Sabdariffa diversifolia subsp. agioxillos (Vell.) Mwachala & R.L.Barrett, 2025

Sabdariffa diversifolia subsp. agioxillos (Vell.) Mwachala & R.L.Barrett , comb. nov.

( Fig. 14 e, f View Fig .)

Hibiscus agioxillos Vell., Fl. Flumin. 283 (1825 [1829]). Type citation: ‘(Tab. 35. a T. 7) … Habitat locis supra-citatis.’ Type: ‘ Hibiscus agioxillos ’ in J.V. de M. Vellozo, Fl. Flumin. 7, tab. 35 [BHL] (lecto: original parchment Plate of Florae Fluminensis in the Manuscript Section of the Biblioteca Nacional do Rio de Janeiro [catalogue number mss1198656_039], later published in J.V. de M.Vellozo, Fl. Flumin. 7: t. 35 (1831)), designated by Coutinho et al., Brittonia 77(1) (2025).

Hibiscus spinulosus Huber , Cat . Gén. 1871 & 1872: 4 (1871), non (W.V.Fitzg.) F.D. Wilson (1974). Type: not designated (see D. J.Mabberley, Taxon 34: 450 (1985).

Hibiscus rivularis Bremek. & Oberm., Ann. Transvaal View in CoL Mus. 16(3): 424 (1935); Hibiscus diversifolius subsp. rivularis (Bremek. & Oberm.) Exell, Fl. Zambes. View in CoL 1(2): 444 (1961), nom. superfl. Type: Bechuanaland Prot. [ Botswana]: Chobe River, Kabulabula, July 1930, G. van Son s.n., Herb. Transv. Mus. 28936 (lecto, designated by Coutinho et al., Brittonia 77(1) (2025): PRE 0457138-0; iso: PRE 0282642-0BM 000645532, F 0062909F).

Descriptions and illustrations

Huber (1871, p. 4); Exell (1961, p. 444); Edmonds (1991, p. 17); Wilson (1999, p. 64, fig. 2); Krapovickas and Fryxell (2004, pp. 66–67); Mwachala (2009, p. 46); Badry et al. (2017, pp. 114–118, fig. 1–3); Rigueiral et al. (2019, pp. 8–9, fig. 1g –h); Coutinho and Fernandes-Júnior (2024, fig.); Hyde et al. (2024, fig.); Wannan (2024, 7 G, H).

Typification

Although the illustration of Hibiscus agioxillos was published 2 years after the description ( Vellozo 1831), this was cited in the protologue ( Vellozo 1827), therefore Krapovickas and Fryxell (2004, p. 67) considered the illustration to be acceptable as original material and designated this as lectotype of the name. Coutinho et al. (2025) adopted a different view, accepting only the original parchment versions as original material and designated a replacement lectotype. The original artwork for this figure can be viewed through the website of the Biblioteca Nacional do Rio de Janeiro (http://bndigital. bn.br/acervodigital; see also Knapp et al. 2015 and Coutinho et al. 2025).

Although Mwachala (2009) cited the holotype of Hibiscus rivularis as being at BM, Bremekamp and Obermeyer (1935) explicitly stated that the type was held at PRE. As there are two sheets at PRE, Coutinho et al. (2025) designated PRE 0457138-0 as the lectotype based on the quality of the material on the sheet.

Notes

Exell (1961, p. 444) reduced Hibiscus rivularis Bremek. & Oberm. to a subspecies of H. diversifolius . However, the name Hibiscus agioxillos Vell. has priority but the application of Vellozo’s name was uncertain when H. rivularis was named by Bremekamp & Obermeyer (1935) and also when recombined by Exell (1961), therefore the priority was not recognised. We here agree with Krapovickas and Fryxell (2004, pp. 66–67) that H. agioxillos can reliably be applied to the taxon most commonly known as Hibiscus diversifolius subsp. rivularis (Bremek. & Oberm.) Exell. As this is the earliest available epithet for this taxon, we adopt this here.

Distribution

Native to Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia (Caprivi), Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Introduced and variously naturalised in SE Brazil and north Queensland, Australia.