All endemic species of Hispaniola and Cuba that were formerly assigned to Clerodendrum, with the exception of Volkameria aculeata (or C. aculeatum), are transferred to Ovieda, based on morphological and phytogeographical evidence. A full synonymy, with citation of types, is given for all of them, and the necessary seven new combinations are validated.
Version of record first published online on 28 July 2016 ahead of inclusion in August 2016 issue.
Introduction
The name Ovieda L. was validly published by Linnaeus (1753) for a genus with a single species, O. spinosa L., from “America meridionali” (in fact from the Caribbean island of Hispaniola). Subsequently, several additional species were added to Ovieda, some newly described (e.g. O. mitis L. 1763; O. ovalifolia Juss. 1806; O. verticillata Roxb. ex D. Don 1825), some transferred from other genera (e.g. O. inermis (L.) Burm. f. 1768 and O. aculeata (L.) Baill. 1891 [non (Sweet) Klatt 1864], both from Volkameria L.). All were later included in Clerodendrum L. (e.g. by Briquet 1894).
The wide circumscription of Clerodendrum prevailed until recently, when molecular evidence showed it to be unnatural. Using chloroplast DNA sequence data, Yuan & al. (2010) restricted the genus Clerodendrum to Old-World taxa, placing the New-World representatives formerly assigned to it in two other Linnaean genera, Ovieda and Volkameria. The former they considered as unispecific: O. spinosa, the species providing its type and the only one they had used in their analysis, being endemic to Hispaniola. The remaining New World species they placed in what Steane & al. (1997) had identified as a clade of “pantropical coastal Clerodendrum” species, now assigned to Volkameria, a genus represented on the Caribbean islands by its nomenclatural type, V. aculeata L. (Yuan & al. 2010).
Yuan & al. (2010) did not mention the remaining autochthonous Caribbean Clerodendrum species, which were not studied by them. By implication, one might conclude that they were considered as belonging to Volkameria. However, they appear to be closely related to, and in my opinion congeneric with, Ovieda spinosa rather than V. aculeata. This conclusion is not only supported by similarity of general habit and habitat, but also by details of morphology. In major characters considered by Yuan & al. (2010) as distinguishing Volkameria and Ovieda, the Caribbean island endemics agree with O. spinosa. The young branches are tuberculate by prominent lenticels; the leaves are large, often with a ± spinulose-denticulate margin and with a reticulum of abaxially prominent veins.
According to Yuan & al. (2010), the fruit is a drupe in both genera, but has four one-seeded locules in Volkameria and only two one-seeded locules in Ovieda (however, elsewhere in the same paper, they state that the fruit was “not recorded recently”).
Material and methods
The present revision is based on field observations in different places of Cuba and the study of herbarium material with the aid of a binocular dissecting microscope Wild M5A at up to 100× magnification. Fruits were soaked in tap water and boiled until mollified. Specimens were studied at, or obtained on loan from, the following herbaria (abbreviated in conformity with Thiers 2016+): A, B, BM, F, G, GH, HAC, HAJB, HIPC, JE, K, MO, NY, P, PAL-Gr, S and US. Digital images available via the Internet (A, F, G, P, K, KW, NY, S, YU) and in microfiches (G in B) were also studied.
Results and Discussion
Recent studies on Ovieda spinosa (e.g. García & al. 4890, PAL-Gr) and the other Caribbean island endemics species lead the author to the conclusion that they all have drupes with two one-seeded pyrenes.
Morphological and phytogeographical evidence is sufficiently conclusive to justify inclusion in Ovieda of all endemic species of Hispaniola and Cuba that were formerly assigned to Clerodendrum. During preparation of the Lamiaceae treatment for the Flora de la República de Cuba these species were recently revised by me, and their synonymy established. This revision results in the need for seven new combinations, validated as follows:
Ovieda anafensis (Britton & P. Wilson) I. E. Méndez, comb. nov. ≡ Clerodendrum anafense Britton & P. Wilson in Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 16: 99. 1920. — Holotype: Cuba, Pinar del Río: Sierra de Anafe, 21 Dec 1911, Wilson & León 11466 (NY 00111241!; isotypes: US 00119323 [photo!], F 0074334 [photo!]).
