Melocactus alex-bragae, P. J. Braun & Esteves, 2008

Guiggi, Alessandro & Mariotti, Mauro, 2021, Nomenclatural remarks in the genus Melocactus (Cactaceae, Cereeae) from NE Brazil, Phytotaxa 496 (1), pp. 97-100 : 97-98

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/phytotaxa.496.1.7
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6491682
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/F81A711E-5953-FFF2-FF6A-8E11FB171C87
treatment provided by	Marcus
scientific name	Melocactus alex-bragae
status

Treatment

Melocactus alex-bragae View in CoL

Melocactus oreas Miquél (1840: 192) View in CoL subsp. alex-bragae (P.J.Braun & Esteves 2008: 252) Guiggi View in CoL comb. et stat. nov. ≡ Melocactus alexbragae P.J.Braun & Esteves (2008: 252) View in CoL .

Type: ― BRAZIL. Bahia: near the city of Iaçu , 255 m, 21 June 2008, Braga 87 (holotype UFG 40121!, corp, ceph, ar, sp) .

Etymology: ―Dedicated to its discover Alex Braga Nascimento (Braun & Esteves 2008: 251) .

Notes on the taxonomy of Melocactus alex-bragae :―Taxon considered here as a southern geographical subspecies of M. oreas (incl. two subspecies) characterized by its more separated areoles (ca. 23 mm vs. 10 – 18 mm apart), more numerous (to 17 vs. 9 – 15 in number) and paler spines (whitish-cream vs. pale brown to reddish-brown), shorter cephalium (2 – 3 cm vs. to 12 cm high) with few (vs. numerous) and paler bristles (rose-cream vs. dark reddish-brown), larger flower (19 – 23 × 15 mm vs. 17 – 22 × 9 – 10 mm), longer fruit (to 31 mm vs. 14 – 28 mm) see Taylor (1991: 24), Braun & Esteves (2008: 252) and Taylor & Zappi (2004: 369, 2018: 15).

Chorology: ― Brazil ( E Bahia, region of Iaçu) .

Illustrations examined: ―Braun & Esteves (2008: 251–253).

Relevant literature: ―Braun & Esteves (2008), Taylor (1991), Taylor & Zappi (2004, 2018).