Scleria vaginata Steudel (1855:179)

Schneider, Layla Jamylle Costa, Simões, André Olmos, Dias, Ana Cristina Andrade De Aguiar & Gil, André Dos Santos Bragança, 2023, Typifications in Scleria subgenus Scleria section Hymenolytrum (Cyperaceae), Phytotaxa 606 (3), pp. 170-184 : 177-181

Scleria vaginata Steudel (1855:179) .

Neotype (designated here):— COSTA RICA. [Cartago]: [Turrialba], [Tuis], “ Forets de Tuis , 650m ”, November 1897, fl. and fr., Tonduz 11389 ( US [02238423] photo! [ Fig. 6 ]; isoneotype US [02238422] photo!)

= Scleria tonduzii Boeckeler (1896:160) .

Lectotype (designated here):— COSTA RICA. [Cartago]: [Turrialba], [ Tuis ], “Buissons sur les bords du rio Tuis, 600m ”, September 1893, fl. and fr., Tonduz 8181 (CR 8181 [2 sheets] photo![ Figs. 7 , 8 ]; isolectotypes: BM [000629131] photo!, BR [0000006596965 and 0000006596966] photo!, P [00277300] photo! and US [02238421] photo!).

Steudel (1855) described Scleria vaginata as having a flowering stem scabrous and winged sheaths, absence of ligule (possibly the membranous appendage of the contraligule), leaf blades linear-lanceolate, scabrous, ca. 65 cm long and 6 mm wide, fruit ovoid and shiny, and hypogynium with an entire or wavy-denticulate margin. However, the author only included abbreviations of the information describing the studied material, “Am. septr. au? austr.”. Steudel’s type specimens are currently held in P, L, OXF and STR ( Stafleu & Cowan 1983), but no specimens of Scleria with those annotations and morphology have been found. The curators of those herbaria were directly contacted, but no specimens with those characteristics were found in their respective collections. The name Scleria vaginata , however, has been used in some accounts of Scleria species in the Americas ( Camelbeke et al. 2003; Camelbeke & Goetghebeur 1999, 2002; Core 1936; Espinoza et al. 2016; Maguire & Core 1965), although no information about the type has been added, other than that contained in the protologue.

For the stability of the name, we designate here as the neotype the material of Tonduz 11389 ( US 820001) among the specimens consulted in herbaria collections that are identified as S. vaginata and congruent with the original description ( Steudel 1855). Additionally, that specimen is complete, comes from Central America, and was found within the geographical range (Am. septr. au? austr.) mentioned by Steudel (1855).

Core (1936) synonymized Scleria tonduzii into S. vaginata , but made no comments on the types or the reasons for that synonymization. Despite the lack of details, this subordination may be justified by a number of notable features present in both original descriptions. Scleria vaginata can be considered as belonging to S. subg. S. sect. Hymenolytrum by the shape of the inflorescence, which is diagnostic of the section (with numerous male spikelets at the branch apex, and sparse female spikelets at the base of the branch), as described by Steudel (1855) and also by Boeckeler (1896), with emphasis on the male spikelets. Additionally, both taxa have been described as having winged sheaths, ligules absent (membranous appendages), leaf blades slender and long (ca. 60 cm long and 6‒10 mm wide), fruits shiny, and hypogynium short, wavy, or rough.

In its current circumscription, Scleria subg. Scleria sect. Hymenolytrum has 15 accepted species, among which none of their described characteristics are shared with other species – especially the short (annular) hypogynium present in few of its species (i.e., S. boivinii and S. secans ). The above synonymization was therefore followed.

Boeckeler (1896) described Scleria tonduzii as having sheaths scabrous and winged, contraligule roundedobtuse, leaf blades long (ca. 60 cm) and scabrous, panicles large (10‒17.5 cm long), lax, oblong-lanceolate, with many branches, nutlets trigonous, shiny, ivory, brown to blue maculate, and hypogynium yellowish annular. The cited type is a collection made by Tonduz 8181 in Costa Rica. The CR herbarium preserves most of the legitimate Tonduz collections, as well as US, and there are duplicates in other European herbaria ( Stafleu & Cowan 1986). Five specimens with these characteristics were found (CR8181, BM000629131, BR0000006596965, BR0000006596966 and P00277300).

Tonduz was an associated collector of the National Herbarium of Costa Rica when Henry Pittier was the curator ( Pupulin et al. 2016), and during that period the collections were labelled as legitimate by H. Pittier, although containing Tonduz’s collection information, including the collector number ‘8181’ (see Pupulin et al. 2016).

All of the specimen have labels with “Legit H. Pittier” written on them, but with the number “8181”, although that number was also used as the specimen record (as seen with “CR8181”). Tonduz assumed the curator position only in 1904 ( Pupulin et al. 2016), later than the date of the type collection. The collector data for these specimens was updated manually by Boeckeler.Among the syntypes, the specimen “CR8181” presents two sheets with inflorescences and fruits, as well as being housed in the main herbarium for Tonduz specimens. We therefore designate it here as the lectotype of S. tonduzii .

Figures

FIGURE 6. Neotype of Scleria vaginata Steud. (Tonduz 11389, US [02238423]). Image: Herbarium US, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH, USA).

FIGURE 7. Lectotype of Scleria tonduzii Boeck. (Tonduz 8181, CR8181, sheet 1). Image: Herbarium CR, Museo Nacional de Costa Rica (MNCR, Costa Rica).

FIGURE 8. Lectotype of Scleria tonduzii Boeck. (Tonduz 8181, CR8181, sheet 2). Image: Herbarium CR, Museo Nacional de Costa Rica (MNCR, Costa Rica).