Benstonea foetida (Roxb.) Callm. & Buerki

Callmander, Martin W., Lowry Ii, Porter P., Forest, Félix, Devey, Dion S., Beentje, Henk & Buerki, Sven, 2012, Benstonea Callm. & Buerki (Pandanaceae): characterization, circumscription, and distribution of a new genus of screw-pines, with a synopsis of accepted species, Candollea 67 (2), pp. 323-345 : 333

16. Benstonea foetida (Roxb.) Callm. & Buerki , comb.nova.

≡ Pandanus foetidus Roxb. , Fl. Ind. ed. 1832, 3: 742. 1832.

≡ Pandanus wallichianus Martelli in Webbia 4: 36. 1913 [nomen nudum].

Neotypus (designated here): BURMA: Amherst, 1827, Cat. Wallich 8588 ( K [ K000781275 ]! ; isoneo-: K [ K000781 276 ]!, M [ M0175808 , M0175809 , M0175813 ] images seen).

Distribution and ecology. – Benstonea foetida is found in lowland and swamp forests around the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh, Burma and India ( STONE, 1978).

Observations. – ROXBURG described this species in 1832 in his Flora Indica. He wrote that it grew wild in Bengal and was cultivated at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Calcutta. A careful search of various herbaria known to hold collections made by Roxburg failed to reveal any authentic material of Benstonea foetida . In WALLICH’ s catalogue (1831), published the year before the protologue, two collections can be attributed to Pandanus foetidus : Wallich 8588 & 8591. The latter of these represents a staminate inflorescence (E [E00567756] image seen; FI image seen; Kimage seen; M [M0175810] image seen) from Sillet [Sylhet] in Bangladesh. The other collection, Wallich 8588, consists of leaves and separate drupes from Amherst in Burma ( WALLICH, 2005). This collection, held at Kwith some possible duplicates in M, was cited under the nomen nudum, P.wallichianus ( MARTELLI, 1913). The Kspecimen is here designated as the neotype.