Gunnera manicata Linden ex Delchevalerie (1867: 219)

Hassemer, Gustavo, 2019, Notes on Gunnera (Gunneraceae) in Brazil and Uruguay, Phytotaxa 388 (2), pp. 192-200 : 198

Gunnera manicata Linden ex Delchevalerie (1867: 219)

Type: — UNITED KINGDOM. From the garden of Sir G. Macleay [cultivated], 11 June 1886, Anonymous s.n. (neotype [designated as “ lectotype ”, by Wanntorp et al. 2002b: 497] [one specimen mounted on five sheets, see Art. 8.3 of the ICN] K-000786055!, K-000786056!, K-000786057!, K-000786058!, K-000786059!).

= Gunnera brasiliensis Schindler (1905: 125 , fig. 36)

Type: — BRAZIL. SANTA CATARINA: auf Felsen am Abhang Serra do Oratório, April 1889, E. H. G. Ule 1229 (holotype probably destroyed at B when this herbarium was bombed in 1943; photograph of lost holotype: F-BN-3552! [ Fig. 2 ]; lectotype [designated here] [one specimen mounted on two sheets, see Art. 8.3 of the ICN] P-00238859!, P-00238860! [ Figs. 3–4 ]) .

Distribution: —along high-elevation areas of the Serra Geral in southern Brazil, in Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina states.

Habitat: —cliffs and rock outcrops ( Fig. 5 ).

Conservation status: —Near Threatened (NT). Extent of Occurrence (EoO): 35,674.008 km 2; Area of Occupancy (AoO): 80.000 km 2. This species has a relatively narrow effective area of occupancy due to the rarity of its habitats. Although not immediately classifying in any of the threatened categories, this could change in a near future due to ongoing degradation of rock outcrop environments in southern Brazil ( Falkenberg 2003, Hassemer et al. 2015), and also possibly due to a rise of temperatures, which would leave the species without suitable habitat, as there are no adjacent mountains further south for the species to colonise.

Notes: —The protologue of G. brasiliensis ( Schindler 1905: 125) cited the following specimen: “ Brasilien: Rio de Janeiro, an Felsen am Abhang der Serra do Oratorio (Ule n. 1229, im März fruchtend). — Herb. Berlin.” The indication of Rio de Janeiro is clearly a mistake, since Serra do Oratório is located in Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil. It should be further mentioned that G. manicata (the accepted name for G. brasiliensis ) does not occur in Rio de Janeiro state ( Hassemer 2018). The holotype must have been destroyed in 1943 when B herbarium was bombed; a negative of the lost holotype is kept at F ( Fig. 2 ). The negative of the lost holotype clearly indicates the provenance of the specimen as “im Staat St. Catharina ”. In their monograph of the American Gunneraceae, Mora-Osejo et al. (2011) cited isotypes of G. brasiliensis at GH and P. No such specimens could be located at GH (Danielle Hanrahan, pers. comm.). However, there are two sheets at P, P-00238859 and P-00238860 ( Figs. 3–4 ), which are filed as “ E. Ule 1228 ”. A careful examination of these two sheets, particularly of P-00238859, revealed that the oldest label, apparently the only one written by Ernst Heinrich Georg Ule himself, has been amended and the number “9” is written over the number “8” so it reads “122 9 ”. All other occurrences of “1228” on these two sheets are posterior to this label, and were clearly not written by Ule, because they were either printed or annotated with a very different handwriting to that of Ule. Furthermore, the specimen was collected at the same locality and date as the holotype. It should also be noted that, as it is usual when preparing large Gunnera specimens, these two sheets clearly correspond to a single specimen mounted on two sheets (Art. 8.3 of the ICN), and the erroneous collector number “1228” annotated on the sheet P-00238860 must have been mistakenly taken from the original label on the sheet P-00238859. Supported by this evidence I conclude that (1) these two sheets (P-00238859 and P-00238860) correspond to a single specimen, and (2) this specimen is an isotype of G. brasiliensis . As the only extant original specimen for this name, I designate it as lectotype. In case future studies demonstrated these two sheets do not correspond to a single specimen (which I consider is highly unlikely), I put forward here the alternative of designating P-00238859 as lectotype.

In their treatment of the American Gunneraceae, Mora-Osejo et al. (2011) indicated that G. brasiliensis is a superfluous name (see Art. 52 of the ICN). This was also stated earlier by Shaw (2007). These authors concluded this due to Schindler’s (1905) citation of “ G. manicata ” as a synonym when describing G. brasiliensis . However, this is incorrect because the name that Schindler listed as a synonym of G. brasiliensis , “ G. manicata Linden in Belg. hortic. (1867) 104 (nec alibi, nomen nudum)” (referring to Linden 1867: 104), is not a valid name, as it lacks a description and a diagnosis (Arts. 38.1 and 38.3 of the ICN). Therefore, according to Art. 52 of the ICN, it is erroneous to affirm that Schindler included the type of a name that ought to have been adopted when describing G. brasiliensis , because the name “ G. manicata Linden ” that he cited as synonym is not valid. This is further corroborated by the fact that Schindler (1905: 122–123) did accept “ G. manicata Linden in Illustr. hortic. XX. (1873) 156 nec alibi” (referring to André 1873: 156–157) as a good species (see explanation in Stapf 1919). Here, I am following Shaw (2007) and Mora-Osejo et al. (2011) regarding the correct authorship of the name G. manicata (but see also: Stapf 1919, Wanntorp et al. 2002b).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Negative, kept at F, of the destroyed holotype of Gunnera brasiliensis (E.H.G. Ule 1229, B†). Copyright: Field Museum of Natural History.

FIGURE 3. Lectotype of Gunnera brasiliensis, sheet 1 (E.H.G. Ule 1229, P-00238859).Copyright: Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris).

FIGURE 4. Lectotype of Gunnera brasiliensis, sheet 2 (E.H.G. Ule 1229, P-00238860).Copyright: Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris).

FIGURE 5. Gunnera manicata in situ in Urubici, Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. Photograph by Luís Adriano Funez.