Wissadula contracta (Link) R.E.Fr. (1908: 60)

Bovini, Massimo G. & Baumgratz, José Fernando A., 2016, Taxonomic revision of Wissadula (Malvoideae, Malvaceae) in Brazil, Phytotaxa 243 (3), pp. 201-234 : 215-217

5. Wissadula contracta (Link) R.E.Fr. (1908: 60) .

Sida contracta Link. (1822: 204) . Abutilon contractum (Link.) Sweet (1830: 64) . Type:— VENEZUELA. Caracas, prope Tabacal, Funck (as “Galeotti”) 460 (neotype: P designated by Fryxell 2002).

Sida luciana DC. (1824: 468) . Abutilon lucianum (DC.) Sweet (1830: 64) . Wissadula luciana (DC.) Bentham ex Triana & Planch (1862: 188) . Type:— SANTA LUCIA. Without date, fr., Anderson s.n. (holotype: BM!, G-DC.!, CTES, photo!).

Sida leschenaultiana DC. (1824: 468) . Abutilon leschenaultianum (DC.) Sweet (1826: 53) . Wissadula leschenaultiana (DC.) Masters in Hooker f. (1874: 325). Type:— INDIA. Without date, fl., fr., Lechenault s.n. (holotype: G-DC, CTES, photo!).

Abutilon leucanthemum A. St. -Hil. (1827: 200). Sida leucanthema (A. St.-Hil.) D. Dietrich (1847: 852). Type:— BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro, prope vicum dictum S. Gonzalo, without date, St. -Hilaire s.n. (holotype: P).

Abutilon periplocifolium Sweet var. albicans Griseb. (1859: 77) . Type:— TRINIDAD. Without date, fl., fr., Crueger s.n. (holotype: K!).

Subshrubs or shrubs 1.8–2.5 m tall, erect. Branches pubescent, trichomes whitish, fasciculate. Stipules ca. 1 cm long., linear to lanceolate, free, caducous, hirtellous, trichomes simple, fasciculate or multiradiate. Leaves with petioles 2–5.5 cm long, indumentum and trichomes similar to branches; lamina 5–15.5 × 4–13.5 cm, membranaceous, green discolour, cordiform or cordiform-lanceolate, base cordate, apex short to long acuminate, margin entire to undulate; adaxial surface puberulous to velutinous, trichomes hyaline or whitish, simple, glandular, fasciculate and multiradiate, abaxial surface whitish, velutinous, trichomes fasciculate, frequently multiradiate-stipitate; frequently 2 or 3 leaves reduced on the distal nodes, frequently to the inflorescence, 1–1.5 × 1.2–1.3 cm, cordate-lanceolate, indumentum and trichomes similar to those on the lamina. Synflorescence frondose-bracteate, cylindrical, congested; coflorescences double-racemes, 20–25 cm long; acessory axis reduced 2(3) flowers; anthopodium 1–1.1 cm long, pubescent, trichomes fasciculate and fasciculate-stipitate. Flowers with pedicel 8–9 mm long, indumentum and trichomes like the anthopodium ca. 1 cm long.; calyx 6–7 mm long, sepals free to the middle below to medium portion, not accrescent in fruitfication, adaxial surface pubescent, trichomes fasciculate and fasciculate-stipitate, abaxial surface hirsutellous, trichomes simple; corolla ca. 1 cm diam, white to beige, with dark center; staminal column with few trichomes hyaline, simple and fasciculate-stipitate, filaments 2–3 mm long, few trichomes hyaline, simple; ovary 4–5–celled, 3 ovules per cell; style ca. 4 mm long. Schizocarp 0.7–0.8 (-1) cm diam; 4–5 mericarps, 7–8 × 3–4 mm, spines ca. 1 mm long, constriction inconspicuous, puberolous, trichomes simple and glandular, few fasciculate; seeds 3, ca. 2 mm long, puberulous, trichomes simple, all surface, hilum hirsutullous, trichomes simple. ( Figs. 5j–l ).

