Marlierea occhionii D. Legrand (1962: 37)

Santos, Matheus F., Stadnik, Aline, Proença, Carolyn E. B. & Sobral, Marcos, 2020, The near demise of Marlierea: moving last species to correct genera and notes on three incertae saedis taxa (Myrtaceae, Myrteae, Myrciinae), Phytotaxa 447 (3), pp. 195-202 : 198-199

2. Marlierea occhionii D. Legrand (1962: 37) .

Type:— BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro: Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos, 6 July 1947 (fl), Occhioni 1044 (holotype: MVM!; isotype: RB or RFA [not seen: lost?]) .

Marlierea occhionii presents typical features of Pliniinae , such as the midvein raised on the adaxial surface, hypanthium prolonged beyond the ovary apex and reduced calyx lobes that split irregularly at anthesis.

The protologue (i.e. Legrand 1962) has little information about the species (see Barroso & Peixoto 1992). Barroso & Peixoto (1992) compared the species with Marlierea brachymischa (= Myrciaria floribunda ), but M. occhionii is distinct from it by presenting a blade with adaxially raised midvein and racemiform inflorescence. Holotype analysis shows that the species is similar to Plinia pumila ( Gardner 1845: 102) Souza & Sobral in Sobral et al. (2017: 88) due to leaf morphology, inflorescence structure and number of ovules per locule.

Preliminary phylogenetic analysis suggests a clade inside Pliniinae composed by species with long main inflorescence axis and two ovules per locule, which may be segregated as a genus (Stadnik et al. in prep.). Both features are found in Marlierea occhionii and Plinia pumila . Due to this uncertainty about the generic circumscription within Pliniinae , we leave M. occhionii as incertae saedis for the time being.

The holotype has a label from RB, the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro ( Brazil), but no duplicates were found there. Several collections made by the collector of the type (Paulo Occhioni) from the same day and locality are found at the RFA herbarium where he was professor, but no isotype has been found there either.