Myrcia nandu-apysa Parodi (1879: 183)

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

3.37. Myrcia nandu-apysa Parodi (1879: 183) . Type:— PARAGUAY. Igatimi (Canindeyú, Villa Ygatimi), “in pratis silvaticis”, December 1856. Parodi s.n. (not found).

The vernacular Guarani name cited by Parodi for this species, ñandu-apysa , meaning “ema ears” is usually applied to Campomanesia guazumifolia ( Cambessèdes 1832 –1833: 280) O. Berg (1855 –1856: 434) ( Berg 1857 –1859, Landrum 1986, Dujak et al. 2015). However, Campomanesia guazumifolia is a tree, with leaves that are covered with a dense indumentum of long trichomes, and fruits crowned by a circular scar due to the deciduous calyx lobes ( Landrum 1986, Lima et al. 2011). Parodi’s description eliminates the possibility of it being this species (see below).

Comparing the description of Myrcia nandu-apysa to other species of Campomanesia known to grow in Paraguay ( Landrum 1986, Sobral 2003, Lima et al. 2011) allowed us to speculate that it might be a superfluous name for Campomanesia aurea O. Berg (1857 –1859: 454). The description of M. nandu-apysa as a glabrous shrub, with sessile leaves, few lateral veins, pale yellow venation that forms a reticulum, major veins covered with glands, as well as solitary flowers with ovaries with 9 locules and small fruits (1.3 cm) with rounded, persistent calyx lobes is a good match for this species that occurs in Canindeyú, although not recorded from Villa Ygatimi. Parodi noted that “ Species homonyma ex Cordillera diversa ”, i.e., recognizing that this name was used for another species. Two morphological characters described by Parodi for M. nandu-apysa are somewhat discordant with C. aurea . The first is that the leaves of M. nandu-apysa are stated to be up to 3 inches long (c. 7.5 cm). Landrum (1986) recorded a maximum leaf length of 5.6 cm for C. aurea in his review of the genus and Lima et al. (2011) a maximum length of 5.5 cm in Paraná state ( Brazil). We also searched images in online herbaria for possible recent specimens of C. aurea with larger leaves, but the longest leaf found was still slightly below 6 cm. However, leaves can vary significantly in size and if Parodi was describing the species from live plants he might have included measurements of basal, larger leaves that collectors often do not include, as they usually cut several centimetres above ground. The second (possibly) discordant character is that Parodi describes the fruits of M. nandu-apysa as green when mature, while the fruits of C. aurea are yellow or orange when mature ( Landrum 1986, Sobral 2003). Due to these inconsistencies and the absence of any Parodi’s specimen, the species remains in Myrcia as an unknown name.