Fleischmannia polopolensis (B.L. Rob.) R.M. King & H. Rob., Phytologia 19: 205. 1970

Robinson, Harold, 2015, The genus Fleischmannia in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay (Eupatorieae, Asteraceae), PhytoKeys 57, pp. 61-92 : 76

Fleischmannia polopolensis (B.L. Rob.) R.M. King & H. Rob., Phytologia 19: 205. 1970

Eupatorium polopolense B.L. Rob., Contrib. Gray Herb. 61: 10. 1920. Bolivia: La Paz. North Yungas, Polo-polo near Coroico, alt. 1100, m, Buchtien 429 (holotype GH, isotypes NY, US).

Description.

Perennial suffruticose herbs ca. 0.5 m tall; stems erect, terete, purplish or brownish, ca. 3 mm wide, glabrous; internodes to 10-13 cm long; branches ascending, leafy. Leaves opposite; petioles 6-13 mm long, slightly villous-puberulous; leaf blades membranaceous, ovate, 3.6-5.0 cm long, 1-2 cm wide, base rounded, slightly acuminate at petiole, margins sharply serrate with 9-18 teeth on each side 1.0-1.8 mm high, apex acuminate, both surfaces green, puberulous on veins, scarcely paler abaxially. Inflorecsnce with terminal corymbiform trifid cymes, mostly 3-5-headed, branches and peduncles, densely puberulous, non-glandulferous; peduncles short. Heads 7 mm high, 5 mm wide; involucre campanulate, with ca. 20 bracts in ca. 3 series, oval to oblong. Florets 24-30 in a head; corollas white, ca. 3 mm long, basal tube ca. 0.5 mm long, throat ca. 2 mm long, lobes ca. 0.5 mm long, hispidulous; anther thecae ca. 0.8 mm long, apical appendage ca. 0.15 mm long; style branches filiform-clavellate. Achenes ca. 1.6 mm long, black with paler ribs, ribs sparsely setuliferous; pappus white, of ca. 22 slender bristles, ca. 3 mm long, slightly broadened and scarcely contiguous at base.

Additional specimens.

Bolivia: Cochabamba, Sailapata, Ayopaya, 2700 m, at wet soil, 1 m, Oct 1935, Cárdenas 3271 (US); La Paz: Nordyungas, Polo-Polo bei Coroico, alt. 1100 m, region subtropical, Oct.-Nov. 1912, O. Buchtien 3933 (GH, NY, US).

This species includes the material that B.L. Robinson (1920) treated under the name Eupatorium marginatum Poepp. The supposed difference in number of florets in the heads proves spurious. The specimens cited by B.L. Robinson, were all collected by Buchtien in the same locality and share all the same obvious details. The species now known as Fleischmannia marginata (Poepp.) R.M. King & H. Rob. does not occur in Bolivia, but is restricted to the area of Junin in central Peru ( Robinson 2001). It is distinct in its thicker leaf blades with smooth glabrous adaxial surfaces,