Tovomita turbinata Planch. & Triana

1. Tovomita turbinata Planch. & Triana View in CoL in Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 4, 14: 283. 1860. – Lectotype (designated here): [ Colombia, Valle del Cauca] Nouvelle-Grenade, port de la Buenaventura, sur les côtes de l’ocean Pacifique, parmi les Rhizophora , “alt 50, Apr 1853 ”, J. Triana “ 5433 ” (BM [ BM000047403 ] photo!; isolectotypes: COL [ COL000002856 About COL ] photo!, P [ P00093866 ]!).

Other specimens examined — VENEZUELA: Prope coloniam Tovar, 1856–1857, A. Fendler 2542 ( GH 00872907!, K 000488580!).

Recognition and discussion — The type collection of Tovomita turbinata bears only fruits. These fruits are turbinate with asperous epicarp and four septa, which makes them very similar to the fruits of T. fructipendula and T. stylosa . However, the distal portion of the pedicel is slightly dilated, differing from the latter two species. Since the type collection does not have a unique character that makes the species readily recognizable, we maintain T. turbinata as an insufficiently known species.

Besides the type collection, there is only one additional historical collection housed in the GH and K herbaria labelled as Tovomita turbinata . The specimen in K, although having a label identical to those in the type specimens, also has another label annotated as “second collection”. This material is not part of the type collection due to differences in colour, size and texture of the leaves, although the fruit has a dilated pedicel, asperous epicarp and four valves, which leads us to believe that it is indeed a specimen of T. turbinata .