Sabdariffa acetosella (Welw. ex Hiern) M.M.Hanes & R.L.Barrett, 2025

Sabdariffa acetosella (Welw. ex Hiern) M.M.Hanes & R.L.Barrett View in CoL , comb. nov.

( Fig. 4 View Fig , 7 a, b View Fig .)

Hibiscus acetosella Welw. ex Hiern , Cat . Afr. Pl. 1: 73–74 (1896). Type citation: ‘ Golungo Alto, – In stations clothed with short brushwood, alongside roads, also in neglected fields, and occasionally cultivated by the natives; Varzea do Isidoro, in flower-bud in March 1856, and in May 1855 in fl. near Mussengue. No. 5270. At the moist borders of thickets between Sange and Zanga, fr. Dec. 1854; and in open wooded places on the lower mountains of Queta, Oct. 1855. No. 5271. By fences and thickets near Sange, in seed Dec. 1854. Coll. Carp. 249, 250, 252.’ Type: Angola: Cuanza Norte, Golunga Alta , on the lower mountains of Queta , Oct. 1854, F.M.J. Welwitsch 5271 (lecto: LISU 206160 About LISU ; isolecto: BM 014117363 ), designated by A. W . Exell & F. A . Mendonça, Consp. Fl. Angol. 1(1): 168 (1937). Residual syn: all Angola: Cuanza Norte, Golunga Alta , near Mussengue , May 1855, F. M. J . Welwitsch 5270 ( BM, n.v., LISU, n.v.); Cuanza Norte, near Sange, col. carp. 249 ( LISU, n.v.); Cuanza Norte, near Sange , col. carp. 252 ( LISU, n.v.) .

Hibiscus acetosella Ficalho View in CoL , Bol . Soc. Geogr. Lisbon, ser. 2: 608 (1881), nom. inval., nom. nud.

Hibiscus eetveldeanus De Wild. & T.Durand View in CoL in T.Durand & E.A.J.De Wildeman, Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot . Belgique 38(2): 24–25 (1899); Hibiscus surattensis var. eetveldeanus (De Wild. & T.Durand) Hochr., Annuaire Conserv. Jard. Bot. View in CoL Genève 6: 49–51 (1902). Type citation: ‘Reg. III: env. de Monbanga, 1895 (Alfr. Dewèvre).’ Type: Democratic Republic of The Congo: Monbanga [Mombanga, NW of Monga], 1895, A.Dewèvre 741a (holo: BR, n.v.).

Descriptions and illustrations

Durand and de Wildeman (1889, pp. 49–51); Ochse and Bakhuizen van den Brink (1960, p. 472, fig. 295); Hauman (1963, pp. 116–117); Bates (1965 a, p. 79, fig. 23); Borssum Waalkes (1966, pp. 59–60); Liogier (1981, p. 91); Correll and Correll (1982, p. 931); Marais and Friedmann (1987, p. 36, pl. 11 (7)); Fryxell (1988, p. 200); Edmonds (1991, fig. 1(2), 2(17)); Fryxell (1992 b, pp. 100–101); Sivarajan and Pradeep (1996, pp. 101–104, fig. 31, 32); Wilson (1999, pp. 68–69, fig. 2b); Fryxell (2000, p. 14); Krapovickas and Fryxell (2004, pp. 50–51); Leistner (2008, p. 114); Mwachala (2009, p. 32); Lejoly et al. (2010, pp. 170–171); Fayaz (2011, pp. 507–508, fig.); van der Burg (2013, pp. 56–57).

Typification

Exell and Mendonça (1937, p. 168) cited ‘ Welwitsch 5271 (BM; Lis.U, tipo)’. Examination of the formatting in the full publication indicates that this is a deliberate choice of the sheet at LISU as the type and accepted as inadvertent lectotypification. Wilson (1999, p. 68) suggested that the BM specimen would have been more appropriate, as the best set of Welwitsch’s specimens were retained at BM ( Hiern 1896) but the choice of Exell & Mendonça (1937) cannot reasonably be overturned. The earlier publication of Hibiscus acetosella Welw. ex Ficalho ( de Ficalho 1881) lacked a description and the name was subsequently validated by Hiern (1896).

Notes

The commonly cultivated form has red to purple foliage, calyx and corolla. However, the wild-type has green foliage, a red calyx and yellow corolla with a purple centre. Cultivated forms also have more deeply lobed and more divided leaves, suggesting a possibility that these may be derived through hybridisation with S. radiata but that remains to be critically assessed.

Distribution

Native to Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of The Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Introduced and commonly naturalised to the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Bénin, Bolivia, Borneo, SE Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba , the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Florida ( USA), Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Islands, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mauritius, Paraguay, Perú, Puerto Rico, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand and Vietnam.