Corbichonia decumbens ( Forsskål 1775: 103 ) Exell (1935: 80)

Sukhorukov, Alexander P. & Kushunina, Maria, 2015, Taxonomy and chorology of Corbichonia (Lophiocarpaceae s. l.) with further description of a new species from Southern Africa, Phytotaxa 218 (3), pp. 227-240 : 228-229

1. Corbichonia decumbens ( Forsskål 1775: 103) Exell (1935: 80) . ( Fig. 1 A–B ).

Bas.: Orygia decumbens Forsskål (1775: 103) ≡ Portulaca decumbens ( Forsskål 1775: 103) Vahl (1790: 33) ≡ Talinum decumbens ( Forsskål 1775: 103) Willdenow (1799: 864)

Type (lectotype designated here by A. Sukhorukov):―[no information about the locality, date and collector 3] (BM-000944675!, isotype C). Image of the lectotype available at https://plants.jstor.org/stable/history/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.bm000944675

1 Images of Corbichonia are available at: http://science.mnhn.fr/institution/mnhn/collection/p/item/search. Some of them can be identified precisely without a closer look, and have been cited in this article.

2 Images of Corbichonia are available at: http://www.herbarien.uzh.ch/static/database/artenliste_en.php?l=&spCouCod=&spTaxFlg=A&spFam=&sp Gen= Corbichonia &spSpeEpi=&spInfEpi=&spSpeAut=&spColNam=&spCou=&spTaxFlg=A&spTypFlg=%25&spHer=%25&sort=familie&Subm it=Suchen. Some of them can be identified precisely without a closer look, and have been cited in this article.

3 The possible location of the authentic specimens is in “Musa” ( Forsskål 1775: 103), West Yemen, probably Ta’izz governorate, near Mocha [“Taaes, Musa vicus Mochhae proximus” ( Forsskål 1775: 90)].

= Axonotechium trianthemoides (B. Heyne 1821: 231) Fenzl (1836: 355) .

Bas.: Glinus trianthemoides B. Heyne in Roth (1821: 231).

Type: not designated 4.

= Telephium laxiflorum Candolle (1828: 366) .

Type:—“Catalogus geographicus plantarum Africae australis extratropicae”, Portulaca, Burchell 205A (holotype, G-DC-G00488203!) ( Fig. 2 ).

= Orygia mucronata Klotzsch in Peters (1862: 140) ≡ Glinus mucronatus (Klotzsch in Peters 1862: 140) Klotzsch in Peters (1864: 570).

Type (lectotype designated here by Sukhorukov):— MOZAMBIQUE. [Tete province]: Rios de Sena (Tette) [Tete], Dr. Peters 8 (K-000232039!). Image of the lectotype available at http://www.kew.org/herbcatimg/37563.jpg

Typification of Orygia mucronata :—The specimen cited is certainly part of the original Peters’ collection. The authentic material at B has been missing, perhaps, since the mid-1940s (Robert Vogt, pers. comm.). The specimen at K bears a perennial herb or a subshrub collected in the early reproductive stage with two unripe fruits and many flowers. Despite this, the seeds distinctly possess the papillae-like outgrowths on the seed surface like in C. decumbens . Klotzsch (in Peters 1862–1864) distinguished O. mucronata from O. decumbens s. str. in several characters (suffruticose habit, absence of the petals, and different number of stamens). The restricted number of flowers on the authentic specimen or lack of additional material does not allow a precise confirmation of Klotzsch’s conclusion about the total absence of petaloid staminodia in all perennial individuals of Corbichonia from East Africa. Further field investigations need to clarify whether perennial forms of C. decumbens from Eastern Tropical Africa ( Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique) are distant from annual Corbichonia , or whether C. decumbens can form both annual and perennial life forms. However, such suffruticose individuals are seen on the specimens from diverse African or Asian locations. The synonymization of Corbichonia decumbens with Orygia mucronata can still be accepted, but with some doubt.

4 Described from East India without precise location: the type specimens of G. trianthemoides are not known, but determinations of B. Heyne were seen at Kew herbarium.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Images of Corbichonia decumbens (photo by B. Wursten) and C. rubriviolacea (photos by S. Rügheimer et al.). A) C. decumbens, general view (ZIMBABWE. Masvingo province: Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve, 21°6’S 31°52’E, 360 m), B) C. decumbens, flower (MOZAMBIQUE. Sofala province: Chitengo Camp, Gorongosa National Park, 18°58’47” S 34°21’8” E, 37 m, 29 January 2007), C) C. rubriviolacea, general view (SW Africa, without precise location), D) C. rubriviolacea, flowers (SW Africa, without precise location).

FIGURE 2. Holotype of Telephium laxiflorum (G-DC-G00488203!).