8.4. Mirabilis laevis (Bentham) Curran (1888: 235)

≡ Oxybaphus laevis Bentham (1844: 44) .

Lectotype (here designated):― MEXICO, Baja California, Bay of Magdalena, 1841, Hinds s.n., K000572664 [image!] image available at http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/ K000572664).

Typification of the name Oxybaphus laevis:― The protologue of O. laevis (Bentham 1844: 44) consists of a short description and the citation of the locality “Bay of Magdalena”. The only specimen of O. laevis collected by a member of the Voyage of the H.M.S. Sulphur is deposited in K (barcode K000572664) and it was collected by Hinds (who was attached to the expedition) in 1841. This specimen was labeled by Spellenberg in 1991 as holotype. However, according to Art. 9.1 ICN, it can not be the holotype, instead, it is a sintype (Art. 9.6 ICN). K-000572664 is here designated as lectotype (it is the only original material know so far); it matches Bentham’s protologue and corresponds to the currect concept in Mirabilis (see e.g., Jepson Flora Project 2022, Spellenberg 2003).

Distribution in Mexico: ―It is reported from Baja California, Baja California Sur and Sonora (Spellenberg & Rodríguez 2001). In Sonora it is distributed in Baja California and Sonoran biogeographic provinces (Fig. 4C), and has been collected in Hermosillo (Isla San Esteban), Pitiquito, Puerto Peñasco, San Luis Río Colorado and Sáric municipalities, in beach dunes and xerophytic scrub, at 0–1100 m a.s.l.