Clarifying the nomenclature of Strychnos bredemeyeri and Lasiostoma (Loganiaceae)

Abstract

Strychnos (Loganiaceae, Gentianales) is a large and pantropical genus of woody plants, ethnobotanically important as a source of many toxic alkaloids, including strychnine. Unfortunately, the status of numerous names at various ranks of Strychnos remains unresolved, including that of many specific or infraspecific taxa in the Neotropics. In this study, we address Strychnos bredemeyeri (basionym Lasiostoma bredemeyeri), a species described in 1827 based on type material collected in Venezuela during the poorly documented Austrian Märter expedition (1783–1788). Strychnos bredemeyeri is an unarmed liana with solitary tendrils and axillary inflorescences that occurs in Neotropical rainforests and savannas in Brazil, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. We clarify here the nomenclatural status of Lasiostoma Schreb., an illegitimate and superfluous genus currently in synonymy under Strychnos, and its former species Lasiostoma bredemeyeri [= Strychnos bredemeyeri]. Also, we lectotypify S. pedunculata and S. trinitensis, both taxa currently synonyms of S. bredemeyeri.