Further nomenclatural notes on Malagasy Diospyros L. (Ebenaceae): Goudot types in the Geneva herbarium
Author
Schatz, George E.
Missouri Botanical Garden, P. O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO, 63166 - 0299, U. S. A.
george.schatz@mobot.org
Author
Lowry Ii, Porter P.
Missouri Botanical Garden, P. O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO, 63166 - 0299, U. S. A. & Département Systématique et Evolution (UMR 7205), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, CP 39, rue Cuvier 57, 75231 Paris, cedex 05, France
Author
Mas, Cyrille
Département Systématique et Evolution (UMR 7205), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, CP 39, rue Cuvier 57, 75231 Paris, cedex 05, France.
Author
Callmander, Martin W.
Missouri Botanical Garden, P. O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO, 63166 - 0299, U. S. A. and Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de GenÈve, ch. de l’Impératrice 1, CP 60, 1292 Chambésy, GenÈve, Switzerland.
text
Candollea
2013
2013-12-01
68
2
307
309
journal article
3415
10.15553/c2013v682a15
f1058b01-dc9a-4206-b616-b58b3cc07f51
2235-3658
5713808
2.
Diospyros ferrea
(Willd.)
Bakh.
in Gard. Bull. Straights Settlem. ser. 3, 7: 162. 1933.
Ξ
Ehretia ferrea
Willd
., Phytographia 1: 4. 1794
.
Typus
:
INDIA
:
sine loc., s.d.,
König
s.n.
(holo-:
B
†; iso-:
C
[
C10010825
,
C10010826
,
C10010827
] images seen).
=
Pisonia buxifolia
Rottb
.
in Nye Saml. Kongel. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. 2: 536. 1783
. Ξ
Ferreola buxifolia
(Rottb.) Roxb., Pl. Coromandel
1: 35. 1795.
Ξ
Maba buxifolia
(Rottb.) Pers., Syn. Pl.
2: 606. 1807.
Ξ
Ebenus buxifolia
(Rottb.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl.
2: 408. 1891
. Ξ
Diospyros ferrea
var.
buxifolia
(Rottb.) Bakh.
in Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg ser. 3, 15: 57. 1937
[non
Diospyros buxifolia
Hiern
in Trans. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 12: 218. 1873]
.
Typus:
INDIA
:
sine loc., s.d.,
König
s.n.
(holo-:
C
[
C10010827
]; iso-:
C
[
C10010825
,
C100108 26
] images seen).
=
Maba madagascariensis
A. DC.
, Prodr. 8: 241. 1844.
Ξ
Diospyros ferrea
var.
madagascariensis
(A. DC.) Bakh.
in Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg ser. 3, 15: 432. 1941
.
Lectotypus
(designated here):
MADAGASCAR
:
env. de Tamatave
,
15.II.1831
,
Goudot
s.n.
(
G
[
G0036 8886
]!;
isolecto-:
G
[
G00368906
]!,
G-DC
[
G001 2323
]!).
Observations. –
Maba madagascariensis
A. DC.
was described by Alphonse de
CANDOLLE (1844)
without any indication of a collection other than “v. in h. Deless.”, and a location in
Madagascar
as “prope Tamatave”. At the time, Benjamin Delessert’s herbarium was still at his home in Paris, where both his close friend
A. P. de Candolle
and
de Candolle’s
son Alphonse were frequent visitors (
STAFLEU, 1970
). Delessert died in 1847, and his herbarium was eventually given to the city of Geneva in 1869 by the daughters of Delessert’s brother François. In preparation for his monograph of
Ebenaceae
, W. P. Hiern
visited various herbaria on the continent, including the Delessert herbarium “at Geneva” (
HIERN, 1873: 28
). In his monograph,
HIERN (1873)
placed
M. madagascariensis
in synonymy under
M. buxifolia
(Rottb.) Pers.
, citing three collections from
Madagascar
:
Gerard 28
,
Bernier 112
, and
Pervillé 700
.Regarding the first two of these collections, we have beenu nable to relocate
Gerard 28
,and
Bernier 112
is a
Convolvulaceae
,
Evolvulus alsinoides
(L.) L. from Ling Vatou [Lanivato], although
Bernier 113
is acollection of
Diospyros
(the
type
of
D. bernieri
Hiern
from Tintingue, which we have placed in synonymy under
D. squamosa
A. DC.
), suggesting that Hiern may have made an error when preparing or transcribing his notes. The third collection Hiern cited,
Pervillé 700
, which was collected on Nosy Be, i.e., not near Tamatave, is discussed further below.
Some
eighty years later, PERRIER DE LA BÂTHIE, both in the precursor to (1952a) and treatment of
Ebenaceae
in the
Flore
de
Madagascar
et des Comores
(1952b), accepted
Maba madagascariensis
A. DC.
, stating that it was “toujours représentée dans l’Herbier du Muséum de Paris que par le
type
(Pervillé 700),
qui a été récolté sur l’île de Nosy-be” (
PERRIER DE LA BÂTHIE, 1952a: 104
). Perrier de la BÂthie also accepted
M. buxifolia
as a species of the eastern littoral forest, including
Bernier 112
from “Ile Sainte Marie” among the material cited, apparently repeating Hiern’serror.Given its true provenance as cited in the protologue of near Tamatave, it is unclear why Perrier would have considered
Pervillé 700
from Nosy Be to be the
type
of
M. madagascariensis
. Rather, a specimen at Geneva,
Goudot s.n.
