Typification of Mexican Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae)
Author
Steinmann, Victor W.
0000-0003-0103-9575
Instituto de Ecología, A. C., Centro Regional del Bajío, Av. Lázaro Cárdenas 253, 61600 Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico.
steinmav@gmail.com
text
Phytotaxa
2023
2023-12-12
630
1
61
68
https://phytotaxa.mapress.com/pt/article/download/phytotaxa.630.1.5/51357
journal article
10.11646/phytotaxa.630.1.5
1179-3163
10361687
Euphorbia boliviana
Rusby (1907: 442)
≡
Chamaesyce boliviana
(Rusby)
Croizat (1946: 291)
.
Lectotype
(designated here):—
BOLIVIA
. s.l., s.d.,
M. Bang
2907
(
NY
barcode
00263308
!;
isolectotypes
K
barcode
000253892
!,
NY
barcode
00263307
!,
US
no.
799055
/ barcode
00109300
!)
.
Euphorbia boliviana
is a small annual that is disjunct between the mountains of central
Mexico
and the Andes of
Peru
and
Bolivia
. Rusby described the species in an account of the plants collected by Miguel Bang during his botanical explorations of
Bolivia
in the late 1800s. The specimen designated here as
lectotype
was initially labeled as the
holotype
and has been treated as such (e.g.,
Mugnai
et al.
2021
). However, Rusby mentions in the protologue that Bang’s collection is “The same as
Mandon 1064
and
Mathews 502
” without making a specific type designation. Thus, a lectotypification is warranted, and the Bang collection previously considered as the
holotype
is chosen.
It appears that neither
Mandon 1064
nor
Mathews 502
are at NY, where Rusby was a curator at the time he described
Euphorbia boliviana
. There is a collection of
Mandon 1064
at G-DC (barcode G00310544 photo!), but this specimen is
Euphorbia serpens
Kunth
(in
Humboldt
et al.
1817: 52
) and scarcely coincides with the protologue description.
Mathews 502
is at K (barcode K000253893 photo!). However, this specimen appears to be
Euphorbia peruviana
Wheeler (1939: 59)
or a related species and also coincides little with the protologue description of
Euphorbia boliviana
. It bears an annotation by Derek Burch in 1971: “Cited by Rusby when publishing
E. boliviana
—as a joke?”. With regard to the Mandon specimen, it is possible that Rusby erred and meant to cite
Mandon 1063
, which is at NY (barcode 00263317!). It is an
isotype
of
Euphorbia lasiocarpa
Klotzsch (1843: 414)
var.
subprostrata
Boissier
in Candolle (1866: 1262), which I consider a synonym of
E. boliviana
.
Although
Mugnai
et al.
(2021)
treated
E. boliviana
as a synonym of
Euphorbia hypericifolia
Linnaeus (1753: 454)
, it is distinguished from the latter in being pubescent (vs. glabrous).