Carex melanocystis E .Desv. in C.Gay, Fl. Chil. 6: 203 (1854)

Jimenez-Mejias, Pedro, Morales-Alonso, Ana, Oleas, Nora H, Sanchez, Enmily, Martin-Bravo, Santiago, Masa-Iranzo, Irene & S. Meseguer, Andrea, 2023, New relevant chorological and conservation data on Carex (Cyperaceae) and Hypericum (Hypericaceae) from Ecuador, Biodiversity Data Journal 11, pp. 99603-99603 : 99603

Carex melanocystis E.Desv. in C.Gay, Fl. Chil. 6: 203 (1854)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: QCA 36444 , QCNE 141330 ; recordNumber: 55347; recordedBy: S. Lægaard; occurrenceID: QCA 36444 , QCNE 141330; Taxon: scientificName: Carex melanocystis É.Desv; Location : country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Bolívar; verbatimLocality: Km 4 on road Los Arenales-Salinas ; verbatimElevation: 4300 m; locationRemarks: Bolívar. Km 4 on road Los Arenales-Salinas , 01°24'S 78°55'W, 4300 m, grass-sward; georeferenceProtocol: label; Event : eventDate: Oct-02-1985; habitat: grass-sward; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Taxon discussion

Carex melanocystis is widely distributed across the Andes, from Tierra del Fuego to the Central Andes of Peru ( Jiménez-Mejías et al. 2020, Jiménez-Mejías et al. 2021a). It has been recently segregated from the closely-related Holarctic C. maritima Gunnerus ( Jiménez-Mejías et al. 2021b). Carex melanocystis is the only Southern Hemisphere representative of the Disticha clade (subg. Carex Vignea (T.Lestib) Peterm.), where both species are nested.

These are the first confirmed records of C. melanocystis for Ecuador, which become the northernmost limit of the species.