Representative Specimens Examined— BRAZIL. Roraima: rio Surumu , November 1909, fl., Ule 8419 (K) . Ceará: 1919, fl., Rocha 34 ( SP) ; Serra de Merusco , 9 July 1957, fl., fr., Fernandes s.n. ( RBR) ; without date, fl., fr., Allemão & Cysneiros 115 (R). Rio Grande do Norte: Portoalegre , 5 November 1984, fl., fr., Pinto et al. 280 ( CTES, RB) . Paraíba: Alagoinha , 9 March 1935, fr., Xavier 327 ( RB, RBR) ; March 1940, fl., fr., Deslandes s.n. ( SP 43520 ) . Pernambuco: Gravatá , km 96, 3 February 1981, fl., fr., Krapovickas et al. 38021 ( CTES) ; Maraial, Engenho Curtume , 25 August 1996, fl., fr., Siqueira-Filho & Baracho 90 ( UFP) ; Serra Talhada , 9 August 1996, fr., Baracho & Siqueira-Filho 26 ( UFP) . Sergipe: Serra Manoinha , 25 July 1964, fr., Castellanos & Duarte 498 ( CTES, HBR) . Bahia: Castro Alves , 27 July 1964, fl., Santos & Sacco 1962 (R) ; Cruz das Almas, 1956, fr., Monteiro s. n. ( RBR) ; Itapetinga / Itororó , 19 April 1978, fl., fr., Mattos Silva 168 ( CEPEC, CTES) ; Jacobina , 25 August 1980, fr., Orlandi 225 ( RB) ; 8 km de Mingaba, 1 September 1981, fl., fr., Orlandi 489 ( RB) ; Juazeiro , 6 August 1967, fl., fr., Krapovickas 12899 ( CTES) ; Mucugê , entre a BA-142 e o início da BA-245, 24 September 2005, fl., fr., Bovini 2505 ( RB) ; Oliveira dos Brejinhos, 15 April 1999, fl., Amorim et al. 2862 ( CEPEC, SP) ; Porto Seguro , 21 March 1974, fl., fr., Harley 17259 ( CTES, K, RB) ; Rio de Contas , 26 September 2005, fr., Bovini et al. 2515 ( RB) . Goiás: Alvorada do Norte , 24 April 1961, fr., Gregory et al. 10440 ( CTES, LIL) ; Manuel Cairea , without date, fr., Pohl 1307 (K) ; Monte Alegre de Goiás , 12 April 2000, bt, fl., Silva et al. 4377 ( IBGE, SP) . Minas Gerais: Arcos , May 2005, fl., fr., Borges & Bernardo 253 ( RB) ; Belo Horizonte, Jardim Botânico , 22 March 1934, fl., Barreto 8032 ( BHCB) ; Campanário , 27 September 2005, fr., Bovini et al. 2525 ( RB) ; Canaã, Cachoeira Grande , 10 August 1986, fl., fr., Vieira et al. 436 ( VIC) ; Grão-Mongol , 300- 700 m.s.m., 10 May 1979, fl., fr., Martinelli 5866 ( RB) ; Marliéria , PERD, 26 October 2006, Bovini et al. 2646 ( RB) ; Paraopeba, Estação Florestal de Experimentação ( EFLEX), 14 April 2001, fl., fr., Valente et al. 704 ( VIC) ; Pedra Azul , 28 May 1999, fl., fr., Salino & Moraes 4714 ( BHCB, CTES) ; Pirapora , 3 April 1992, fl., fr., Hatschbach & Barbosa 56467 ( CTES, K, MBM) ; Santa Bárbara , 4 May 1892, fl., Glaziou 18884 ( CTES, P, R) ; São Sebastião do Paraíso , 24 April 1945, fl., fr., Mello Filho et al. 288 (R) ; Viçosa , campus da Universidade, 3 March 1997, fl., fr., Bovini et al. 1156 ( RUSU, VIC) ; Visconde do Rio Branco , 23 February 1979, fl., fr., Almeida et al. 45 ( VIC) . Espírito do Santo: Guarapari , 24 January 1964, fl., fr., Hoehne 5528 ( CTES, SP) ; Mimoso do Sul , 1 April 2001, fl., fr., Pereira 31/ 84 ( RFA, RUSU) ; Rio Bananal , 20 February 1994, fl., fr., Kallunki et al. 594 ( NY, SPF) ; Vitória , 5 September 1984, fr., Varejão s.n. ( VIES) . Rio de Janeiro: environs of Rio de Janeiro , February 1882, fr., Glaziou 12450 (K) ; Bom Jesus de Itabapoãna , 16 October 1982, fr., Rizzini & Széchy 249 ( GUA, RFA) ; Búzios , 11 January 2002, fr., Reis et al. 331 ( RB) ; Cabo Frio , 19 January 1967, fr., Sucre 1392 ( CTES, RB) ; Campos , April 1942, fl., Sampaio 9014 ( SP) ; Itaguaí , UFRRJ, 4 May 2006, fl., fr., Bovini & Germano 2566 ( RB) ; Macaé , distrito de Atalaia, 18 October 2005, fl., fr., Bovini & Rodrigues 2529 ( RB) ; Muriqui pequeno, R.E.Darcy Ribeiro, 18 Juny 2003, fr., Barros et al. 1990 ( FFP) ; Niterói, Jurujuba , 12 April 1941, fl., fr., Brade 16771 ( RB, RBR) ; Petrópolis, August , fr., Góes & Dionísio 828 ( RB) ; Rio de Janeiro, Pedra de Guaratiba , 21 April 1975, fl., fr., Peixoto 492 ( RB) ; Queimados, rod. Pres. Dutra , 16 May 1951, fr., Monteiro 3086 ( RB, RBR) ; Saquarema , 20 June 1995, fl., fr., Lira Neto 68 ( RUSU) . São Paulo: Bananal , 27 July 1994, fl., Barreto et al. 2359 ( SP) ; Campinas , 25 September 1939, fr., Viegas et al. s.n. ( SP 44129 ) ; Cunha , 18 May 1959, fr., Silva 12 ( HB) ; Piracicaba, próximo a Escola , 20 April 1961, fl., fr., Duarte 5553 ( RB) ; Ribeirão Preto , 31 March 1939, fl., fr., Gomes s.n. ( SP 41966 ) ; São Roque , 24 April 1995, fr., Bernacci 1438 ( IAC, SP). Without locality and date, Burchell 1033 (K) .

