Vavara breviflora (Benoist) Benoist ex I.Darbysh. & E.Tripp, 2022

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 : 142

Vavara breviflora (Benoist) Benoist ex I.Darbysh. & E.Tripp , comb. nov.

≡ Rhinacanthus breviflorus Benoist in Notul.

Syst. (Paris) 12: 140. 1946 – Lectotype (designated here): Madagascar, bassin supérieur du Mandrare (Sud-Est), col de Vavara , fl. 10 Nov 1928, Humbert 6532 (P [P00089211]*; isolectotypes: BM [BM013867026]!, K [K000378866]!, P [P00089210]*, TAN [TAN000434]*).

Additional material seen. – Madagascar, chaine du Vohibory (a l’ ouest d’ Ivohibe), fl. 1 Nov 1924, Humbert 3071 ( P [ P00089213 ]*); Prov. de Farafangana, entre Vondrozo et Ivohibe , fl. 18 Sep 1926, Decary 5373 ( P [ P00089212 ]*) .

Notes. – Benoist (1946) described Rhinacanthus breviflorus based on three collections (Decary 5373; Humbert 3071, 6532) of which he designated Humbert 6532 as the type. As there are several specimens of this gathering, we designate (above) one of those at P as lectotype. When Benoist (1962) later described his new genus Vavara containing the single species V. breviflora , he failed to record that it was based on R. breviflorus despite citing the same three collections (without any type designation on this occasion). Therefore, Vavara was not validly published under Art. 41 of the Code ( Turland & al., 2018). This is rectified here by formalizing the new combination.

Vavara breviflora closely resembles some species of Dicliptera , most notably in corolla morphology, but the unique arrangement of the anthers with the two thecae widely separated by 0.8–1 mm appears to be diagnostic. Benoist (1946) recorded the corolla as being sulphur-yellow, which would be an additional diagnostic character, as Dicliptera has corollas that range from white to purple or red. However, on Decary 5373, the flower color is recorded as “white, slightly pink”. We therefore consider it likely that Benoist’ s (1946) record of the flower color is erroneous. We are confident that this genus belongs within Justicieae-Justiciinae but molecular data are needed to reveal its position in relation to Dicliptera and allied genera.