Paepalanthus lundii Körnicke (1863: 385)

Trovó, Marcelo & Echternacht, Lívia, 2023, Notes on Paepalanthus (Eriocaulaceae) from central Brazil and Paraguay, Phytotaxa 598 (2), pp. 145-156 : 150-153

Paepalanthus lundii Körnicke (1863: 385)

≡ Dupatya lundii (K̂rn.) Kuntze (1891: 746) .

Type:— BRAZIL. S„o Paulo: [In humidis Araracoara et Va Franca], May 1834, L. Riedel 2204. Lectotype, designated by Trovó & Sano (2010: 277), B! [B 10 0243935], isolectotypes G! [G00099098], G! [G00099099], K! [K000587299], L! [L0821070], LE! [LE00001128], LE! [LE00001129], NY! [NY00102899], P! [P00716707], P! [P00716708], S! [S-R-3897], U! [U0008294], UPS! [UPS V-232910].

= Paepalanthus scholiophyllus Ruhland (1903: 172) .

Type :— BRAZIL. Goiás: [Capelinha de Santo Antonio, dans le campo sec], 23 October 1894, A.F.M. Glaziou 22315. Lectotype, designated by Moldenke (1976: 142) as “type” and corrected here, B! [B 10 0157344], isolectotypes C! [C10011013], G! [G00099073], K! [K000640023], LL! [LL00374792] fragment, P! [P00741982]. syn. nov.

= Paepalanthus macrotrichus Silveira (1908: 43) .

Type :— BRAZIL. S„o Paulo: [Corrego Fundo], 14 November 1899, A. Loefgren 1485. Holotype R! [R000181863], isolectotypes LL! [LL00374748] fragment, P! [P00741966], SP! [SP032319].

= Paepalanthus pulchellus var. puberulentus Moldenke (1982: 244) .

Type:— BRAZIL. Goiás: Campo Alegre de Goiás, 16 August 1980, G. Hatschbach 43162. Holotype LL! [LL00374785], isotype HBG! [HBG506613], MBM! [MBM067641], US! [ US 00088391]. syn. nov.

= Paepalanthus scholiophyllus var. minor Ruhland ex Moldenke. nom. nud.

Notes:—K̂rnicke (1863) described Paepalanthus lundii based on the syntypes Riedel 2204 and Lund s.n., being mainly distinguished by the linear to lanceolate leaves (ca. 6–10 × 0.1–0.3 cm) with longer trichomes at the base and more sparsely pilose towards the acute apex, the cream-coloured capitula, and the noteworthy paleaceous, linear to lanceolate involucral bracts. Trovó & Sano (2010) designated the specimen Riedel 2204 collected in humid areas of the state of S„o Paulo and deposited at B as the lectotype of the species, and placed P. macrotrichus under synonymy with P. lundii . In the protolog of P. scholiophyllus, Ruhland (1903) describes this very same set of characters, but with the leaves and scapes being slightly longer (ca. 15–20 × 0.2–0.35 cm). Ruhland (1903) places P. scholiophyllus in P. subsect. Aphorocaulon Ruhland (1903: 167) due to the very brief foliose lateral branches, while P. lundii belongs to P. ser. Paepalanthus . Costa & Sano (2013), when merging P. subsect. Aphorocaulon into Actinocephalus , excluded P. scholiophyllus from the re-circumscribed Actinocephalus .

After evaluating the type specimens, recent specimens, and collecting along the species distribution range including the surroundings of the type localities, we argue that Paepalanthus scholiophyllus should be treated as synonymous with P. lundii . The presence of the short foliose lateral branches bearing a single or a few inflorescences is observed in specimens along the entire distribution, not justifying the initial Ruhland (1903) segregation. We also observed a significant variation in size and indumentum of leaves, even within the same population. The gynoecium morphology corroborates the synonymization, with both taxa having simple stigmatic branches. This new circumscription is also congruent with the geographical distribution, as the species grows in usually humid places along the Paraná River Basin in the hydrographic mesoregions of Tietê , Grande , and Paranaíba ( Fig. 4 ). We observed ants visiting the inflorescences of populations in the field at localities in Brasília (Distrito Federal) and Cristalina (Goiás state), corroborating the ant pollination syndrome described for the P. lundii populations from Uberlândia ( Del-Claro et al. 2019).

The specimens from the Serra da Canastra (Minas Gerais state) being treated as conspecific to Paepalanthus lundii extend the morphological variation of this species, as such specimens have usually longer and wider leaves (up to 25 × 1.5 cm) and sometimes bear more than one inflorescence in each lateral foliose branch. The specimens from Cristalina present an intermediate morphology, being smaller but also with wider leaves. Such larger individuals from the Serra da Canastra and Cristalina were seen growing usually in drier soils, which may reflect in the morphology of these individuals. We also observed collections gathered in the same area in the Distrito Federal varying from larger (Irwin 8700, NY) to very small individuals (Trovó 807, RB), reflecting the species’ morphological plasticity, also probably reflecting drier and more humid sites within the same area. Finally, the specimens collected in the vicinity of Uberlândia (Minas Gerais state) are also morphologically slightly different, consistently presenting numerous inflorescences per plant, more membranaceous leaves, and rarely keeping the older dry leaves retaining the lignified tissues as seen in P. balansae .

