Pontederia paradoxa Mart. in Schultes & Schultes f., Syst. Veg. (ed. 15 bis) 7(2): 1144. 1830.

Pellegrini, Marco O. O., Horn, Charles N. & Almeida, Rafael F., 2018, Total evidence phylogeny of Pontederiaceae (Commelinales) sheds light on the necessity of its recircumscription and synopsis of Pontederia L., PhytoKeys 108, pp. 25-83 : 25

1.3. Pontederia paradoxa Mart. in Schultes & Schultes f., Syst. Veg. (ed. 15 bis) 7(2): 1144. 1830.

Eichhornia paradoxa (Mart.) Solms, Monogr. Phan. 4: 531 1883.

Eichhornia schultesiana Seub., Fl. Bras. 3(1): 94. 1847, nom. superfluous. Lectotype (designated here). BRAZIL. Maranhão: Alcântara oppidium at ad Porto de Carvalho, fl., fr., 1817, C.F.P. Martius 2575 (M barcode M0242209!).

Distribution.

Pontederia paradoxa has a disjunctive distribution between Northern and North-eastern Brazil (states of Pará, Bahia, Ceará, and Rio Grande do Norte), north-western South America (Venezuela) and Central America (Costa Rica and Guatemala).

Nomenclatural notes.

In the original description of P. paradoxa (Schultes and Schultes f. 1830), it is mentioned that the description was based on a Martius collection, from the state of Maranhão, Brazil. After consulting M, we came across the specimen Martius 2575 (M0242209) that matches the protologue in great detail. Thus, it is the obvious choice for a lectotype. Later, Seubert (1847) noticed that P. paradoxa did not fit in the circumscription of Pontederia at the time. When describing E. schultesiana , Seubert clearly mentions P. paradoxa , even citing the Martius 2575 specimen. According to the Code ( McNeill et al. 2012, Art. 52.1.), Seubert provided a superfluous replacement name, thus rendering E. schultesiana illegitimate.

Taxonomical notes.

Similarly as P. paniculata , P. paradoxa possesses a highly mind-boggling distribution, which makes us believe that it might actually represent a species complex. Two names are available for the putative disjunctive taxa, but since P. paradoxa in its current circumscription is known for only a handful of specimens, we discourage any taxonomic changes before the species is properly studied.