Drypetes mucronata C. Wright ex Grisebach (1865: 165)

Leyva, Luis Manuel & García-Beltrán, José Angel, 2024, Taxonomical update of the genus Drypetes (Malpighiales: Putranjivaceae) in Cuba, Phytotaxa 655 (1), pp. 54-64 : 59-60

Drypetes mucronata C. Wright ex Grisebach (1865: 165) .

≡ Drypetes spinulifolia Pax & Hoffmann (1922: 267) .

Lectotype (designated here):— CUBA. “Cuba occ”. 1863. C. Wright 1930 (“50”) (lectotype GOET #3382 [photo!], isolectotypes?: G #325950 [photo!]; GOET #6388 [photo!], K #575895 [photo!], NY ##2684351–2684352 [photos!], S ##S07-12809–S07-12810 [photos!], S-R-10473 [photo!], US ##969108 [photo!], 1323571 [photo!], YU #244619 [photo!]).

Diagnostic features:— Drypetes mucronata is similar to other species of Drypetes in the Caribbean in having a spiny mucronate apex on adult leaves ( D. ilicifolia Krug & Urb. and D. picardae Krug & Urb. ). However, it differs from them in the presence of an entire to irregular dentate-spinescent leaf margin and male flowers with 10–12 stamens (vs. regular dentate-spinescent leaf margin and 7–10 stamens in staminate flowers in D. ilicifolia ), and a turbinate to pear-shaped fruit (vs. a round-spherical fruit in D. picardae ). Additionally, Drypetes mucronata stand out from the other species of Drypetes in Cuba for being the only one with a spiny mucronate margin, male flowers with 10–12 stamens (vs. 3–5 stamens in D. alba subsp. latifolia and 3–6 stamens in D. lateriflora ) and solitary female flowers (vs. grouped in the rest) ( Figure 1G–I ).

Lectotypification:—In the protologue of Drypetes mucronata, Grisebach (1865) mentions having relied on two collections for the description of the taxon, Rugel 371 y C. Wright 1930, so both entire collections should be considered as syntypes of the name ( Turland et al. 2018: Art. 40 Note 1). Still, in GOET no duplicate of Rugel 371 was found. In that herbarium there are only two materials under this name (GOET #3382 and GOET #6388), both with notes and identifications of A. Grisebach. None of the labels on these materials match the nine C. Wright labels described by Howard (1988), nor do they have the number “1930” given by A. Gray to these materials. This is because C. Wright’s collections in Cuba were sent to A. Gray at GH, who assigned numbers and labels before distributing the specimens under a single number to several herbaria ( Howard 1988). In many cases, the shipment of materials from GH to GOET happened prior to the final number labels assignment and were sent with a preliminary number ( Howard 1988). In this case, “50” is the preliminary number that corresponds to C. Wright 1930, of which there is certainty because: (1) only these two belong to D. mucronata among C. Wright’s collections in GOET, (2) they have the name assigned by the collector, which is why A. Grisebach used to attribute such names to C. Wright, and (3) the remaining materials of this species collected by C. Wright were distributed with the number 1930, as indicated by A. Grisebach in the description of his new species, although assigning it to its collector ( Grisebach 1865). As a homologous case, Levin (2013) determined that the preliminary number “47” corresponds to C. Wright 1927 for D. alba subsp. latifolia , which confirms what was explained above.Therefore, as suggested by Howard (1988), when there are two or more materials with the same C. Wright’s collection number, it should be selected as lectotype the one with any identification or comments by A. Grisebach. Since both materials present annotations made by A. Grisebach, we designated GOET #3382 as lectotype because it arrived to such herbarium with the identification of Drypetes mucronata handwritten by C. Wright, hence the first would have attributed the species name to the latter. In addition, it has an envelope with some annotations written by A. Grisebach where apparently says “ Rugel 371 ”. Similar to Drypetes alba subsp. latifolia , the rest of the C. Wright 1930 materials are designated as possible isolectotypes (isolectotypes?) due to the uncertainty that specimens with the same C. Wright’s number were collected at the same date and locality ( Howard 1988).

Distribution:—Endemic to the Caribbean. Native to Cuba and the Bahamas. In Cuba, it is found in the provinces Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Matanzas, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Holguín, Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo, in gallery forest, microphyllous evergreen forest, microphyllous semideciduous forest, mesophyllous semideciduous forest, xeromorphic sub-thorny thicket on serpentinite soils and coastal and sub-coastal xeromorphic thicket, with an elevation between 50–600 m ( Figure 4 ). The records of this taxon in the provinces of Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey corresponds to Faife-Cabrera & al. (2021) in Cayo Paredón Grande and Valdes & al. (2007) in Sierra del Chorrillo, respectively (materials not seen).

