Berberis warszewiczii

Nobis, Marcin, Klichowska, Ewelina, Wolanin, Mateusz, Nobis, Agnieszka & Nowak, Arkadiusz, 2022, Typification of five plant names described based on specimens collected by Jozef Warszewicz in Central and South America, PhytoKeys 192, pp. 45-61 : 45

Berberis warszewiczii

Berberis multiflora Benth., Plantas Hartwegianas imprimis Mexicanas 124. 1843. Type Protologue: In montibus Santiago et Saraguru. Type: [EQUADOR] Mountain of Santiago & Saraguru, Hartweg 708 (lectotype, designated here, K 407116! [Herbarium Benthamianum], isolectotypes, K 407120! [Herbarium Benthamianum], K 407118!, BM 778308!, BR 695719!, E 373177!, F 870723!, F 894660!, LD 1689638!, NY 7374!, P 752174!, P 752175!).

Berberis warszewiczii = Berberis warszewiczii Hieron., Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 20: beibl. 49: 13 (1895). Type Protologue: ECUADOR, prope urbeum Cuenca, Warszewicz 4[25]. Type: Cuenca in Equador, Süd America, Warszewicz s.n. (holotype, B destroyed, photograph at F! negative no. 14317, https://fm-digital-assets.fieldmuseum.org/28/661/14317.jpg; lectotype, designated here, America merid. Columbia, J. Warszewicz s.n. (KRA 533002!; Fig. 1 ), isolectotypes, KRA 533000!, KRA 533001!).

Remarks.

The genus Berberis L. (including Mahonia Nutt.) comprises ca. 650 species of shrubs or small trees that are not very widespread in the Northern hemisphere. In the Neotropics its distribution is limited to mountainous regions. In South America it reaches Tierra del Fuego and south-eastern Brazil. In these regions only species with simple (not compound) leaves are recorded ( Ahrendt 1961; Landrum 1999; Ulloa Ulloa 2009). Berberis multiflora Benth. (synonyms: B. loxensis Benth., B. warszewiczii Hieron. and B. multiflora var. calvescens C.K. Schneid.; Ulloa Ulloa 1999), which is one such species, is native to Ecuador and Peru ( Brako and Zarucchi 1993; Ulloa Ulloa 1999). The species is considered to be morphologically very variable. However, studying numerous type specimens (syntypes) of B. multiflora collected by Hartweg 708 in Peru (one of them, mounted to the sheet with stamp Herbarium Benthamianum 1854, K 407116!, is here designated as lectotype), we noticed that they somewhat differ from these representing B. warszewiczii (F! negative no. 14317, https://fm-digital-assets.fieldmuseum.org/30/341/14317.jpg, KRA). The main difference between the two species concerns the leaf morphology. In the case of B. warszewiczii , leaf edge (excluding the base) is regularly spine-toothed while leaves of B. multiflora are entire, or with a few spines. However, during the revision of specimens representing B. multiflora , we noticed several specimens with spine-toothed leaves, what makes them more similar to B. warszewiczii or even to B. pectinata . Revision using molecular analyses is needed in this group of taxa to explain their taxonomic relationship. Bearing in mind that the type specimen of B. warszewiczii Hieron. at B was destroyed, we designated here the specimen collected by Warszewicz and preserved at KRA as the lectotype and the two additional (KRA 533000, KRA 533001) as the isolectotypes. The specimens preserved in KRA are duplicates of the type documented on Macbride’s photograph (F negative no. 14317, https://fm-digital-assets.fieldmuseum.org/28/661/14317.jpg), and their morphology matches with the description of the taxon.

Figures

Figure 1. Lectotype of Berberis warszewiczii.