Wedelia foliacea (Sprengel) Turner (1992: 392)

Bringel Jr, João Bernardo De A., Alves, Maria & Roque, Nádia, 2024, Taxonomic studies in Wedelia (Asteraceae, Heliantheae) reveal a new species for the Brazilian Cerrado, Phytotaxa 647 (2), pp. 177-188 : 184-185

Wedelia foliacea (Sprengel) Turner (1992: 392) .

Viguiera foliacea Sprengel (1826: 616) . Aspilia foliacea (Spreng.) Baker (1884: 193) .

Type:— BRAZIL. s.d., F. Sellow s.n. (holotype P [ P 02090132] image!).

Anomostephium oblongifolium Candolle (1836: 560) .

Type:— BRAZIL. Minas Gerais: “Serra do Frio”, 1833, A.- C. Vauthier 317 (holotype G-DC [G00455136] image!; isotype P [ P 02585647] image!).

Anomostephium ellipticum Candolle (1836: 560) . Aspilia elliptica (DC.) Baker (1884: 192) . Wedelia elliptica (DC.) Turner (1992: 392) .

Type:— BRAZIL. “v.s. herb. in h. Mus. reg. Par. à Mus. imp. Brasiliensi sub n. 409 miss.” s.d., anonymous s.n. [probably F. Sellow] (holotype P [ P 00709894] image!).

Wedelia lundii Candolle (1836: 539) .

Type:— BRAZIL. São Paulo: “ad Mogi flum.”, 1833, P. W. Lund 862 (holotype G-DC [G00455247] image!; isotype: C [not seen]).

Viguiera elegans Gardner (1848: 397–398) . Aspilia elegans (Gardner) Bentham (1873: 372) ex Jackson (1893: 217) .

Type:— BRAZIL. Tocantins: “Hab. In dry upland Campos near Villa de Arrayas [Arraias municipality]”, April 1840, G. Gardner 3860 (lectotype K [K000895404] image!, designated here; isolectotypes BM [BM000797401] image!, E [E00433331] image!, G [G00222357, G00222358] images!, K [K000895405] image!, NY [NY00277944, NY00277946] images!, P [ P 00709902, P 00709903, P 00709904] images!, W [ W 18890105206] image!).

Anomostephium angustifolium Gardner (1848: 290) . Aspilia foliacea var. angustifolia (Gardner) Baker (1884: 193) .

Type:— BRAZIL. Minas Gerais: Serra de Piedade, September 1840, G. Gardner 4932 (bis) (holotype BM [BM000832651] image!).

Viguiera glabra Gardner (1848: 398) .

Type:— BRAZIL. Goiás: “Hab. Open upland Campos, near Nossa Senhora d’Abadia”, May 1840, G. Gardner 4236 (lectotype K [K000895402] image!, designated here; isolectotypes BM [BM000797372], image!, BR [ BR 0000005235773] image!, G [G00222361, G00222362] images!, GH [GH00013996] image!, K [K000895401, K000895403] images!, NY [NY00277953, NY00277955] images!, E [E00433328] image!, P [ P 00709901, P 00709910, P 00709911, P 00709912] images!, US [ US 00125084] image!, W [ W 0042775] image!).

Viguiera hirsuta Gardner (1848: 397) . Aspilia foliacea var. hirsuta (Gardner) Baker (1884: 193) .

Type:— BRAZIL. Ceará: “Hab. Dry open places on the Serra de Araripe”, November [October in specimen label] 1838, G. Gardner 1731 (lectotype K barcode K000054410 image!, designated here; isolectotypes BM [BM000797399] image!, BR [ BR 0000005236107] image!, G [G00222359, G00222360] images!, GH [GH00014078] image!, K [K000054411] image!, NY [NY 277967, NY277968] images!, P [ P 00709906, P 00709907, P 00709908] images!).

Aspilia foliacea var. oblonga Baker (1884: 193) .

