Diplostephium tovari Cuatrecasas, a new synonym for Parastephia lucida (Meyen) Cabrera (Compositae-Asteraceae)

3 Pages·2000·0.72 MB·

by  A Granda Paucar

44 Comp. Newsl. 35,2000
Diplostephium tovari Cuatrecasas,
a new synonym for
Parastrephia lucida (Meyen) Cabrera
(Compositae-Astereae)
ArturoGranda Paucar
MOL
Herbario -Dpto. Biologia,
UniversidadNacionalAgrariaLaMolina,
Apartado456,Lima,Peru
Abstract
TheidentityofDiplostephiumtovariCuatrecasas,asupposedlyPeruvianendemic,is
discussed.Thespeciesisanomalouswithinthegenusascurrently circumscribedand
isclearlyreferabletoParastrephiaNurr.Thenameistoberegardedasasynonymof
Parastrephia lucida (Meyen)Cabrera, awell-recognizedSouthAmericanspecies.
Discussion
Diplostephium H.B.K. (Astereae-Asterinae sensu Bremer 1994) is agenus ofabout
90species(Grau1977,Bremer1994),characterizedinterahabyarborescentorshrubby
habit, coriaceous or subcoriaceous leaves, radiate and heterochromous heads, and
femalerayflowerswithlaminadistinctlyexserted,i.e.surpassingtheinnerphyllaries,
exceptionally very short, but then the tube not capillary as in the Colombian series
HuertasinaCuatr.,AnactinotaCuatr.,andSaxatiliaCuatr.(Cuatrecasas 1969).The
genus has its centre ofmaximum diversity in theAndean region, particularly in the
paramoandthehighmontanemoistforest.
In 1975,CuatrecasasfoundedDiplostephiumtovarionthebasisofmaterialscollected
by thePeruvian agrostologistO.Tovarinthepunaregion ofSouthernPeru (Depart-
mentofAyacucho).Theauthorplacedthenewentity intotheseriesLavandulifolium
Blakeand pointed outthatitcould bedifferentiated from its allies by "the glabrous
andglandular-glutinosebranchlets,bytheshiny-glutinose,glabrousandsmoothadaxial
side ofthe leaves and by the almost glabrous involucre which phyllaries are almost
equalinlength".Moreover,Cuatrecasasstated(1975,p.320)that"diemostoutstanding
characteristicofD. tovari,uniqueintheseriesLavandulifolium,hesintherayflowers
whichcorollasaremuchshorterthanthestyle,diepappusandtheinvolucre;theyare
Comp.Newsl.35, 2000 45
tubular, only theupperpartbeingopenadaxially makinglikeashortinroUedabaxial
mm
lamina0.6-1 long."Curiously,untilthepublicationofD. tovariCuatr.,theseries
LavandulifoliumBlake comprisedonlyplantswithsolitary,terminalandconspicuously
radiate capitula (Blake 1928, Cuatrecasas 1975). Therefore, Cuatrecasas clearly
over-expanded thegeneric boundaries ofDiplostephium H. B. K.; hedidnotreahze
thatthedisciformandhomochromousnatureoftheheads,aswellastheconcurrence
oftherestofthecharacteristics which hehadmentionedforD. tovari, notonly kept
thisanomalousspeciesapartfromDiplostephiumH.B.K.,buttheyapproachitclosely
toParastrephiaNun.,anotherconstituentmemberofthe"ChiliotrichiumCass.Group"
(Bremer 1994),thatoccursinthepunaregionofBoliviaandtheneighboringareasof
Peru,Chile, andArgentina(Nesom 1993).
CarefulexaminationsofthegeneralcollectionsofD. tovariCuatr.atUSM,including
anisotype(Tovar6274)andanisoparatype(Tovar6795),ledmetobelievethatthese
specimenswerebetterplacedinthegenusParastrephiaNun.Subsequentcomparisons
ofthe original description of Cuatrecasas' species with the keys and descriptions
providedforParastrephiaby Cabrera (1945, 1954, 1978)andNesom (1993), drove
metoconcludethatthemorphologicalfeaturesofthespeciesinquestionwerecongruent
with thoseofParastrephia lucida (Meyen) Cabrera. Recently, my conclusions have
been confirmedby Dr. GuyNesom (Nesom, in litt.), whohasreviewedthetaxonomy
oiParastrephiaNurr.andstudiedtheholotypeofD. tovariCuatr.Hehasalsoobserved
thenormaloccurrenceofperipheralflowerswith5-lobedcorollasinP. lucida(Meyen)
Cabr., onecharacterneverseeninDiplostephiumH. B. K. (Nesom 1993).
Quite clearly, Diplostephium tovari Cuatrecasas is synonymous with Parastrephia
lucida (Meyen)Cabrera.
Parastrephialucida (Meyen)Cabrera,Not.Mus. LaPlata 17:57. 1954.
Syn.: DiplostephiumtovariCuatrecasas,Phytologia31(4): 319. 1975.
(Foradditionalsynonyms, seeNesom 1993).
Materialexamined
PERU. Dpto.Arequipa:Vincocaya,enelferrocarril deArequipaaPuno,4300-4400
m., Weberbauer 1371 (MOL); PampadeArrieros, entre Puno yArequipa, 4000 m,
15 Dec. 1961,Tovar3540(USM).
Dpto.Huancavelica,Castrovirreyna:Choclococha,4700m,3May 1958,Tovar2864
(USM).
46 Comp. Newsl. 35, 2000
Dpto.Puno,Chucuito:entreMazoCruzyPastoGrande,4100m,22Jul. 1965,Tovar
5107(USM);entreHaveyMazoCruz,3850-3900m,9Mar. 1966,Tovar5297(USM);
cercadeJuli, 3800m,Jun. 1954, Monhein 164(USM).
Dpto.Ayacucho, Lucanas: PampaGaleras, entreNazcay Lucanas, 4100m, 23 Oct.
1969,Tovar6274(USM,isotypeofD. tovariCuatr.);PampaGaleras,4000-4100m,
2 Dec. 1970, Tovar 6795 (USM, isoparatype ofD. tovari Cuatr.); Pampa Galeras,
vallecitodeJachanga,4000-4100m, 3May 1971,Tovar6813 (USM);PampaGale-
ras, vallecitodeJachanga,4100m, 3 May 1971,Tovar6829(USM).
W
Dpto.Tacna,Tarata: ca. 10km. SofTarata,Nand facingslopes,3500-4000m, 19
Jun. 1986,Warnock5070(USM); roadCandaravetoMazoCruznearvolcanTutupaca
(184km.WofHave),ca.4300m, 9 Oct. 1997,Weigend&Forther97/787 (USM).
Acknowledgements
IwouldliketoexpressmygratitudetoDr.GuyNesomforcorroboratingmypresumption
ofthecurrentstatusofthenameDiplostephiumtovariCuatr.,forsendingmeacopy
ofhisParastrephiasynopsis, andgreatlyforhisreviewoftiiemanuscript;hishelpful
suggestions have improved this paper. I am also grateful to the staff of USM and
particularly the Curator Dr. Elida Carrillo for allowing access to the Compositae
collections. I am deeply indebted to B. Sc. JoseAlegria forassisting with tiie final
typescript. Finally, Iwishtothankmyfamilyforencouragement.