Tetraphylloides Doweld, 2017

Doweld, Alexander B., 2017, Tetraphylloides, a new replacement name for Tetraphyllum C. B. Clarke (Gesneriaceae) non Tetraphyllum Hosius & von der Marck (fossil Magnoliophyta), Phytotaxa 329 (3), pp. 293-295 : 293-294

Tetraphylloides Doweld , nom. nov.

≡ Tetraphyllum Clarke (1883: 136) , nom. illeg. non Tetraphyllum Hosius & von der Marck (1880: 137) (Art. 53.1).

= Tetraphyllum Griffith (1854: 148) , nom. nud.

Description:—Terrestrial, perennial herbs with monocarpic stem(s). Stem erect, caulescent, with villose indumentum, bearing a tetramerous (pseudo-)whorl or a leaf pair at the top, and pairs of scale leaves along the stem. Leaves petiolate or (sub)sessile, ovate or lanceolate, partly unequal-sided. Cymes axillary, condensed, flowers nearly sessile; bracteoles small. Sepals 5, almost free to base. Corolla widely funnel-shaped, limb bilabiate to subregular, lobes obtuse. Stamens 4, didynamous, or 2, filaments emerging near corolla base, anthers coherent at the tips, opening by longitudinal slits. Nectary much reduced. Ovary ovoid, style slender, stigma obscurely bilobed. Capsule loculicidal and septicidal, splitting into 4 valves, leaving the two main ribs united to the style and 4 papery enrolled placentae [modified from Weber, 2004].

Type:— T. bengalensis (Clarke) Doweld.

Eponymy: From the Greek τετρα, tetra = four, and φύλλον, phyllon = leaf, and Latin suffix – oideus, similar, alluding to the tetramerous leaf whorl at the top of the plant.

Distribution: Eurasia (Indostan: NE India, Indochina: Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand).

Species number: 3.