Eugenia biflora

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 : 133

1.5. Eugenia biflora (L.) De Candolle (1828: 276). Myrtus biflora Linnaeus (1759: 1053) .

= Myrcia thomasiana De Candolle (1828: 244) . Type:— VIRGIN ISLANDS. St. Thomas Island, unknown date, M.Wydler (?) s.n. (holotype G-DC [G00661071!] [image!]).

The synonymization of Myrcia thomasiana under Eugenia was first proposed by Britton & Wilson (1925) under Eugenia lancea Poiret (in Lamarck 1813: 123) (current synonym of E. biflora, POWO 2024 ), and later under E. biflora by Liogier (1981 –1988; see also Acevedo-Rodríguez & Strong 2012). However, the main world database of Myrtaceae still considers M. thomasiana an accepted species ( POWO 2024).

The type material of Myrcia thomasiana shows typical features of Eugenia sect. Racemosae O. Berg (1855 –1856: 278) such as: inflorescence a raceme, pedicels twice as long as the inflorescence internodes, and calyx lobes free in the flower bud ( Mazine et al. 2016). The leaf morphology (shape and size), black or silver dots on the abaxial leaf surface and the inflorescence (raceme non corymb-like) support the synonymization of M. thomasiana under Eugenia biflora . The type material of M. thomasiana is particularly similar to the type of E. lancea , of which the type collection is also from Saint Thomas. For these reasons, we herein accept this synonymization.

The only available specimen of Myrcia thomasiana is a single sheet at G-DC, which we consider to be the holotype. Although the collector is not recorded on the type material, we believe M. Wydler to be the collector based on information available in the Delessert herbarium ( Stafleu 1970, Stafleu & Cowan 1976).