Taxonomic Revision of Staurogyne (Nelsonioideae, Acanthaceae) in the Neotropics

Abstract

Twenty-eight species of Staurogyne are recognized from the Neotropics, where the genus is distributed from Mexico to southern Brazil. The study of herbarium specimens, especially from Brazil and other South American countries, including historical collections from many European herbaria, resulted in the recognition of numerous new geographical records. Morphological characters of diagnostic importance are discussed for the genus and species, for which aspects of the inflorescence, corolla, gynoecium and indument are important for identification. In Neotropical Staurogyne, the corolla may have two basic forms: 1) short, infundibular, and white (often with markings on the limb and throat), and 2) long, tubular, and yellow or red. Species with the latter form of the corolla are restricted to southeastern Brazil. Eight synonymizations and one lectotyfication are proposed, while a key to species, descriptions, illustrations and comments on taxonomy, phenology and geographical distribution are provided.

Staurogyne nitida, a new combination among Brazilian Acanthaceae

“…This species shows some morphological differences with other species of the genus, as noted by annotations on the type of Ebermaiera nitida (Fig. 1) and by Braz & Monteiro (2017). Several of the annotations indicate that the plant does not pertain to Staurogyne.…”

“…Staurogyne Wallich (1831: 80) (Nelsonioideae, Acanthaceae) comprises 145 species distributed in Asia, Africa and the Americas (Champluvier 1991, Daniel & McDade 2014. In the Neotropics the genus is represented by 28 species (Braz & Monteiro 2017), most of which have been described in the genus Ebermaiera Nees von Esenbeck (1832: 75), which was treated as a synonym of Staurogyne by Kuntze (1891).…”

Revised classification of Acanthaceae and worldwide dichotomous keys

“…That said, the years since Scotland & Vollesen's (2000) classification have witnessed major strides in our understanding of species diversity in Acanthaceae in many parts of the world, from monographic and floristic perspectives in addition to the aforementioned phylogenetic advances. Progress has been most notable in Africa (e.g., Balkwill & Welman, 2000; Darbyshire & Harris, 2006; Ensermu, 2006; Hedrén & Thulin, 2006; Vollesen, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2013; Darbyshire & Vollesen, 2007; Champluvier & Darbyshire, 2009, 2012; Daniel & Figueiredo, 2009; Darbyshire, 2009; Darbyshire & al., 2009, 2010, 2011, 2019c; Balkwill & al., 2017; Magnaghi & Daniel, 2017; Breteler & Wieringa, 2018; Steyn, 2018), the Americas (e.g., Durkee, 2001; Ezcurra, 2002, 2018; Daniel & Acosta, 2003; Daniel, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2015b, 2016; Wasshausen & Wood, 2004; McDade & Tripp, 2007; Kameyama, 2008; Indriunas, 2011; Wasshausen, 2013; Franck & Daniel, 2015; Côrtes & al., 2016a; Braz & Monteiro, 2017; Da Silva Monteiro & al., 2018; Daniel & Tripp, 2018; Tripp & Luján, 2018; Da Costa‐Lima & de Oliveira Chagas, 2019; McDade & al., 2019; Zanatta, 2019; Burgos‐Hernández & Castillo‐Campos, 2020; McDade, 2020; Braz & al., 2021) and, to a lesser extent, in tropical Asia (e.g., Moylan & al., 2002; Wood & al., 2003; Carine & al., 2004; Deng & al., 2006; Wood & Scotland, 2009; Shendage & Yadav, 2010; Hu & al., 2011; Wood,…”