Short Communication |
Corresponding author: Suelma Ribeiro-Silva ( suelma.ribeirosilva@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Leandro Giacomin
© 2017 Suelma Ribeiro-Silva, Sandra Knapp, Carolyn E.B Proença.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Ribeiro-Silva S, Knapp S, Proença CEB (2017) On the identity and typification of Solanum brasilianum Dunal (Solanaceae). PhytoKeys 76: 23-29. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.76.11031
|
Solanum brasilianum Dunal was described by Dunal in 1813 with reference only to an illustration in an 18th century work by Leonard Plukenet. The plate is difficult to interpret and no explicitly related specimens were available so the name S. brasilianum has long been regarded as “unresolved” and has never been used. Material matching the Plukenet plate was discovered in the herbarium of the University of Oxford (OXF) by Stephen Harris during his study of the English privateer William Dampier’s Brazilian collection. The specimen is referable to a common Brazilian Solanum that is a member of the Torva clade, Solanum paniculatum L., making S. brasilianum Dunal a heterotypic synonym. We lectotypify S. brasilianum here, and designate an epitype using the Dampier material from OXF.
Brazil, epitype, Leonard Plukenet, nomenclature, Solanum , William Dampier, William Sherard
Brazil is one of the hotspots of species richness for the mega-diverse genus Solanum L. (Solanaceae), with 272 accepted species (Flora do Brasil 2020, http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/reflora/floradobrasil/FB14716). Much recent work has gone into the resolution of names in the genus (e.g.,
Michel-Félix Dunal described S. brasilianum citing as his only material a figure (“t. 454, f. 4”) from
Otto Sendtner, in Flora brasiliensis (
William Dampier was an English privateer and navigator who circumnavigated the globe three times between 1686 and 1710 (
The branch shown in plate 454, fig. 4 of Plukenet’s Amaltheum botanicum (1705) is completely unarmed, has leaves with entire margins that are markedly discolourous, and are adaxially glabrescent and abaxially densely stellate-tomentose. The small axillary buds above the lower leaves are likely the elements misinterpreted by
Since
Brazil. Sin. loc., no collector cited (lectotype, designated here: Plukenet, L. 1705. Amaltheum botanicum tab. 454, f. 4; epitype, designated here: Brazil. Bahia: Salvador, April-May 1699, W. Dampier “herb. Dampier no. 451”[OXF! (Sher-0451-a)]).
Solanum paniculatum L.
We thank Stephen A. Harris (OXF) who hosted the visit of S.R-S to Oxford. Thanks to CNPq/CAPES/FAPDF through the Reflora Program by grants to S.R-S. who also thanks ICMBio/CECAT. S.K. was funded by the National Science Foundation (USA) PBI award “Solanum-a worldwide monograph” (DEB-0316614).