Ruhland (1903) described Paepalanthus scholiophyllus based on the specimens Glaziou 22315 distributed in many herbaria, as seen by his annotations on the specimen labels. Moldenke (1976: 142) referred to the specimen at B as the type and other specimens as isotypes. Although Costa & Sano (2013) treated the specimen at B as the holotype, we argue that the Moldenke (1976) indication should be treated as an inadvertent lectotype indication ( Prado et al. 2015) according to ICN articles 7.10, 7.11, 9.10, and 9.23 ( Turland et al. 2018). It is also worth noting that the specimen at P bears the original label precisely describing the location. So, we may conclude that the type specimens were gathered in the vicinity of Santo Antônio do Descoberto along the border of Goiás state and the Distrito Federal.

Moldenke (1982) described Paepalanthus pulchellus var. puberulentus based on the collection Hatschbach 43162 from humid areas in the vicinities of Campo Alegre de Goiás. This taxon was distinguished from the typical form of Paepalanthus pulchellus Herzog (1924: 85) , a species endemic to Bahia state, solely based on the dense puberulent sheaths ( Moldenke 1982). This taxon, however, bears many other differences with its presumed typical variety, such as the paleaceous involucral bracts, the acute to rounded leaf apex, the indument of the leaves, and additional floral differences. Such differences, and the allopatric distribution of these taxa could justify the elevation of the taxon to the species level. However , the morphology of the type specimens of Paepalanthus pulchellus var. puberulentus fits within the morphological variation proposed here for P. lundii , a sympatric taxon with wider distribution and large morphological variation. Paepalanthus pulchellus var. puberulentus is therefore proposed as a synonym.

Wilhelm Ruhland annotated some specimens of A. Glaziou 22302 (B, P2X) as Paepalanthus scholiophyllus var. minor , but never formally published this name. Moldenke (1976) cited these specimens as types of P. scholiophyllus var. minor Ruhland ex Moldenke , but also never validated the name by publishing a description or a diagnosis according to article 38 of the current ICN ( Turland et al. 2018). As seen in the specimens, these individuals flowered after a fire event, a situation already described from other species from central Brazil ( Trovó 2018). We may hypothesize that these individuals are small due to fire induced flowering at young stages. Even though small, these specimens are within the range of morphological variation and geographical distribution of P. lundii proposed here. To avoid further nomenclatural mistakes, the specimens A. Glaziou 22302 (B, P2X) should be treated only at the species level.

Exsiccate list: — Aguiar 150 (HEPH); Amaral 15a (HUFU); s.n. (HUFU22607); s.n. (HUFU27873); s.n. (HUFU27877); s.n. (HUFU27898); Assis 877 (HRCB, SPF); Arantes 218 (HUFU); Araújo 1535 (HUFU); 1539 (HUFU); 1811 (HUFU); 2031 (HUFU); Azevedo 247 (HEPH; HUEFS); Barbosa 1337 (HUFU); 1535 (HUFU); 2303 (HUFU); 2304 (HUFU); 2318 (HUFU); 2245 (HUFU); 2368 (HUFU); 2742 (HUFU); 3043 (HUFU); s.n. (HUFU16963); s.n. (HUFU32423); s.n. (HUFU32424); s.n. (HUFU37888); Bexiga 1 (RB); Carneiro 12 (HUFU); Carvalho 458 (UB); Cavalcanti 3057 (CEN); Coelho s.n. (HUFU59571); Echternacht 2618 (HUFU); Eiten 5106 (UB, US); Fantinati 13 (SPF); Faria s.n. (HUFU24041); Farinaccio 201b (SPF); Fleury-Silva 271 (HUFU); Giroldo 57 (CEN, UB); Glaziou 22302 (B, P); 22315 (B, C, G, K, LL, P); Gonzaga 1081 (RB); Hatschbach 41684 (MBM, MO, NY); 43162 (HBG, LL, MBM, US); 45637 (MBM, NY, US); Hemsing 338 (HUFU); 369 (HUFU); Irwin 8700 (K, NY, US); 9976 (MO, NY, UB, UPCB, US); Loefgren 1485 (LL, P, R, SP); Lund s.n. (G0099100); Mello-Silva 1979 (UFMG); Munhoz 1858 (SPF); 7844 (UB); 7898 (RB, UB); Nakajima 518 (HUFU); 1005 (HUFU); 2116 (HUFU, SPF); 2881 (HUFU); Oliveira 552 (HUFU); 1203 (HUFU); 1347 (HUFU); 1670 (HUFU); 2013 (HUFU); 2372 (HUFU); Pott 5083 (HUEFS); Queiroz 15104 (HUEFS, SPF); Rezende 177 (CEN, HUEFS); Riedel 2204 (B, G, K, L, LE, NY, P, S, U, UPS); Rodrigues 902 (HEPH); Rodrigues-da-Silva 1138 (HUEFS); Romero 897 (HUFU); 1505 (HUFU); 2863 (HUFU); Silva 79b (UB); Silva s.n. (HUFU32289); Splett 49 (UB); Tannus 554 (HRCB); 634 (HRCB); 695 (HRCB); Trovó 196 (SPF); 807 (RB); Vieira 7 (HUFU).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Distribution map of Paepalanthus balansae, represented by black stars, and Paepalanthus lundii, represented by black circles. The general habit variation of P. lundii is explored in the corresponding circles. Country names were abbreviated as follows: BRA for Brazil, BOL for Bolivia, PRY for Paraguay, ARG for Argentina, and URU for Uruguay.