Passiflora stipulata Aubl.

Rome, Maxime, MacDOUGAL, John M., Svoboda, Harlan T. & COPPENS D’EECKENBRUGGE, Geo, 2024, A revised and annotated checklist of the genus Passiflora L. in French Guiana, Adansonia (3) 46 (20), pp. 197-221 : 215

Passiflora stipulata Aubl.

Histoire des plantes de la Guiane Françoise 2: 830, pl. 325 ( Aublet 1775). — Type specimens: Plate 325 from Aublet, Histoire des plantes de la Guiane Françoise 2 ( Aublet 1775) (lecto-, designated here) ( Fig. 6 ). —

Suriname • Mts Bakhuis, concession BMS; 4°44’30”N, 56°41’09”W; 4.IV.2006; B. Bordenave 8350; epi-, US [ US01080712 ], designated here ( Fig. 7 ).

Passiflora garckei Mast., Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 27 (4): 639 ( Masters 1871), syn. nov.

Passiflora glauca Aiton, Hortus Kewensis 3: 308 ( Aiton 1789).

Passiflora pruinosa Mast., The Gardeners’ Chronicle & Agricultural Gazette 2: 393 ( Masters 1897), syn. nov.

Passiflora glaucophylla Pulle, An Enumeration of the Vascular Plants Known from Surinam 323, t. 14 f. 1-2, t. 15 ( Pulle 1906), syn. nov.

Passiflora garckei subsp. pentaloba Engels & Koch, Phytotaxa 402 (1): 17 ( Koch et al. 2019), syn. nov.

DISTRIBUTION. — Guianas, Amazon and Orinoco basins.

NOTE

Killip (1938) mentioned that “the region in which this species is native is uncertain”, because it was first collected by Aublet from “cultivated places”. Indeed, Aublet wrote this in his Latin diagnosis, but he specified in his French discussion that he found this plant in newly cleared land, implying that it was a native species discovered thanks to the forest clearing.

In the table of contents of the Jussieu herbarium, a specimen of P. stipulata is mentioned, but it could not be found. In the Adanson herbarium, now at P, another specimen (P-A-21430) of this species is cited but this one, which we observed, corresponds to a liana from a different family ( Cucurbitaceae ).

Passiflora stipulata has often been confused with P. retipetala , but the latter is easily recognized by its yellow-glandular aristate stipules. Passiflora stipulata is the oldest of the various names in the Passiflora supersect. Stipulata . Variations among the species of this supersection relate to the depth of petiole insertion into the peltate laminae, the number of petiolar glands, the leaf lobe apex shape, the lobulation depth, and the amount of blue-purple on the corona. Passiflora stipulata was discovered just south of Cayenne and the lectotype shows a good illustration of the sterile plant. The number of glands on the petiole, the clearly peltate leaves and the slightly acuminate stipules with a rounded base are consistent with the observations of P. garckei in French Guiana. We keep the name P. stipulata being prior to that of P. garckei . Passiflora glauca Aiton (1789) “native of Cayenne” must be this taxon also, though the corona color is paler. Indeed, we observe a variation in the darkest color of the flower filaments ranging from pink purple to blue. According to the samples observed, the arrangement of the coloring of these filaments can also vary. On the herbarium specimen C. Bhikhi 329 [U1615135], collected in Suriname, it is mentioned “corona purple to white at the base and to center and finally purple again in the center”, while on the specimen S. Tillett 44872 [ US 3352794] collected in Guyana, the corona is “deep blue longer portion” and “light pinkish blue at base of ovary.” Finally, the leaves are also very heteromorphic. In French Guiana, we can find leaves with three or more divided lobes, like intermediate forms (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154799582) with P. garckei subsp. pentaloba Engels & Koch described in Brazil.

Figures

FIG. 6. — Plate 325 from Aublet (1775), Histoire des plantes de la Guiane Françoise 2, designated as lectotype of P. stipulata Aubl. (image courtesy of the Peter H. Raven Library, Missouri Botanical Garden via the Biodiversity Heritage Library).

FIG. 7. — SpecimenB.Bordenave 8350, the designated epitype of P.stipulataAubl.