Scleria secans Urban 1900
Creators: name: Schneider, Layla Jamylle Costa
name: Simões, André Olmos
name: Dias, Ana Cristina Andrade De Aguiar
name: Gil, André Dos Santos Bragança
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Liliopsida
Poales
Cyperaceae
Scleria
Scleria secans

description: Scleria secans (Linnaeus 1759:865) Urban (1900:169)
≡ Schoenus secans L. (1759:865).
Lectotype (designated by Koyama [1979:309]):—Tab. 77, fig. 1 in Sloane, Voy. Isl. Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica. Vol. 1. 1707.
= Scleria reflexa var. surinamensis Boeckeler (1874:504).
Lectotype (designated here):— SURINAME. s.l.: 1843, fl. and fr., Hostmánn 837 (K [000584488] photo! [Fig.4]; isolectotypes: K [000584489] photo!, [K000584490] photo! and U[1286468] photo!).
Schoenus secans was described by Linnaeus (1759) as having leaf blades scabrous, inflorescence with villous ramifications, and fruits globose. That author cited two illustrations related to S. secans, one published by Hans Sloane (1707) and the other by Georg Rumphius (1750). Sloane’s (1707) illustration was made by Everard Kickius (BM000588865) clearly based on an unnumbered collection from Jamaica made by Sloane (BM000588866), which has the same characteristics as described by Linnaeus (1759). In this illustration, Sloane describes the habit of the plant, which could climb to a height of about 15 feet, growing over bushes (1707).
Rumphius’ (1750) plate eight (VIII) contains two figures. Linnaeus (1759), in the protologue of Schoenus secans, cited figure 2, but it is clearly Freycinetia Gaudich. (Pandanaceae), and despite the fact that figure 1 is markedly as Scleria, it does not exhibit the morphology of Schoenus secans as circumscribed by Linnaeus (1759), such as leaf blades scabrous and inflorescence villous. In 1900, Urban combined Schoenus secans into Scleria and excluded Rumphius’ illustration from the treatment. Later, Koyama (1979) designated Sloane’s (Sloane 1707) illustration as the lectotype of Schoenus secans.
Boeckeler (1874) elaborated a brief diagnosis of Scleria reflexa var. surinamensis, characterizing the species as having a slender floral stem and short, hirsute contraligule. That author cited three syntypes from Suriname: the first was determined as “ S. flagellum ” by Reichenbach and collected by Weigelt, but without herbaria details; the second was determined as S. weigeltiana Schrad. in the Nees herbarium; and the last was signed by Hostmánn 837, also with no herbaria details. The second syntype was not found. Among the syntypes located, Hostmánn 837 has duplicates (K000584488, K000584489, K000584490 and U1286468) that contain the collection data and locality mentioned in the original description and led to the choice of this collection. Of those duplicates, sheet K000584488 exhibits more developed fruits, and is designated here as the lectotype of Scleria reflexa var. surinamensis. Only one exsiccate of the Weigelt collection was found at the BM herbarium (BM000629127); it had an identification tag indicating the origin of the material, the collector, and the determination, as well as some morphological characteristics cited in the original description.
Govaerts et al. (2007) synonymized Scleria reflexa var. surinamensis into S. secans, and we could confirm this synonymization after analyzing the protologues of those names, which were based mainly on the apterous sheaths, the membranaceous appendage on the contraligule, the sparsely branched and lax panicles, and fruits ovoid and white.
description: Published as part of Schneider, Layla Jamylle Costa, Simões, André Olmos, Dias, Ana Cristina Andrade De Aguiar & Gil, André Dos Santos Bragança, 2023, Typifications in Scleria subgenus Scleria section Hymenolytrum (Cyperaceae), pp. 170-184 in Phytotaxa 606 (3) on pages 174-177, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.606.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8202558