Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on neotropical Commelina (Commelinaceae), and an identification key for Brazil, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname and Uruguay
Author
Hassemer, Gustavo
text
Phytotaxa
2017
2017-04-11
303
2
101
117
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.303.2.1
journal article
10.11646/phytotaxa.303.2.1
1179-3163
13687569
7.
Commelina schomburgkiana
Klotzsch
ex
Seubert (1855: 262)
Holotype
:
—
GUYANA
.
R
.
H
. Schomburgk 490
(B-100247302! [
Fig. 7
];
isotype
K-000363254!).
–
Commelina schomburgkiana
var.
latifolia
Klotzsch
ex
Schomburgk (1849: 1064)
,
nom. inval.
(Arts. 35.1 and 38.1; see also Art. 38.3)
Distribution:
—Confirmed occurrences in
Guyana
(where the
type
originated from),
Paraguay
and southern
Brazil
.
Habitat:
—Open areas, particularly forest edges.
FIGURE 5.
Lectotype of
Commelina rufipes
(
C.F.P. von Martius s.n.
, M-0210921). Published with permission of Botanische Staatssammlung München.
FIGURE 6.
Holotype of
Commelinopsis glabrata
(
W.E. Broadway 6716
, K-000363259). Published with permission of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Available online at: http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/K000363259.
FIGURE 7.
Holotype of
Commelina schomburgkiana
(
R.H. Schomburgk 490
, B-100247302). Published with permission of Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem. Available online at: http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100247302.
Conservation status:
—Least Concern (LC). This species has a wide distribution in South America and does not seem to be threatened.
Notes:
—The authorship of
C. schomburgkiana
has been erroneously presented in recent literature such as
Barreto (1997)
,
Zuloaga
et al.
(2008)
and
Hassemer
et al.
(2016b)
, and databases such as IPNI (http://www.ipni.org) and Tropicos (http://tropicos.org).
The taxonomic status of
C. schomburgkiana
, which is part of the
C. diffusa
group, has until now been confusing because the only reliable character to distinguish it from the latter species is leaf shape; linear-lanceolate in
C. schomburgkiana
, ovate to elliptic in
C. diffusa
. However, I discovered another taxonomically informative character. The flowers of
C. schomburgkiana
have three white and blue staminodes (
Fig. 8
), whereas those of
C. diffusa
have two yellow staminodes.