Comolia berberifolia (Bonpl.) De Candolle (1828: 115)

Silva, Diego Nunes Da, Rocha, Maria José Reis Da, Maia, Vítor Hugo, Guimarães, Elsie Franklin & Guimarães, Paulo José Fernandes, 2021, Checklist, typifications, and nomenclatural notes on Comolia (Melastomataceae, Marcetieae), Phytotaxa 497 (3), pp. 247-262 : 249

2. Comolia berberifolia (Bonpl.) De Candolle (1828: 115) .≡ Rhexia berberifolia Bonpl. (in Humboldt& Bonpland 1820: 110, pl. 42). Type:—Brésil [ BRAZIL]. habitat cum pr ӕcedente, s.d., A.R. Ferreira s.n. (lectotype, designated here: P! [P00482343; negative of P at F! herbarium number 36179; photo of P at NY!]; isolectotype: BR! [BR0000008930712 fragment and draft of the original illustration]).

Notes:— Comolia berberifolia is the type species of the genus ( De Candolle 1828). On the lectotype label there are inscriptions “ Rhexia berberidifolia ” and “ Comolia berberidifolia ” ( Figure 2A ), but in the publications of Humboldt & Bonpland (1820) and De Candolle (1828) the epithet adopted was “ berberifolia ”. As indicated in the protologue of C. berberifolia , the original material was deposited at P ( De Candolle 1828). It should be noted that the collections deposited at P were examined by Humboldt & Bonpland (1823, see Preface).

While studying the collections of Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira (1756–1815), Wurdack (1971) highlighted that Ferreira’s collections were examined by Bonpland and De Candolle and also attributed the original material of C. berberifolia to this collector. Alexandre R. Ferreira carried out numerous scientific activities in the region surrounding Barcelos municipality, Amazonas state, Brazil, at the end of the 18 th century ( Goeldi 1895), and we suspect that the type species of the genus may have been collected in this region .

However,in addition to the collection at P ( P 00482343, Figure2A ),we found a collection at BR ( BR 0000008930712, Figures 2B–E ), with a sheet containing a sketch of the original illustration and description ( Figures 2B–C ), a fragment of the type ( Figures 2B and D ), and a draft of the description of Flora brasiliensis prepared by Cogniaux (1885) ( Figure 2E ). Rocha et al. (2018) also mentioned the duplicate at BR, however considered mistakenly the specimen at P as the holotype, because these are syntypes. Since the sketch of the original illustration is on the sheet at BR, we interpret that this material composes the original material. Thus, typification is necessary (see Article 9.3 of the ICN) and here we consider A. R. Ferreira s.n. deposited at P ( P 00482343, Figure 2A ) as the lectotype.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Photographs of the original materials of Comolia berberifolia (Bonpl.) DC. A. Lectotype at P (P00482343). B–D. Details of isolectotype at BR (BR0000008930712). B. Isolectotype with original draft description in the background and the fragment of the type. C. Detail of sketch of the original illustration. D. Fragment of the type. E. Draft description prepared by Cogniaux with the isolectotype at BR. Sources: ©Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, P00482343. Available in: http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/ p/p00482343. ©National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Meise Botanic Garden, Meise, BR0000008930712. Available in: http://www. botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000008930712.