Distimake tuberosus

F. S., Petrongari, R., Simão-Bianchini, S., Rokni, I. D., Man, L. W., Chatrou & Simões, A. R. G., 2024, Distimake (Convolvulaceae) expanded: five additional species from the Neotropics and Eastern Africa, Rheedea 34 (5), pp. 521-532 : 526-527

Distimake tuberosus (L.) A.R.Simões & Staples, Bot.J. Linn. Soc. 183(4): 577.2017. Ipomoea tuberosa

L., Sp. Pl. 1: 160. 1753. Convolvulus tuberosus (L.) Spreng., Syst. Veg., ed. 16 [Sprengel] 1: 591. 1824. Batatas tuberosa (L.) Bojer, Hortus Maurit.: 226. 1837. Operculina tuberosa (L.) Meisn., Fl. Bras. 7: 212-213. 1869. Merremia tuberosa (L.) Rendle, Fl. Trop. Afr. [Oliver et al.] 4(2.1):104. 1905. Lectotype (designated by Austin, 1975): “Habitat in Jamaica ”, s.d., s.coll. s.n. (LINN [LINN-HL219-4, digital image!]).

Ipomoea grandidentata C.H.Thomps., Trans.

Acad. Sci. St. Louis 20: 18. 1911, syn. nov. Merremia grandidentata (C.H.Thomps.) Staples &

Simões, Phytologia 97: 222. 2015. Type: UNITED

STATES, Missouri, St. Louis , cultivated in Missouri Botanical Garden, plant 232/07/1 Oct .-

Nov. 1908, C.H. Thompson s.n. (MO n.v.).

Distribution: Widespread with a Pantropical distribution, first as ornamental, and later escaping and naturalizing in edge of forests; probably the natural range is in Mexico and in the Caribbean Islands ( Austin, 1998).

Notes: We are considering Ipomoea grandidentata as a new synonym of Distimake tuberosus . This species was described in 1911 based on a cultivated plant in the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, received in late 1906, which seeds that came from Torreon-Mexico. It is described as a robust twiner, with stems more than 15 m long, tuberous roots, and a bright chrome-yellow corolla. Its anthers do not dehiscence spirally, and it has irregular, slightly palmatifid leaves. The latter two characters does not, but all the other characters overlap with D. tuberosus and we believe that the specimen cultivated in St. Louis belongs to D. tuberosus , albeit with abnormal growth. We are synonymizing this overlooked/unplaced name ( Staples et al., 2015; Staples, 2017) here. Concerning the original material, Thompson (1911) states that specimens are deposited in herbarium MO, but we have not been able to find any online specimen matching Thompson’s description.