Type:— BRAZIL. Goiás: “inter Bom-Jesus et Fazenda Secca”, s.d., Pohl 495 (lectotype W [ W 0042874] image!, designated by Santos (2001: 153); isolectotypes K [K000487670, K001067771] images!, NY [NY00622242] image!).

Aspilia pusilla Baker (1884: 193) .

Type:— BRAZIL. “Habitat in campis apertis, Brasiliae australis ad fazenda Hypolito”, s.d., F. Sellow 860 (holotype K [K000487669] image!).

Aspilia burchellii Schultz-Bipontinus [in sched.] ex Baker (1884: 194). Wedelia burchellii (Sch.-Bip. ex Baker) Turner (1992: 391).

Type:— BRAZIL. Goiás: “in campis nuper crematis prope Chapadão de S. Marcos”, L. Riedel 2490 (lectotype P [ P 00709887] image!, designated here; isolectotypes: K [K001067785, K001067786] images!, NY [NY00158622] image!, P [ P 00709888] image!). Remaining syntypes: BRAZIL. Minas Gerais: “inter Piperâo [Pibarão] et S. Domingos”, s.d., Burchell 5888 (K [K00955701] image!); BRAZIL. Minas Gerais: “inter As Antas et Forquilho”, s.d., Burchell 6199 (K [K00955701] image!); BRAZIL. s.d., J.E. Pohl 496 (K [K001067770] image!, P [ P 02090133] image!).

Distribution and Habitat:— Wedelia foliacea is widely distributed through Brazilian Cerrado domain in open savanna vegetation, or grasslands (states of Rondônia, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Tocantins, Goiás, Bahia , Minas Gerais, São Paulo) and some spots of grasslands in Mata Atlântica (Minas Gerais, Paraná) and Pampa (Rio Grande do Sul) domains ( Santos 2024). This species is also found in Caaguazú, Paraguay ( Zuloaga et al. 2008).

Discussion:— Wedelia foliacea (= Aspilia foliacea sensu Santos 2001 ) is a species with a huge morphological variation that comprises ten heterotypic synonyms.Although its nomenclature was carefully reviewed by Santos (2001), new updates are still needed. The basionym of W. foliacea was described under Viguiera Kunth by Kurt Sprengel (1826), using a gathering made by Sellow in Brazil, without a collection number or specific locality. According to Stafleu & Cowan (1985), the Asteraceae specimens from Sprengel’s herbarium was sold to Schultz Bipontinus (Cosson herbarium, currently at P).

We found a specimen ( P 02090132) in the P herbarium collected by Sellow and identified by Sprengel as Viguiera foliacea , as indicated by the original label from his herbarium. Although this specimen consists of only one flowering stem, mounted on the same sheet as two other gatherings ( P 02090133, P 02090134), it is the only one we found that we can be sure belongs to the protologue of Viguiera foliacea . Therefore, we accepted it as the holotype in accordance with Turland et al. (2018, article 9.1).

A probable duplicate of this specimen from Sprengel’s herbarium (potentially an isotype) was lost during the World War II. It was labelled as Sellow B 861. (c) 1098 (negative 15213, IRN: 226617) and was pointed out by Tropicos (2024) as a type. According to Carvalho et al. (2023), the numbering pattern on this label suggests it was gathered during the expedition of Sellow’s journey III. Its small label, with the notation “Barra do Para ”, refers to a locality visited by Sellow between November and December 1818 ( Urban 1906), near the Municipality of Pitangui in the state of Minas Gerais. However, the limited information in the protologue of Viguiera foliacea raises doubts about the association of duplicates.

Gardner (1848: 397, 398) described Viguiera elegans , V. glabra , and V. hirsuta based on a collection that included a large number of duplicates. As the author did not indicate any material as a reference (holotype), a lectotype should be selected for each species in accordance with Turland et al. (2018).Additionally, Aspilia burchellii Sch.Bip. ex Baker (1884:194) was described based on four syntypes, and a lectotype is also proposed here. Therefore, in all of these cases, we chose the lectotypes considering the most representative specimen according to the original description and the coherence of label information.