Nesaea hildebrandtii (Baill.) P. E. Berry

Berry, Paul E. & Esser, Hans-Joachim, 2013, An earlier name for Nesaea pubescens Koehne (Lythraceae), Candollea 68 (1), pp. 65-66 : 65

Nesaea hildebrandtii (Baill.) P. E. Berry , comb. nova.

Ξ Euphorbia hildebrandtii Baill. in Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Paris 1: 615. 1886.

Typus: MADAGASCAR. Prov. Mahajanga: im Untersand des Betsiboka , V.1880, Hildebrandt 3453 (holo-: P [ P00077998 ]!; iso-: G [ G00016822 without a Hildebrandt collection number]!, HBG [ HBG516238 ]!, M [ M0110443 , M0110444 ]!), P [ P00077997 ]!) .

= Nesaea pubescens Koehne in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 22: 149. 1895.

Lectotypus (here designated): MADAGASCAR. Prov. Mahajanga: im Untersand des Betsiboka , V.1880, Hildebrandt 3453 ( K [ K000310529 ]!; isolecto-: M [ M0106651 ]!, P [ P00412923 ex Herbier Drake]!).

Observations. – This is an unusual, but certainly not unprecedented, case of the same collection serving as the type for two species in different families. The specimens that were cited as types of Nesaea pubescens were distributed with labels in Hildebrandt’s handwriting identified as “ Ammannia , ” whereas those cited as types of Euphorbia hildebrandtii were distributed identified as such in Hildebrandt’s same handwriting. Since the holotype of Nesaea pubescens was destroyed at B, we chose the specimen at K as the lectotype, since it is the most complete specimen remaining and was also annotated by Koehne himself as N. pubescens . From the type specimens cited above, there were three separate mounted sheets that ended up at both M and P. With the recognition here that the two species were based on the same collection number, and that all of the duplicates in question do indeed correspond to the same species, they all become type material of their respective names.

Nesaea is a mainly African genus of around 55 species, six of which are found on Madagascar, four of them endemic there

ERRIER DE LA BÂTHIE, 1954, not counting N. crassicaulis (Guill. & Perr.) Koehne , which was erroneously attributed to Madagascar based on a blank-labeled Bojer collection that probably came from Zanzibar). GRAHAM (2007) indicates that Nesaea may be congeneric with Ammannia L., which has a cosmopolitan distribution. Nesaea hildebrandtii is one of the four endemic species on Madagascar and is so far known only from the sandy banks of the Betsiboka River and its tributary the Ikopa River, both in Mahajanga Province.

Additional specimens examined. – MADAGASCAR. Prov. Mahajanga: bords de la Betsiboka, Perrier de la Bâthie 17928 ( P [ P05084276 ]); sables de l’Ikopa , Firingalava, VI.1898, Perrier de la Bâthie 747 ( P [ P05084273 ex Herbier Drake]!); rives et îlots de l’Ikopa en amont de Maevatanana, à Tsarasaotra, 1892, Perrier de la Bâthie 294 ( P [ P05084272 ex Herbier Drake]!) .