Gaultheria sect. Monoanthemona D.J. Middleton (1991: 240) ser. Nummularioideae Airy Shaw (1941: 308)

Fritsch, Peter W., Armstrong, Kate E., Aung, Mu Mu, Fujikawa, Kazumi & Lu, Lu, 2023, Gaultheria (Ericaceae) of Myanmar: an updated species list for the country, a new species, and a new species combination, Phytotaxa 595 (1), pp. 37-61 : 50-52

Classification — Gaultheria sect. Monoanthemona D.J. Middleton (1991: 240) ser. Nummularioideae Airy Shaw (1941: 308) .

Phylogenetic placement — Leucothoides s.l. clade.

Literature — Kress et al. 2003, Fang & Stevens 2005, Fritsch et al. 2008.

Myanmar specimens —Locality and date not indicated, S. Toppin 2750 (E E00231320!*). Kachin: [Bhamo District, Momauk Township,] Sin Lum, 29 April 1935, F.G. Dickason 4067 (A!*); [Putao District, Nawngmun Township, Hkakaborazi National Park,] Valley of the Seinghku, 12,000 ft, 28°08’N, 97°25’E, 30 September 1926, F. Kingdon-Ward 7514 (K K000618938!); ditto, 11,000 ft, 28°10’N, 97°20’E, 20 October 1926, F. Kingdon-Ward 7600 (K K000618940!); [Putao District, Nawngmun Township, Hkakaborazi National Park,] Upper Burma, neighborhood of forest region N of Tahawndam, Upper Adung Valley , 10,000–11,000 ft, 21 October 1931, F. Kingdon-Ward 10131 (BM BM000906366!); [Putao District, Nawngmun Township, Hkakaborazi National Park,] Nam Tamai Valley , Mungku Hkyet, 8,000–9,000 ft, 19 August 1937, F. Kingdon-Ward 12971 (BM BM000906362!); [Putao District, Nawngmun Township, Hkakaborazi National Park,] Nam Tamai Valley , Mungku Hkyet, 9,000–10,000 ft, 8 September 1937, F. Kingdon-Ward 13172 (BM BM000906361!); ditto, F. Kingdon-Ward 13172a (BM BM000906360!); ditto, 8,000–9,000 ft, F. Kingdon-Ward 13478 (BM BM000906363!); [Putao District, Khaunglanphu Township,] North Triangle , Uring Bum, above Ahkail, 8,500 ft, 24 May 1953, F. Kingdon-Ward 20895 (BM BM000906355!); [Putao District, Khaunglanphu Township,] North Triangle , Tama Bum, 9,250 ft, 20 October 1953, F. Kingdon-Ward 21491 (A!, BM BM000906352, E E00197159!); [Putao District, Khaunglanphu Township,] Tagulam Bum, 8,000–9,000 ft, 10 November 1953, F. Kingdon-Ward 21579 (BM BM000906353, E E00197160!*) .

Notes — Gaultheria repens , the type of which is from Indonesia, has been placed in synonymy of G. nummularioides by Sleumer (1967), Fang & Stevens (2005), and Fritsch et al. (2008). The Indonesian distribution of the species in Sumatra, Java, and Bali appears to be disjunct from the mainland Asian part of the species range. Our cursory observations indicate that G. repens has shorter stems and thicker leaves than mainland Asian G. nummularioide s, suggesting that further study as to the taxonomic status of G. repens is warranted.

Although Fritsch et al. (2008) stated that the holotype of G. nummularioides is the BM (BM000521848) specimen of N. Wallich, only “Hab. in alpibus Nepaliae. Wallich.” was indicated in the protologue, without more specific information as to which of the Wallich specimens were examined; the selection of a lectotype is thus warranted. We have chosen to lectotypify on this BM specimen because 1) the types of the Prodromus florae Nepalensis ( Don 1825) are at BM ( Stafleu & Cowan 1976), 2) the writing on the label is clearly in Wallich’s handwriting, and 3) the specimen is in flower, corollas are evident, and no fruit is evident, all consistent with the original description, which includes characters of the flower, including the corolla, and not the fruit. In Wallich (1829), three collections are listed under entry 1524, the only entry for G. nummularioides in Wallich’s list: “1 Napalia 1821, 2 Gossain Than, 3 Kumaon RB.” Any or all of these might have comprised part of the original material but none appear to comprise a part of the same gathering as the “E Napalia. 1818” BM collection: the first has a clearly different date of collection, and the other two are ambiguous as to date but neither of their localities match the locality stated on the 1818 collection. The first two were presumably collected by E. Gardner and Bharul Singh, respectively, whereas the Kumaon specimen was collected by Robert Blinkworth ( Majumdar & Banerjee 1976).