Syzygium alternifolium (Wight) Walpers (1843: 179)

Singh, Rajeev Kumar & Arigela, Ravi Kiran, 2020, Lectotypifications and new synonyms in Indian Syzygium (Myrtaceae), Phytotaxa 429 (3), pp. 200-216 : 202-203

1. Syzygium alternifolium (Wight) Walpers (1843: 179) . = Eugenia alternifolia Wight (1841: 16 ; 1842: 3, tab. 537). Lectotype (designated here):— INDIA. Balaghaut Mountain, s.d., R. Wight s.n. (MH00006597!; isolectotype

K000821358!). Remaining syntypes:— INDIA. Peninsula, s.d., R. Wight 1055 (CAL0000011404!, L2503260!, M0137279!, M0137280!, W0079446!, W1889-0051265!).

Distribution:— India (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana), endemic.

Notes:— Wight (1841) described Eugenia alternifolia based on the specimens collected from Balaghaut Mountains near Madras, India. In keeping with the practice of those times, he did not designate a holotype nor did he mention the name of the herbarium where the specimens were housed. Six specimens of herbarium Wight were traced (CAL0000011404, K000821358, L2503260, M0137279, M0137280 and MH00006597). Of these, the specimen at MH ( Figure 1 ) contain the annotation of the locality ‘Balaghaut Mountain’ by Wight and is therefore chosen here as the lectotype for the name E. alternifolia Wight , as it agrees well with the protologue. The specimen at the K is duplicate of MH specimen, but it lacks locality annotation by Wight.

Eugenia alternifolia was formally described by Wight in his monumental work ‘Illustrations of Indian Botany’ (1841: 16), but all Indian literature, The Plant List (2013), Catalogue of Life (2019), Tropicos (2019) and WCSP (2019) cited Wight in Icones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis (1842: 3, tab. 537). Walpers (1843) correctly cited that E. alternifolia was described by Wight initially in Illustrations of Indian Botany and then in Icones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lectotype of Eugenia alternifolia Wight (MH00006597, © Madras Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India, SRC, Coimbatore).