Bouchea fluminensis (Vell.) Moldenke (1940b: 117)

Pablo, Moroni & Nataly, O’Leary, 2017, Typification of names in the genus Bouchea (Duranteae, Verbenaceae), Phytotaxa 306 (3), pp. 211-216 : 212

Bouchea fluminensis (Vell.) Moldenke (1940b: 117) ≡ Verbena fluminensis Vellozo (1829: 17)

Type (lectotype, designated by Múlgura et al. (2012: 25)):—Vellozo, T. 1, Tab. 38, 1831. Epitype (designated here): BRAZIL. Paraná. Mun. Guaíra, Sete Quedas, 23/03/1968, Hatschbach & Guimaraes 19109 (SI [140129!]).

Protologue citation:—“Habitat silvis maritimis Regii Praedii Sanctae Crucis ad viam austum versus.”

Notes:— Bouchea fluminensis is the name applied to the most common species occurring in southern Brazil and northeastern Argentina ( Múlgura et al. 2012). It is based on Verbena fluminensis , described by Vellozo in his Flora Fluminensis (1829). Although it is documented that Vellozo’s original specimens were sent to the Royal Museum of Lisbon ( Stafleu & Cowan 1986; Pastore 2013), this material could not be located at LISU, so the illustration mentioned in the protologue of V. fluminensis has been selected as lectotype by Múlgura et al. (2012: 25). However, Vellozo’s illustration is rudimentary and not clearly identifiable. Some features of the flowers illustrated do not reflect the typical characteristics of Bouchea but rather that of Stachytarpheta Vahl (1804) : the flowers are drawn as sessile instead of being pedicellate, and lack the distinct bractlets. Since the illustration cannot be critically identified for purposes of the precise application of the name, an epitype is here designated in order to support the lectotype and to fix the application of the name (Art. 9.8 of the ICN, McNeill et al. 2012) in the sense adopted by Moldenke (1940b). The specimen Hatschbach & Guimarães 19109 matches the original description in the following characters: four stamens and a leaf blade lanceolate with serrated margins. It is worth noting that the epitype has those morphological features which distinguish the species as currently understood from the closely related B. pseudochascanum : leaf-blades lanceolate, thin and fragile, acute or acuminate at apex and flowers much longer.