Vangueria fulgida (Welw. ex Hiern) Goyder & N.M.J.Davies, 2023

Goyder, David J., Davies, Nina, Finckh, Manfred, Gomes, Amandio, Goncalves, Francisco Maiato P., Meller, Paulina & Paton, Alan J., 2023, New species of Asclepias (Apocynaceae), Baphia (Leguminosae), Cochlospermum (Bixaceae) and Endostemon (Lamiaceae) from the Kalahari sands of Angola and NW Zambia, with one new combination in Vangueria (Rubiaceae), PhytoKeys 232, pp. 145-166 : 145

Vangueria fulgida (Welw. ex Hiern) Goyder & N.M.J.Davies comb. nov.

Ancylanthos fulgidus Welw. ex Hiern in Oliv. (ed.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 3: 159 (1877). Type: Angola, Huíla, Mumpulla to Lopollo, Oct. 1859, Welwitsch 3160 (lectotype: LISU (LISU208624) designated here; paralectotypes: BM, K, LISU, P, PRE). (Basionym).

Ancylanthos rubiginosus Desf., Mém. Mus. Hist. Nat. 4: 5 (1818). Vangueria rubiginosa (Desf.) Lantz, Pl. Syst. Evol. 253: 181 (2005), non V. rubiginosa K.Schum., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 23: 457 (1897) [= Rytigynia rubiginosa (K.Schum.) Robyns, Bull. Jard. Bot. État Bruxelles 11: 209 (1928)]. Type: Angola [without locality or collector, but probably Benguela/Huila Plateau, 1785-1787, J.J. da Silva (Exell & Mendonça 1956: IX & XI, following note on specimen at P)] (holotype: P (P00138559)).

Ancylanthos ferrugineus Welw., J. Trav. Nat. Hist. 1: 29 (1868), nomen nudum.

Ancylanthos bainesii Hiern in Oliv. (ed.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 3: 160 (1877). Type: Baines s.n. (lectotype: K (K000412071) designated by Robyns 1928: 329).

Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes.

Vangueria fulgida is a small woody species with conspicuous orange flowers. It can form single-stemmed plants to 1.5 m in height, but over much of its range it behaves as a geoxylic suffrutex, forming patches of much shorter above-ground shoots that are burned off each year. It is found mostly on Kalahari sands and is widely distributed across Angola, western Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe ( Bridson 1998; Figueiredo 2008a, b).

Molecular studies of the tribe Vanguerieae A.Rich. ex Dumort. ( Lantz and Bremer 2004; Lantz and Bremer 2005; Razafimandimbison et al. 2009) have shown that the species of Ancylanthos Desf. are showy members of Vangueria Juss., and combinations under the latter were made in Lantz and Bremer (2005). However, Vangueria rubiginosa (Desf.) Lantz is a later homonym of V. rubiginosa K.Schum. ( Schumann 1897: 457) and is therefore illegitimate.

The earliest synonym listed by Bridson (1998), Ancylanthos ferrugineus Welw. ( Welwitsch 1868a: 29), must be treated as a nomen nudum because "very pretty" does not constitute a validating description under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants ( Turland et al. 2018). No specimen was cited but, as Welwitsch was writing about the Pedras Negras of Pungo Andongo, Angola it can be inferred that Welwitsch 3159 from this region is probably this plant. Welwitsch’s second account of the Pedras Negras ( Welwitsch 1868b), makes no mention of the plant.

Ancylanthos bainesii Hiern (1877) and A. fulgidus Welw. ex Hiern (1877) were published simultaneously and the epithets are both available under Vangueria , so either could be used as a basionym for a new combination to replace the illegitimate V. rubiginosa (Desf.) Lantz - we have chosen to use A. fulgidus described from the Huíla Plateau of Angola, a name more widely adopted than A. bainesii ( Hiern 1898; Schumann 1903: 390; Durand and Durand 1909: 271; De Wildeman 1910: 424, 1913: 153, 1925: 204; Robyns 1928). We designate the LISU specimen bearing Welwitsch’s handwritten note as the lectotype of this name.

Hiern (1877) cited two specimens in his description of Ancylanthos bainesii . One, without a locality, was just cited as "T. Baines !". The second is the Chapman & Baines collection labelled "lat. 23°". Goyder (2016b) drew attention to problems localising Chapman & Baines ' collections particularly those labelled lat. 23° - if taken literally, this would imply they were collected near the Namibian coast E of Walvis Bay, but as this is desert and therefore unsuitable habitat for most of the species bearing these labels, it is much more likely that, given the well-documented route of the expedition, they originated in northern Botswana. Robyns (1928: 329) effectively lectotypified the name by citing the unlocalised "T. Baines " collection as the type.