Myrcia toaensis Borhidi & O.Muñiz

Santos, Matheus F., Amorim, Bruno S., Burton, George P., Faria, Jair E. Q., Fernandes, Thiago, Flickinger, Jonathan A., Gaem, Paulo Henrique, Landrum, Leslie R., Lima, Duane F., Proença, Carolyn E. B., Rosa, Priscila O., Lima-Dos-Santos, Leidiana, Setubal, Robberson B., Stadnik, Aline M. S., Staggemeier, Vanessa G., Vasconcelos, Thais N. C. & Lucas, Eve J., 2024, A taxonomic account of Myrciinae (Myrteae, Myrtaceae): generic and sectional placement of forgotten species and a list of all accepted species, Phytotaxa 674 (2), pp. 129-170 : 135

3.8. Myrcia toaensis Borhidi & O.Muñiz (in Borhidi & Muñiz 1977b: 215). Type:— CUBA. Prov. Oriente, Bajada al Rio Peña, charrascales de la Peña Prieta, La Magdalena, Toa, 600 m. s.m., 30 December 1953, Alain 3638 (holotype SV [not found]).

The type specimens of these six species have not been located and there is no information if they were indeed deposited in the collections cited (Burton et al. in prep.). Descriptions are similar in style and relatively informative, especially for vegetative characters. Remarkably, the description of translucid punctuations confirms their placement in Myrtaceae . However, their generic classification is ambiguous. No flowers were seen and characters that are currently important in Myrcia taxonomy (e.g. indument in the hypanthium and receptacle) are not described. Some descriptions cite characters that are uncommon to Myrcia , such as: 1–3 flowered inflorescence ( M. borhidii , M. pineticola , M. spinifolia , M. susannae ); tetramerous calyx ( M. acunae , M. borhidii , M. spinifolia ); and a reniform embryo ( M. acunae , M. borhidii , M. spinifolia , M. susannae ), which is roughly the shape of Myrcia embryo, but the characteristic folded cotyledons and elongated radicle are not described ( Lucas et al. 2019).

In the protologues, Myrcia borhidii is compared with Myrcia gundlachii Krug & Urban (in Urban 1894 –1895: 581), a member of Myrcia sect. Aulomyrcia . Myrcia spinifolia and M. susannae are compared with Myrcia retivenia (C.Wright in Savalle 1869: 433) Urban (1923: 86), also Myrcia sect. Aulomyrcia . Myrcia susannae is also compared with Myrcia apodocarpa Urban (1923: 87) , which is perhaps Myrcia sect. Myrcia (see comments below). In all these cases, the protologues do not corroborate these similarities.