Myrcia, De Candolle, 1827

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 : 138

3.35. Myrcia guavira-mi Parodi (1879: 140). Type:— PARAGUAY. Igatimi (Canindeyú, Villa Ygatimi), “Yerbales in prato silvatico”, December 1862, Parodi s.n. (not found).

Parodi (1879) described three species of Myrcia (3.35, 3.36 and 3.37). In the first fascicle of his Contribuciones a la Flora de Paraguay, Parodi (1877) states that the specimens were lost during “el cataclismo bélico (the Paraguayan war of 1864–1870) que aniquiló aquel país”. Although Parodi’s Paraguay collections did not survive, his descriptions are exceptionally detailed.We are confident that the three species described by Parodi in Myrcia , accepted by POWO (2024), are not Myrcia and could be attributed to Campomanesia Ruiz & Pavón (1794: 72) due to the solitary, pentamerous flowers, disciform stigma, ovaries with many locules (8 to 10), and coiled embryo with connate cotyledons.

Myrcia guavira-mi is described as a shrub, with leaves that are very shortly petiolate and canescent below. Fruits are described as large (c. 1 inch = 2.54 cm in size) with pulp that is bitter and scanty, and seeds with a membranous seed coat bearing large, raised yellow glandular dots. The description of Myrcia guavira-mi is a good match for Campomanesia pubescens (Martius ex De Candolle 1828: 234) O. Berg (1855 –1856: 429), that is a very variable species and known to occur in Villa Ygatimi ( Landrum 1986). Also, the vernacular Guarani name Guavira-mi is currently applied to C. pubescens in Paraguay ( Dujak et al. 2015). Parodi’s description of this species lacks number of locules and seeds per fruit; indumentum is cited only for the lower leaf surfaces, and the description of the inflorescence is confusing. For these reasons, the species is regarded as incompletely known taxa.