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))