Specimens examined:— CUBA. Pinar del Río: “Montes, Península de Guanahacabibes”, 24 July 1955, J. Acuña & F. Zayas SV-19885 (HAJB). “On the summit of Sierra del Ruiseñor”, 21 May 1955, Bro. Alain 4323 ( US #969106). “Península de Guanahacabibes, pedregales en el camino al cabo San Antonio, 27 km desde La Bajada”, 28 November 1984, J. Bisse et al. HFC-55186 (HAJB). “Sierra Caliente, south of Sumidero”, 15–18 August 1912, J. A. Shafer 13782 ( US #1323572). Artemisa: “Morrillo, towards Toscano”, 31 August 1923, E. L. Ekman 17383 ( US #1323567). Matanzas: “Punta Brava”, 1849, F. Rugel 371 (FLAS #154482, NY #1661445, #2684349–2684350). “Península de Zapata, montes a 5 km este de Playa Girón”, 20 April 1977, J. Bisse et al. HFC-34548. Cienfuegos: “Cienfuegos, Castillo de Jagua, manigua al sur del poblado” 9 December 1977, J. Bisse et al. HFC-36412. Sancti Spíritus: “ Trinidad, Topes de Collantes, falda norte y cima de Pico Potrerillo”, 6 May 1977, J. Bisse et al. HFC-34853. Villa Clara: “Santa Clara, Caibarién, Cayo Francés”, 22 February 1924, E. L. Ekman 18576 ( US #1323523). Las Tunas: “En el Socucho, playa de Puerto Padre”, 19–20 May 1957, M. López Figueiras 2926 (HAJB, US #969105). Holguín: “Antilla, in littoral forest on limestone”, 22 May 1916, E. L. Ekman 7352 ( US #969107). “Cayo Guan”, 17 April 1945, J. Acuña SV-12487 (HAJB, US #1323576). “Charrascales al Oeste de Yamanigüey”, 7 May 1980, A. Álvarez et al. HFC-42915 (HAJB). “Charrascos en la zona de Rosa Castillo entre El Quemado y Cabonico”, 16 April 1987, M. Bässler et al. HFC-61415 (HAJB). “Sierra de Nipe, charrascales de la loma del Winche”, 2 November 1979, A. Álvarez et al. HFC-35972 (HAJB). Granma: “Coastal Woods, Ensenada de Mora”, 26–29 March 1912, N. L. Britton et al. 13045 ( US #1323575). “On limestone coastal cliffs: Cape Cruz”, 1 August 1935, Bro. León LS-16369 (HAJB, US #1323570). “On limestone coastal cliffs: El Dudoso, Pilón”, July 1949, Bro. Alain 1095 ( US #1323569). “Pilón, Ensenada de la Mora”, 28 May 1988, A. Álvarez et al. HFC-65525 (HAJB). Santiago de Cuba: “Santiago, in limestone hills (of coral reef) at Aguadores”, 19 November 1917, E. L. Ekman 8939 ( US #1323568). Guantánamo: “Abra de Mariana, loma al oeste del Abra”, 9 February 1979, J. Bisse et al. HFC-39131 (HAJB). “Baitiquirí, en el camino a la Mina del Yeso”, 19 August 1971, J. Bisse HFC-20016 (HAJB). “Barranco oeste del río Caleta desde la desembocadura hasta 1 km rio arriba”, 12 February 1979, J. Bisse et al. HFC-39270 (HAJB). “Entre la Cueva del Agua y El Canto, Punta de Maisí”, 24 April 1986, E. Genes et al. HFC-59191 (HAJB). “Las Cuevas de Cayo Güin, orillas del arroyo”, 12 April 1985, A. Álvarez et al. HFC-55718 (HAJB). “Las Cuevas de Cayo Güin, orillas del arroyo”, 12 April 1985, A. Álvarez et al. HFC-55743 (HAJB). “Monte seco de la mesa del Chivo”, 10 February 1978, J. Bisse et al. HFC-36720 (HAJB). “Zona por encima de la mina de yeso de Baitiquirí”, 13 May 1980, A. Álvarez et al. HFC-43205 (HAJB).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Morphological variability of Drypetes alba subsp. latifolia (A–C), D. lateriflora (D–F) and D. mucronata (G–I) in Cuba in their leaves (A, D and G; scale bars: 2 cm), female flowers (B, E and H; scale bars: 1 mm) and fruits (C, D and I; scale bars: 1 cm). Photos: J. L. Gómez-Hechavarría (A, D and G) and L. M. Leyva (the rest).

FIGURE 4. Distribution map of Drypetes mucronata in Cuba.