Ficus crassiuscula Warburg ex Standley (1917: 12)

Pederneiras, Leandro Cardoso, Mansano, Vidal De Freitas & Romaniuc-Neto, Sergio, 2017, Taxonomic synopsis of the Ficus sect. Pharmacosycea (Moraceae) from Colombia, Phytotaxa 313 (1), pp. 1-22 : 5

4. Ficus crassiuscula Warburg ex Standley (1917: 12) .

Type :— COSTA RICA. La Fortuna, Volcán de Irazú, Jul 1901, H. Pittier 16150 (holotype: US!; isotypes: B! G!) .

= Ficus boyacensis Dugand (1942: 31) . Type:— COLOMBIA. Boyacá: Maripí, hacienda “Yanacá”, 22 December1936, H. García-Barriga 4847 (lectotype designated here: COL-3801! isolectotype: COL-3802!).

= Ficus crassa Klotzsch & H. Karsten ex Dugand (1942: 35) . Type:— COLOMBIA. 1848, Karsten s.n. (Neotype designated here: B!). Disappeared type: “Columbien”, 1847, Karsten s.n. (holotype: B†, F photo!).

Terrestrial trees, 20–30 m tall. Leaf blade 12–17 cm long, 6.0–8.0 cm wide, elliptic to obovate, base cuneate, apex acute, rarely obtuse, face adaxial glabrous, face abaxial puberulent or glabrous; secondary veins 15–27 pairs; petiole 2.0–4.0 cm long, hispid, periderm persistent; stipules caducous, 4.5–6.0 cm long, glabrous. Syconia solitary; peduncle 15–25 mm long, glabrous; lateral bracts sometimes present, solitary; receptacle 2.7–3.5 cm in diam. when dry, glabrous, apex rounded ( Fig. 3A ).

Distribution and habitat in Colombia: — Antioquia, Boyacá, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Santander, Valle del Cauca, and Norte de Santander, in montane rainforests at elevations of 1550–2400 m ( Fig. 2 ).

Selected specimens: — COLOMBIA. Moritz s.n. (P).— ANTIOQUIA: Amalfi, Vereda Guayabito, Tuberquia 1094 (COL, JAUM); Anorí, Vereda La Cristalina, parte alta del camino a la Vereda Chagualo, López 870 (HUA); Betania, Pedral Arriba, La Bramadora, Sánchez 4711 (COL).— CAUCA: El Tampo, Vereda La Romelia, Parque Nacional Maunchique, Jarvenpaa 33 (COL).— CUNDINAMARCA: Pacho, Hacienda Patasia, García-Barriga 12511 (COL, US).— SANTANDER: Encino, Reserva Biológica Cachalu, Ávila 466 (COL).— VALLE DEL CAUCA: El Cairo, Monte La Guarida, entre las Brisas y Alban, Cuatrecasas 22247 (COL, US).— NORTE DE SANTANDER: La Playa de Belén, Vereda Piritama, Dueñas 575 (HUA).

Notes:— The circumscription of Ficus crassiuscula was expanded by Kvitvik (1995), Berg & Simonis (2000), Berg & Villavicencio (2004), Berg (2009) because it was interpreted as containing F. crassivenosa as a synonym. Only Burger (1977) considered the two taxa distinct. Burger noted that F. crassiuscula occurs in forests and not along rivers, like other species of F. sect. Pharmacosycea . Ficus crassiuscula differs from F. crassivenosa mainly by its initial habit (terrestrial vs. hemi-epiphyte, respectively).

There are two type specimens of Ficus boyacensis in the Herbario Nacional Colombiano (COL): H. García-Barriga 4847 (COL-3801, COL-3802). According to the ICNAFP ( McNeill et al. 2012, Art. 9.1), a holotype of a name of a species is the one specimen, i.e., a single herbarium sheet (Art.8.2) or more than one preparation with the parts clearly labelled as being part of the same specimen (Art.8.3). Dugand (1942) did not labelled these two specimens (COL-3801, COL-3802) as being part of one collection, thus, they are duplicates and a lectotype must be chosen (Art. 9.1 and 9.2). We choose COL-3801 because this herbarium sheet has a more complete specimen that, besides twig and leaves, it has stipules and syconium with peduncle.

Ficus crassa was described based on a specimen from the Berlin Botanical Garden herbarium (B). The original material (“Columbien,” 1847, Karsten s.n., B11700) is apparently no longer extant (probably destroyed in World War II), but was imaged in a photograph deposited in F (neg. 11700). We have chosen as neotype a specimen collected by Karsten in 1848 in Colombia that fits the protologue and closely resembles the photo of the missing type.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Distribution of Ficus aequatoriales, F. apollinaris, F. carchiana, F. crassiuscula, F. crassivenosa, F. dewolfii and F. dulciaria in Colombia based on herbarium specimens.

FIGURE 3. Twigs with syconia and stipules. A. Ficus crassiuscula (Sanchez 4711). B, C. F. crassivenosa (Juncosa 2515). D. F. dewolfii (Pipoly 21065).