Pombalia atropurpurea

Paula-Souza, Juliana De & Ballard, Harvey Eugene, 2014, Re-establishment of the name Pombalia, and new combinations from the polyphyletic Hybanthus (Violaceae), Phytotaxa 183 (1), pp. 1-15 : 5-6

2. Pombalia atropurpurea ( A.St.-Hil.) Paula-Souza, comb. nov. ≡ Ionidium atropurpureum A.St. -Hil. ( Saint-Hilaire 1824a: 254).—Type: BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro: “Inveni ad margines sylvarum in monte Tutã Serra da Estrada Nova circitro 10l. a Sebastionopoli”, February [1822], Saint-Hilaire Catal. D-19 (lectotype P 00594931!, designated here by Paula-Souza; isolectotype P 00594932!).

3 i.e. the lower part of the “pedicel”, below the articulation of the flower stalk.

4 The Argentinian, narrowly endemic Acentra serrata shows a unique type of ornamentation at the apex of the capsule (fig. 3 C), with minute warty processes that resembles those found in “ Hybanthus ” serrulatus and “ H.” fruticulosus, which belong to a distinct Central American lineage. For geographical reasons and other morphological criteria, A. serrata is tentatively placed in Pombalia here. However, the true nature of such processes on the fruits of Pombalia serrata is still unknown, and further evidence might place it elsewhere within the hybanthoids.

Saint-Hilaire refers 2 syntypes 5 for Ionidium atropurpureum : “ Inveni ad margines sylvarum in monte dicto Serra da Estrada Nova circiter 10l. lus. à Sebastionopoli et in cultis sylvisque caeduis dictis capueiras propè praedium Ubà, provincia Rio de Janeiro. Floret Novembre-Februario ”. The first citation corresponds to Saint-Hilaire’s number D-19 ( P 00594931 and P 00594932), and the second one, to MPU 010790, which is only annotated as “Lieux cultivés à Uba province de Rio de Janeiro ”, without any indication of collection number or date. Searches through Saint-Hilaire’s field books ( CRIA 2013) and published itineraries ( Urban 1906, Pignal et al. 2013) indicate that the syntype from Ubá is number 474 of catalogue A 1 collected in 1816 (possibly November, as indicated in the protologue). However, the specimen in Montpellier is probably a mixed collection of both syntypes, as it shows two labelled branches, one label reading “19d” tied to the smaller branch (clearly a depleted fragment of a bigger sample), and the other faced down or blurred, tied to a larger and more complete branch which might be the plant collected in Ubá. The same case of mixed syntypes at MPU was observed in Ionidium commune (Paula-Souza & Moraes, in print).

Both specimens of D-19 at P are identified with the printed label “Voyage d’Auguste de Saint-Hilaire, de 1816 à 1821”, and Pignal et al. (2013) date catalogue D between 1820 and 1821. However, the itinerary provided by Urban (1906) indicates that 1822 is the only possible date for this collection at Serra da Estrada in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro (“Sebastianopoli”). The specimen that bears the original description with Saint-Hilaire’s handwriting in Paris is designated as lectotype.