Etymology — The epithet contracta is an allusion to the reduced inflorescence.

Distribution— It occurs in Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and Brazil. In Brazil, it is found in the States of Roraima and Goiás and in the coastal states of the northeastern and southeastern regions of the country. It is the species with the broadest distribution in south-eastern Brazil, and it is the best represented species of the genus in herbaria of this region. There is a single record (Ule 8419) for the State of Roraima, indicating a disjunction in the distribution of this species in Brazil, as Roraima is part of a continuous range that comprises the Antilles and Venezuela.

Note— Wissadula contracta prefers extremely disturbed areas, such as road margins, trails, and rural areas, which could explain the lack of sampling in states such as Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, and Maranhão.

This species is identified through its cordate to cordate-lanceolate leaves, 2 to 3 reduced leaves on the distal region of the branches, cylindrical congested inflorescences with a reduced main axis, white to beige corolla and a mericarp of inconspicuous constriction. In the vouchers Xavier 327 and Krapovickas 12899, from northeastern Brazil, the fruits are remarkably large (ca. 10 mm in diameter), which is a rare characteristic for this species.

Madagascar was recorded as the origin for the type specimen (Schomburgk 849). However, according to Fryxell (1988), only the seeds came from this country, and they were germinated and cultivated at the Berlin Botanical Gardens, where sampling of the type specimen was performed, and the voucher was deposited in B. The original description of W. contracta shows a weak depiction with lack of consistent characteristics when compared with the descriptions of accepted synonyms. However, analysis of the type specimens and arguments presented by Waalkes (1966) and Fries (1908) made it possible to confirm the synonymy for this species. A neotype was chosen by Fryxell (2002) for W. contracta as a consequence of the destruction of the holotype and absence of extant isotypes. The chosen specimen is well preserved and it is, is consistent with the original description, and it has duplicates.

The origin of this species in the Old World is inaccurate. When Hochreutiner (1955) described the Madagascar flora, he did not include W. contracta . However, other floras of the Old World, such as those from Java ( Backer 1963) and Malaysia ( Waalkes 1966), mentioned the cultivation of this species in the region for fiber production. In the flora of India ( Sivarajan & Pradeep 1996), W. contracta was also not mentioned. Fries (1908) made a comment on Master’s observation (1874): “…cultivated in India and in Ceylon; it’s native country is not known….” De Candolle (1824) affirmed that one of its synonyms, W. lechenaultiana , was cultivated in the Garden of Lechenault, Calcutta. In American floras, such as those of Mexico ( Fryxell 1988), Guatemala ( Standley and Steyermark 1949), Argentina ( Krapovickas 1997), and Brazil (Bovini 2012), this species is cited as spontaneously occurring in several regions. Therefore, we suspect that the material for the type specimen collected in Madagascar was from an individual introduced into that country, and in fact, it could have come from America, where it is widely distributed.

When Schumann (1891) described W. hernandioides , he observed three specimens that correspond to W. contracta within the material including Schomburgk 849, Pohl 1307, and Glaziou 12450, but the types of indumentum, inflorescence and color of the flowers distinguish these species from each other.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Wissadula amplissima (L.) R.E.Fr. a. fertile branch. b. detail of branch. c. fruit. W. boliviana R.E.Fr. d. fertile branch. e. detail of branch. f. fruit. W. caribaea (DC.) Bovini. g. fertile branch. h. detail of branch. i. fruit. W. contracta (Link) R.E.Fr. j. fertile branch. k. detail of branch. l. fruit. (a–c: Grecco 78, SP; d–f: Bovini 2679, RB; g–I: Miranda 3252, CTES; j–l: Bovini 2566, RB). Scale bars: a, d, g, j =5 cm; b, c, e, f, i, k, l = 2 mm; k = 1 mm.