Barlerieae

Manzitto-Tripp, Erin A., Darbyshire, Iain, Daniel, Lucinda A. McDade Thomas F. & Kiel, Carrie A., 2022, Revised classification of Acanthaceae and worldwide dichotomous keys, TAXON 71 (1), pp. 103-153 : 140

Barlerieae Nees in Martius, Fl. Bras. 9: 7, 65. 1847

– Type: Barleria L.

= Russeggereae Meisn., Pl. Vasc. Gen., Tab. Diagn.: 293 & Comm.: 202. 1840 – Type: Russeggera Endl. (= Lepidagathis Willd.).

Perennial, herbs, shrubs or rarely small trees, with cystoliths, these sometimes occurring in adjacent cells to form “double cystoliths”; leaves opposite, sometimes subrosulate; inflorescences terminal or axillary, varying from flowers solitary to held in complex dichasial or monochasial cymes or thyrses; flowers subtended by paired bracteoles, bracts and/or bracteoles inconspicuous or conspicuous, sometimes with multiple whorls of bracts subtending the flowers; calyces varying from equally to highly unequally 5-lobed or reduced to 4 highly unequal lobes through fusion of the anterior pair of lobes; corollas variable in size, shape and color, strongly bilabiate to subactinomorphic, rugula absent, aestivation quincuncial (i.e., lateral lobes outermost in bud); androecium either of 4 stamens, then didynamous to strongly so, or of 2 stamens plus 2–3 staminodes, anthers in taxa with 2 stamens bithecous, anthers in taxa with 4 stamens either all bithecous or with 2 pairs bithecous and 2 pairs monothecous, thecae in bithecous stamens ± equally inserted on filament, parallel or slightly sagittate, with or more often without short basal appendages; stigma either 2-lobed or with only 1 lobe developing, this either linear or enlarged and flattened; capsule fusiform or conspicuously rostrate, or sometimes stipitate, 2–4-seeded, retinacula present, without fracturing placentae; seeds discoid to lenticular, surfaces often covered in hygroscopic trichomes, these rarely sparse or absent; pollen variable, frequent forms include (1) globose, 3-porate or 3-colporate with a coarsely reticulate exine, (2) prolate, 3-colporate with a finely reticulate exine, or (3) globose to subprolate 3-porate (to 6-porate), with a gemmate, verrucose or rugose sculpturing of the exine.

Note. – The tribal name Russeggereae predates Barlerieae by seven years and so has nomenclatural priority. Russeggereae was described by Meisner to accommodate two genera described by Endlicher, Russeggera (= Lepidagathis ) and Schwabea , the latter of which is an excluded name in the current classification. This name has never been used since its first description, whereas the name Barlerieae has been applied frequently to this tribe as currently circumscribed (e.g., Manktelow & al., 2001; McDade & al., 2008; Champluvier & Darbyshire, 2012; Darbyshire & al., 2019a,c; Comito & al., in rev.), and a comparison of citations on Google Scholar reveals 124 references to Barlerieae but 0 references to Russeggereae. There is no option under the Code ( Turland & al., 2018) to conserve names between the ranks of family and genus, but under Art. 56, rejection of a name at any rank can be proposed. The current authors are therefore preparing a proposal to reject the name Russeggereae, given that abandoning Barlerieae would be a “disadvantageous nomenclatural change” (Art. 56.1). In the meantime, we maintain Barlerieae over Russeggereae in the current classification. A description of Barlerieae is provided above to clarify the circumscription of this tribe.