Galactia, Browne, 1756

Ceolin, Guilherme B. & Miotto, Sílvia T. S., 2013, Synopsis of the genus Galactia (Phaseoleae, Papilionoideae, Leguminosae) in Brazil, Phytotaxa 134 (1), pp. 1-26 : 8

12. Galactia grewiifolia (Bentham) Taubert (1894: 368) .

Basyonim: Collaea grewiifolia Bentham (1837: 64) . Type: — BRAZIL. Minas Gerais: Riedel 2487 (holotype F![photo]; isotype W!) .

Galactia irwinii R.S. Cowan (1961: 284) . Type: — BRAZIL. Minas Gerais: Irwin 2381 (holotype US!; isotype NY!). syn. nov.

Prostrate to erect herbs or subshrubs; leaves unifoliolate, almost sessile; inflorescences smaller than or equal to the leaves that subtend them; flowers densely aggregated.

Selected specimen: — BRAZIL. Mato Grosso do Sul: Campo Grande , 20º31’S 54º13’W, 22 December 2006, G. A. Damasceno-Junior 4770 (CGMS) .

Distribution: — Paraguay and Brazil (DF, GO, MG, MS, MT, SP).

Habitat and ecology:—Cerrado biome, growing in grassy, shrubby and arboreal savannas, on sandy, clay and rocky soils, on plains and on steep slopes. Abundant, forming large populations.

Notes:— Burkart (1971) stated that G. grewiifolia and G. irwinii appear to be morphologically closely related species. The type of G. irwinii has the same dense white pubescence on the adaxial surface of leaflets as does G. grewiifolia . The inflorescences of G. irwinii differ in the leaves that subtend them and flowers are restricted to the distal third of the inflorescence, a difference which might confer reproductive isolation. The problem in accepting this taxon relies on the fact that there are few collections of it. Thus, it is impossible to know if they are not only cases of isolated individuals with some anomalies. Many species of Galactia have short and long inflorescences in the same individual, and the number of flowers may vary simply due to the age of the inflorescence. In short, there are many causes for this sort of variation and only one individual is not sufficient to decide the case. Because the species are otherwise very similar and because of the insufficient number of collections in herbaria of G. irwinii , we here consider the two to be conspecific.

Phenology:— Flowering and fruiting from September to May.