Ammannia auriculata Willd.

1. Ammannia auriculata Willd. View in CoL

Ammannia auriculata Willd. (1803) View in CoL pl. 7; Koehne (1903) 45, f. 5: B; S.A. Graham (1985) 403; Hewson (1990) 99, f. 32: D–F; Verdc. (1994) 37; P.H. Hô (1992) 31, f. 3680; H.N.Qin & S.A. Graham (2007) 276; H.N. Qin et al. (2008) f. 292: 5–7. — Type: Unknown collector B­W 3081 (holo B, barcode B-W 03081-01 0), Egypt (see also Graham 1985).

Ammannia multiflora Roxb. (1820) View in CoL 447; Koehne (1903) 48; Backer (1930) 465; (1964) 253; (1973) pl. 440. — Type: Roxburgh s.n. (iso K, barcode K000729678, right-hand specimen), East India (see also Panigrahi 1979, ‘1976’: 186).

Ammannia microcrpa DC.(1826) 93; (1828) 78. — Type: Unknown collector, ‘Timor’, see note.

Ammannia debilis auct.non Aiton: Moritzi (1846) 12. — Ditheca debilis (Aiton) Miq. (1856) 615, p.p., based on misidentification of Zollinger specimens from Java, not seen, see note.

Erect, annual, glabrous herb, 40–60 cm tall, much-branched in upper part; stem 4-angular, not winged. Leaves sessile; lamina narrowly elliptic or lanceolate, (0.5–)1.5–8 by 0.2–0.8(–1.2) cm, base broadened, broadly rounded or shallowly cordate, apex acute, 1-nerved; leaves often deciduous when plant fruiting. Inflorescences 3–15(–20)-flowered cymes; peduncle slender, (1–)4–10(–18) mm long. Flowers 4-merous; pedicel 0.5–3(–6) mm long, articulate at base and with 2 minute bracte- oles; calyx tube glabrous, campanulate, 1–1.5 mm long, (4- or) 8-ribbed, lobes suberect, broadly triangular, c. 0.3 mm long, acute, calyx appendages minute or absent; petals pink or red, spreading, obovate, 0.7–1(–1.5) mm long, margin (sub)entire, fugaceous; stamens 4(–8, not seen in Malesia), c. 1.5 mm long, exserted; ovary broadly ellipsoid, c. 1 mm diam, style red, slender, 1–1.2 mm long, as long as or longer than the ovary; placenta central. Capsules purple, subglobose, 1.5–2 mm diam, somewhat exserted from the calyx. Seeds numerous, brown, flattish at one side, c. 0.3 mm long.

Distribution — Widespread:Africa ( Egypt, type), tropical and subtropical N & S America, SE & E Asia, east to Australia; in Malesia: East Java, the Philippines (Luzon).

Habitat & Ecology — Damp places; in Malesia in paddy fields at low altitudes. Flowering all year round.

Malesian material examined. JAVA, Backer 36534; Clason 196. – PHILIP-

PINES, Luzon, Merrill 4246.

Notes — Ammannia auriculata is here, for the Malesian area, accepted in a broad sense as discussed by Graham (1985) for the western hemisphere but as also widely occurring in the Old World including SE Asia. Graham (1985) accepts for areas outside Malesia a variable number of stamens, 4 –8, including the synonym A. racemosa Roth , from India, with 8 stamens, as an ‘8-staminate form’ of A. auriculata . Ammannia auriculata (described from Egypt) is depicted and described with flowers with 8 stamens. We have not inspected the flowers of the type ourselves.

The synonym A. multiflora covers plants from SE Asia with generally smaller flowers and with 4 stamens. This name is em- ployed in Backer (1964) for Java. The name A. auriculata (for a very closely related widespread species) beside a second name A. multiflora (for a widespread closely related species as well) is employed in Qin & Graham (2007) for China and by Hewson (1990) for Australia. Unfortunately, collections of this complex for the Malesian area are too limited to allow for a well-founded opinion on whether one or two species should be accepted. Verdcourt (1994) for E Africa, used the name A. auriculata for a very variable widespread species, but he did not mention A. multiflora described for Asia as a synonym. The epithet ‘ microcarpa ’ could raise the suspicion that De Can- dolle (1826) had the species at present named A. dichotoma (also occurring in Timor) in mind, namely a plant with small flowers and small fruit indeed, but the description does not match it. De Candolle described a plant from Timor with leaves cordate at base, flowers without petals, with 4 stamens, the capsule about as long as the calyx, and with a central placenta. Although the alleged type specimen G-00454022 (G-DC) be- longs to A. dichotoma , the specimen described by De Candolle is still unknown, but obviously concerns A. multiflora , which is in our present paper regarded a synonym of the widespread polymorphic A. auriculata .

Ammannia debilis View in CoL was described by Aiton (1789) from plants cultivated in Kew, introduced by Banks from East India. The de- scription mentions leaves narrowed at the base (as in A. baccifera View in CoL ) and petals present (as in A. multiflora View in CoL , here treated as a synonym of A. auriculata View in CoL ). Moritzi (1846) cited A. debilis View in CoL , a misidentification of a Zollinger collection, for Java; Miquel (1856) accepted Ditheca debilis View in CoL (based on A. debilis View in CoL ) for Java without having seen specimens; Clarke (1879) placed A. debilis View in CoL in the synonymy of A. baccifera View in CoL ; and Koehne (1903) mentioned A. debilis View in CoL with a question mark under A. multiflora View in CoL . Specimens collected by Rottler and named A. debilis View in CoL (in K and G) cannot be regarded as useful for the interpretation of the name. After seeing a digital photograph of the type specimen in addition to the protologue the present authors concluded that A. debilis View in CoL represents a distinct species, endemic to S India. Its literature reference runs as follows:

Ammannia debilis Aiton (1789) View in CoL 163; DC. (1828) 79. — Ditheca debilis (Aiton) Miq. (1856) View in CoL 615, p.p., for the type only. — Type: BM001122163 , a specimen in Bank’s Herbarium (BM) with a determination, allegedly in Bank’s handwriting: “ Ammannia debilis MS View in CoL ” and on the back of the sheet “Hort. Kew 1788”.