Malvaceae in 2009. II. New names, combinations and statuses

* In a paper in Lundellia Paul Fryxell introduces the name Abutilon ulbrichii for the Peruvian endemic previous known as Abutilon longipes Ulbr.. The latter name is pre-empted by Abutilon longipes Mattei.

* L.J. Dorr has beaten me to publishing a new name, ×Chiranthomontodendron, for the intergeneric hybrid between Chiranthodendron and Fremontodendron, the previously published names Chiranthofremontia and Leelenzia not being compliant with the International Code for Botanical Nomemclature. (× Chiranthomontodendron: the correct nothogeneric name for the artificial hybrid Chiranthodendron × Fremontodendron (Malvaceae: Malvoideae). Taxon 58(4): 1357-1358). The combination ×Chiranthomontodendron lenzii is published for the cross previously published as ×Chiranthofremontia lenzii

* As a new molecular study implies that there is little hope of disentangling Malva and Lavatera, Clive Stace has grasped the nettle and published the new combination Malva ×clementii for the hybrids between Malva olbia and Malva thuringiaca, in Watsonia.

* Verdcourt had published the new genus and combination Roifia dictyocarpa for Hibiscus dictyocarpus aka Fioria dictyocarpa in the Malvaceae volume of Flora of Tropical East Africa. (Note that Roifia is an anagram of Fioria.) Either he thinks that Fioria is worth two genera (contrasting with Kubitzkia and Bayer, who wrote "probably only a single species"), or he thinks that this is distinct from Hibiscus, but Fioria vitifolia isn't. I'm not going to adopt this name immediately, as while I have no objection to splitting Hibiscus it seems to me to be premature to do so (excepting the Malagasy outliers) until the relationships are better understood, especially in the "Trionum" clade.

* Massimo Bovini has raised Wissadula patens ssp. cuspidata to species rank in Novon 19(1): 15-17 (Una Nueva Especie y Combinación en Wissadula (Malvaceae)).

* Steven Hill has done the same for a couple of forms of Sidalcea, giving rise to Sidalcea celeta and Sidalcea sparsifolia. (Notes on California Malvaceae Including Nomenclatural Changes and Additions to the Flora, Madroño 56(2): 104-111 (2009))

December comment thread

For general comments and questions related to Malvaceae from anyone.

Web site back online

I've found a new hosting company for Malvaceae Info, and it's been back up for about a month.

Malvaceae in 2009. I. New Species

* This month the Malvaceae volume of the Flora of Tropical East Africa has been published. I haven't seen it. However new species described in there are listed in the International Plant Name Index.

1. Abutilon eggelingii Verdc. (pg. 129)
2. Abutilon pilosicalyx Verdc. (pg. 120)
3. Abutilon subprostratum Verdc. (pg. 120)
4. Hibiscus holstii Mwachala (pg. 40)
5. Hibiscus kabuyeanus Mwachala (pg. 60)
6. Hibiscus masasianus Mwachala (pg. 68)
7. Pavonia dimorphostemon Verdc. (pg. 30)

* A new species of Wissadula, W. stipulata, was described by Massimo Bovini in Novon 19(1): 15-17 (Una Nueva Especie y Combinación en Wissadula (Malvaceae))

* Paul Fryxell described Sida calva and Sida florulenta in a paper in which he revises a part of Sida sect. Nelavaga, to which he gives the name of subsect. Conglomerata. (A New South American subsection of Sida sect. Nelavaga (Malvaceae) with Two New Species, Lundellia 12: 15-27)

* Ceiba rubriflora, from the Serra do Ramalho in Bahia in Brazil, is described in a paper in Kew Bulletin (Jefferson Guedes de Carvalho-Sobrinho1 and Luciano Paganucci de Queiroz, Ceiba rubriflora (Malvaceae: Bombacoideae), a new species from Bahia, Brazil, Kew Bulletin 63(4): 649-653). It is distinguished from C. erianthos by the possession of sessile leaflets and red petals.

* Two Malagasy species of Dombeya (D. asymmetrica and D. rienanensis) are described in a second paper in Novon. (Wendy L. Applequist, Two New Species of Dombeya (Malvaceae) from Madagascar, Novon 19(3):289-294)

* Guichenotia anota (which has been around as a manuscript name for a while) is now published in Wilkins, C.F. & Whitlock, B.A., Guichenotia anota and Guichenotia apetala (Lasiopetaleae: Byttneriaceae or Malvaceae s. lat.) a new and a revised species endemic to the Ravensthorpe Range, south-west Western Australia, Nuytsia 19(1): 181–190.

* A 4th Malagasy species of Hildegardia, H. dauphinensis, is described in a paper in Adansonia (John G. Zaborsky, Hildegardia dauphinensis (Malvaceae, Sterculioideae): a new species from southeastern Madagascar, Adansonia, sér. 3, 31 (1) : 143-148). It differs from H. perrieri in possessing "distinctive multi-branched stellate hairs on the calyces and leaves, and in having flat (not revolute) leaf blades".

* A new species of Heliocarpus, H. parvimontis, is described from the Balsas river basin of southern Mexico. (Martha Gual-Díaz y Elizabeth Moreno-Gutiérrez, A new species of Heliocarpus (Tiliaceae) from the Balsas River Basin, Guerrero, Mexico, Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 80: 283-286)

* A hybrid, Lavatera ×columbretensis, between L. arborea (Malva arborea) and L. mauritanica (M. durieui), is described from a Spanish offshore island. (Ana Juan & Manuel B. Crespo, A New Wild Hybrid in Lavatera (Malvaceae), Flora Montiberica 41: 3-9). The paper is ambiguous on this point - the cytology not yet having been investigated - but I have the impression that this is a true-breeding hexaploid (2n=126) population, and the × could be dropped.

* [Update 30 Dec 09] A new genus, Spirabutilon, and species, S. citrinum, from Espirito Santo in Brasil, has been described by Antonio Krapovickas, in Bonplandia (Corrientes). (Tip of the hat to Professor Fryxell.)

* [Update 02 Jan 10] I forget to mention, because as a fossil species it is not listed in IPNI, the description of a third fossil species of Craigia, C. hainanensis, from Hainan island.