, collected in 1831 at Tamatave, is certainly the
type
of this name. In addition to the collection label, it bears an original label identifying it as “
Maba madagascariensis
A. DC.
” It also bears an annotation label affixed by Frank White in 1972 correctly identifying it as
Diospyros ferrea
(Willd.) Bakh.
, a name based
on
Ehretia ferrea
Willd.
, which provides the oldest available epithet for the taxon first described as
Pisonia buxifolia
Rottb.
, but which cannot be transferred to
Diospyros
because the epithet “buxifolia” is already occupied in
Diospyros
as
D. buxifolia
Hiern (
HIERN,1873
)
.
Pisonia buxifolia
and
Ehretia ferrea
are both based on specimens of
J. G.
König
(s.n.)
collected in
India
, originally deposited in Copenhagen and Berlin respectively.Wehave been unable to locate any material that could be the
König
s.n.
type
of
E. ferrea
, having enquired at both B, where Willdenow was based, and BM, which has significant holdings of
König
specimens. In Copenhagen, there is a
König
collection [C10010827] that bears a handwritten label “Irumbilli Tamulorum idest Lignum duritie fer. dioeca pentandr. baccifera Arbor interdum frutex habitat in sylvis Kön.”, the “Irumbilli Tamulorum”, which refers to the vernacular name (“Irumbilli”) of the Tamil people and derives from the word for iron (“irumpu”) in the Tamil language, corresponding closely to “Irrumbili Thamulorum” in the Rottbøl protologue of
Pisonia buxifolia
.Interestingly,the Willdenow protologue of
Ehretia ferrea
includes the citation “Frambelli Tamulis, i.e. lignum ferreum. Frambo significat ferrum.” Therefore, it seems likely that Rottbøl and Willdenow were studying duplicates of the same
König
gathering, with Willdenow interpreting the “I” in “Irumbilli” as an “F”. The “I” in “Irumbilli” has also been interpreted as a “T”, both by Copenhagen in their transcription of the label on [C10010827] and by Roxburgh;
BAKHUIZEN VAN DEN BRINK (1936
-1941) attributes the vernacular name “Trumbilli” to Roxburgh, and also cites “Iramballi” as another Tamil vernacular name. The
Goudot s.n.
Geneva
type
of
Maba madagascariensis
appears to be conspecific with the
König
s.n.
type
of
Pisonia buxifolia
at Copenhagen, and thus
Maba madagascariensis
is confirmed as a synonym of
Diospyros ferrea
. Whether
D. ferrea
is interpreted to have an extremely broad distribution from
West Africa
to Polynesia and Hawaii, as circumscribed by
BAKHUIZEN VAN DEN BRINK (1936
-1941), is highly questionable. In our opinion, with the exception of material from coastal
East Africa
, collections from continental Africa do not conform particularly well to the
König s.n.
type
of
Pisonia buxifolia
and thus probably do not belong in
D. ferrea
. While coastal collections from Southeast Asia and Polynesia may represent
D. ferrea
, many of the infraspecific taxa described by
BAKHUIZEN VAN DEN BRINK (1936
-1941) may well deserve recognition at the species level pending a comprehensive revision of this complex throughout its range.
The enigma of
Pervillé 700
[P00573496], cited initially by Hiern as representing
Maba buxifolia
,the taxon under which he placed
M. madagascariensis
as asynonym, and then cited by Perrier de la BÂthie as the
type
of
M. madagascariensis
, is further confounded by Descoings’s misinterpretation of handwriting on the label of aPerrier de la BÂthie collection. In his precursor to the treatment of
Dichapetalaceae
for the
Flore de
Madagascar
et des Comores
(
DESCOINGS, 1961
),
DESCOINGS (1960)
described
Dichapetalum thouarsianum
var.
pubescens
Desc.
, citing the
type
as
“Pervillé 700”
,but he then failed to cite this specimen the following year in his
Flore de
Madagascar
treatment. In fact, the specimen in question is certainly
Perrier de la Bâthie
700
[P00298479], collected in 1898 at Tampolo and bearing a handwritten label with an abbreviated signature by Perrier that appears to read
“M. PerrdelB”
, which was misinterpreted by Descoings as
“Pervillé”
, despite the fact that Pervillé had died by 1868. In a supplemental note the following year,
DESCOINGS (1962)
also failed to cite
Pervillé 700
, but did cite
Perrier de la Bâthie
700
, albeit not under
D. thouarsianum
var.
pubescens
,but rather under the species name
D. thouarsianum
with the indication “sans localité”. In placing
D. thouarsianum
var.
pubescens
in synonymy under
D. madagascariense
Poir. var.
madagascariense
,
BRETELER (1981)
perpetuated the incorrect citation of
Perrier de la Bâthie
700
as
Pervillé 700
. In reality,
Pervillé 700
from Nosy Be is neither a
type
of
Maba madagascariensis
nor of
Dichapetalum thouarsianum
var.
pubescens
, nor is it a collection of
Diospyros ferrea
,
which is restricted in
Madagascar
to the east coast.
Rather
, it is indeed an as yet undescribed species of
Diospyros
with affinity to
D. bernieriana
(Baill.) H. Perrier
.