Scleria stipularis Nees (1840: 394‒395)

Schneider, Layla Jamylle Costa, Simões, André Olmos, Dias, Ana Cristina Andrade De Aguiar & Gil, André Dos Santos Bragança, 2023, Typifications in Scleria subgenus Scleria section Hymenolytrum (Cyperaceae), Phytotaxa 606 (3), pp. 170-184 : 177

Scleria stipularis Nees (1840: 394‒395) .

Lectotype (designated here):— GUIANA. s.l.: s.d., fl. and fr., Schomburgk 913 ( BM [000938414] photo! [ Fig. 5 ]; isolectotypes: BM [000938415] photo!, E [00373544] photo!, K [001081686]!, K [001081687]! and P [00605653] photo!).

Nees (1840) published an account of Cyperaceae specimens collected by Schomburgk in Guyana and preserved in John Lindley’s herbarium. That author described Scleria stipularis Nees , based on Schomburgk 913, as having winged sheaths, a membranaceous appendix, linear and scabrous leaf blades, and dense panicles, but no fruit description was provided. Specimens from Lindley’s herbarium are currently incorporated into the BM, CGE and K herbaria ( Stafleu & Cowan 1981). Based on that information, seven specimens with the same data and morphological characters and compatible with the description of Nees (1840) were found. Camelbeke et al. (2003), in a taxonomic treatment of Scleria from Bolivia, elected the material at the BM herbarium as the lectotype to Scleria stipularis . That typification is not valid, however, due to the absence of the term “designated here” or equivalent (art. 7.11 of ICN, Turland et al. 2018). Additionally, the herbarium mentioned (BM) houses two distinct specimens, and the authors should have indicated which of those was selected as the lectotype. Among the original syntypes, the specimen “BM000938414” is designated here as the lectotype of Scleria stipularis , due to the presence of a membranaceous appendix, as well as a dense and branched inflorescence as described in the protologue and, principally, the presence of mature fruits, which are essential for species determinations in Scleria .

Figures

FIGURE 5. Lectotype of Scleria stipularis Nees (Schomburgk 913, BM [000938414]). Image: ©The Trustees of the Natural History Museum (NHM, London, United Kingdom).