Mirabilis linearis (Pursh) Heimerl (1901: 186)

Sandoval-Ortega, Manuel Higinio & Sánchez-Escalante, José Jesús, 2022, The family Nyctaginaceae (Caryophyllales) in Sonora, Mexico, Phytotaxa 575 (1), pp. 35-56 : 48-49

8.5. Mirabilis linearis (Pursh) Heimerl (1901: 186)

≡ Allionia linearis Pursh (1814: 728) ≡ Oxybaphus linearis (Pursh) Robinson (1908: 31) .

Lectotype (here designated):― UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Louisiana, in upper Lousina, 1810, Bradbury s.n. (PH00008129 [image!] image available at https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.ph00008129) .

= Allionia diffusa Heller (1898: 33) .

Lectotype (here designated):― UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. New Mexico, on hills ten miles west of Santa Fe , 21 June1897, Heller & Heller 3740 (MIN1000091 [image!] image available at https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.min1000091; isolectotypes:MO216364 [image!] image available at http://legacy.tropicos.org/Image/34907, US 00102915 [image!] image available at https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.us00102915, NDG15670 [image!] image available at https://plants.jstor. org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.ndg15670, P00712487 [image!] image available at https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap. specimen.p00712487, NY00380629 [image!] image available at https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.ny00380629, MSC0129866 [image!] image available at https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.msc0129866) .

Typification of the name Allionia linearis :― Pursh (1814: 728) published A. linearis by a short description and giving a locality (“In Upper Luisiana”), a collector (“Bradbury”), and “v. s. [vidi sicco] in Herb. Bradbury”. From 1810 to 1811 Bradbury collected plants for the Liverpool Botanic Garden and many of his specimens were sent to England and some other are deposited in PH, maybe carried by Nuttall, who traveled with Bradbury during his journey and who spent several years in Philadelphia after his return from the west (Rickett 1934, 1950). The specimens that Bradbury sent to England came into possession of Lambert (vice president of the Linnean Society at that time), and it was there that Pursh used Bradbury’s plants along with those of several other collectors to write his Flora Americae Septentrionalis. About this fact, Bradbury said: “this man suffered to examine the collection of specimens wich I sent to Liverpool, and to describe almost a whole, thereby depriving me both of the credit and profit of what was justly due me” (see Boewe 2000, Bradbury 1819). So, Pursh examinated Bradbury’s specimens in England, most of them being deposited in LIV (see Edmondson 2004, Rickett 1950). However, the specimen of A. linearis collected by Bradbury and deposited in PH (barcode PH 00008129) is annotated by Pursh as “ Allionia angustifolia ” (see also Rickett 1950) and it has a legend that reads “…Pursh herbarium” just below the middle specimen on the sheet (darker in color and probably a different collection). So, PH 00008129 corresponds to original material examined by Pursh. Rickett (1950) mentioned that another specimen of A. linearis collected by Bradbury is deposited in LIV, but such specimen was not seen by us. PH 00008129 is here designated as lectotype according to Art. 9.3 ICN (it is the only original material traced by us); it matches Pursh’s protologue and corresponds to the currect concept in Mirabilis (see e.g., Sandoval-Ortega et al. 2020, Spellenberg 2003).

Typification of the name Allionia diffusa : ―The protologue of A. diffusa consist of a description, a locality (“on dry gravelly hills, ten miles west of Santa Fé”), a date (“ June 21, 1897 ”) and a type indication as “Type is our no. 3740”. However, no specific sheet is indicated and there are seven specimens of A. diffusa collected by Heller & Heller under the number 3740 deposited in different herbaria (barcodes: MIN1000091, MO216364, MSC0129866, NDG15670, NY00380629, P00712487, US 00102915); these specimens are sintypes according to the Art. 9.6 ICN. MIN1000091 is here designated as lectotype since it shows flowers and mature anthocarps and matches Heller’s protologue and corresponds to the currect concept in Mirabilis (see e.g., Sandoval-Ortega et al. 2020, Spellenberg 2003).

Distribution in Mexico:― It is reported from Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí and Sonora ( Sandoval-Ortega 2020). In Sonora it is distributed in the Chihuahuan Desert biogeographic province ( Fig. 4C ), in Agua Prieta, Bacoachi and Naco municipalities, in xerophytic scrub, desert grassland and Oak forest, at 1400–2400 m a.s.l.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Distribution of the Nyctaginaceae genera in the State of Sonora. A: genera Abronia, Allionia, Acleisanthes, Okenia, and Pisonia; B: genus Boerhavia; C: genus Mirabilis; D: genera Boldoa, Commicarpus, Cyphomeris, and Salpianthus.