and 3200 m elevation. We have examined collections from Apurímac, Ayacucho, Cajamarca and La Libertad. Brako & Zarucchi (1993) also cited the species for Ancash, Cuzco and Lima.

Maytenus sieberiana Krug & Urban ( Urban 1904: 60). Type:— TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO. Loco non indicato, 1822, Sieber in Flora Trinitatis 36 (lectotype W! [1889-0123809] [U neg. 1111], designated here, isolectotypes G! [00177278] [U neg. 1110], G! [00177279], K! [000534980], W! [1889-0033174], W! [1889-0134409] [U neg. 1111], W! [1889-0123865], W! [1889-0140580]) = Maytenus longipes Briquet (1919: 361) , syn. nov. Type:— COLOMBIA. Madalegna: env. de Santa Marta [‘near Bonda’], alt. 250’,

1898–1899, Smith 454 (lectotype G! [00177339], designated here, isolectotypes A! [00049869], BR! [0000006981440], COL!

[7163], CM! [211267], E! [00077563], F! [0053758], G! [00177340], GH! [00049870], K! [000494592], L! [0096727], LL!

[00375571], NY! [00215049], MO! [1900369], PH! [00017110], RB! [00067491], U! [0001022], US! [00094721], S! [11-18846],

S! [11-18847]).

Briquet (1919) described Maytenus longipes and compared it with M. myrsinoides Reissek in Martius (1861: 21) due to its leaves’ traits, but the identification of this last species could not be confirmed (‘ rapportée an M. myrsinoides Reiss. (ann. 1861 = M. Reissekii Urb. Ann. 1904 ) dans l’exsiccata de Smith, mais elle s’écarte notablement des originaux de la Guyane anglaise (Hostmann n. 802) que nous avons sous les yeux ’, Briquet 1919, p. 362). M. longipes has young twigs carinated to flattened, glabrous and elliptic leaves, with entire margins or slight crenation close to the apex, chartaceous, 6–9 pairs of secondary veins which are inconspicuous on the adaxial face and inconspicuous to plane on the abaxial face, fasciculate inflorescences and obovoid fruits. As these characters are also found in M. sieberiana and the two species cannot be differentiated by morphological characters, we decided by the reduction of the name M. longipes to M. sieberiana .

As lectotype of Maytenus sieberiana we selected the material deposited in W [1889-0123809] because it is most representative when compared with the other collections. For M. longipes we have found many duplicates of type specimen spread out in many herbaria, almost all of them represented by fine samples. However, we elected as the lectotype the material deposited in G [00177339] because the label shows that it was examined by John Briquet, author of the species that worked in the institution, and it is the unique specimen with his personal signature naming the species.

Maytenus sieberiana occurs in Venezuela, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Bonaire, especially near the seashore and associated with limestone rocks and deciduous vegetation.

The name Maytenus nemorosa Biral & Lombardi ( Biral et al. 2015: 57) was published for us to designate a new species from Brazil. However, we failed to find the homonym previously published for an African species: M. nemorosa ( Ecklon & Zeyher 1835: 120) Marais (1960: 385) . Thus, a new name, M. fugax Biral & Lombardi , is provided here to replace the previous one:

Maytenus fugax Biral & Lombardi , nom. nov. Replaced name: Maytenus nemorosa Biral & Lombardi ( Biral et al. 2015: 57), nom. illeg., later homonym of Maytenus nemorosa (Ecklon & Zeyher) Marais (1960: 385) . Type:— BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: Santa Teresa. Reserva Biológica Augusto Ruschi, em fragmento próximo à caixa d’água, 19º90’S, 40º54’W, 10 December 2012, Biral et al. 810 (holotype HRCB!, isotypes, MBML!, NY!, UPCB!).