= Clerodendrum denticulatum Moldenke in Caribbean Forrester 2: 14. 1940. — Holotype: Cuba, Oriente: mogote in coll. calcar. prope Palmarito del Cauto, 300 m alt., 10 Apr 1918, Ekman 9176 (B†, NY [photograph of holotype!]; lectotype (designated here): S 042646 [photo!]; isolectotype: NY 111244!).
Ovieda brachypus (Urb.) I. E. Méndez, comb. nov. ≡ Clerodendrum brachypus Urb. in Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 20: 347. 1924. ≡ Clerodendrum cubense var. brachypus (Urb.) Kereszty in Acta Bot. Hung. 36: 56. 1993. — Holotype: Cuba, Pinar del Río: Ensenada de Vega Cuchilla, 12.6.1923, Ekman 16673 (B†; lectotype (designated here): S 04-2645 [photo!]).
= Clerodendrum grandiflorum subsp. cajalbanense Kereszty in Acta Bot. Hung. 36: 53. 1993. — Holotype: Cuba, Pinar del Río: Cajálbana, without date, Acuña 16416 (HAC!).
Ovieda calcicola (Britton) I. E. Méndez, comb. nov. ≡ Clerodendrum calcicola Britton in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, 39: 9. 1912.— Lectotype (Moldenke in Phytologia 58: 410. 1985): Cuba, Pinar del Río, Bahía de Corrientes, 10–12 Mar 1911, Britton & Cowell 9871 (NY 00111242!).
Ovieda cubensis (Schauer) I. E. Méndez, comb. nov. ≡ Clerodendrum cubense Schauer in Candolle, Prodr. 9: 658. 1847. — Lectotype (designated here): Cuba, 1833, Sagra 595 (G-DC [IDC microfiche 1904: B7!]; isolectotype: G-DC [IDC microfiche 1904: B6!]; isolectotypes?: Sagra 215, BM 000992847 [photo!]; G 366310 [photo!]; Sagra 208, G 366309 [photo!]).
= Clerodendrum lindenianum A. Rich. in Sagra, Hist. Fís. Cuba 11: 147. 1850. — Holotype: Cuba: Santiago de Cuba, 1844, Linden 1775 (P 03410281 ex herb. Richard [n.v.]; isotypes: G 00366384 [photo!], G 00366385 [photo!], K 000485177 [photo!], K 000485178 [photo!], P 03410286 [n.v.]).
= Clerodendrum nipense Urb. in Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 20: 348. 1924. — Holotype: Cuba, Provincia de Oriente, in Sierra de Nipe ad Río Piloto, in pinetis, 20 Apr 1919, Ekman 9500 (B†; lectotype (designated here): S 04-2647 [photo!]; isolectotype: NY 00111245 fragment [photo!]).
= Clerodendrum nipense var. pubescens Moldenke in Caribbean Forester 2: 14. 1940. — Holotype: Cuba, Caguaneque, Sagua de Tánamo, without date, Bucher 10 (HAC-LS!; isotype: NY 00111245 [fragment!]).
= Clerodendrum camagueyense Britton & P. Wilson in Mem. Torrey. Bot. Club 16: 99. 1920 = Clerodendrum lindenianum var. camagueyense (Britton & P. Wilson) Moldenke in Rev. Sudamer. Bot. 5: 1. 1937. — Holotype: Cuba, Camagüey, savanna south of Sierra de Cubitas, 20–21 Feb 1909, Shafer 496 (NY 00111243!; isotypes: F 0074335 [photo!], A 00094525 [photo!]).
Ovieda grandiflora (Hook.) I. E. Méndez, comb. nov. ≡ Aegiphila grandiflora Hook. in Bot. Mag. 72: t. 4230. 1846 ≡ Clerodendrum grandiflorum (Hook.) Schauer in Candolle, Prodr. 9: 659. 1847. — Lectotype (designated here): plate 4230 in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 1846, of a plant of unstated origin cultivated in Kensington, U.K.
= Clerodendrum sagrae Schauer in Candolle, Prodr. 11: 659. 1847. — Lectotype (designated here): Cuba, Havane, 1833, Sagra 591 (G-DC [IDC microfiche 1904:B8!]; isolectotypes?: Sagra s.n., F 0074336 [photo!], P 00689876 [photo!]; Sagra 105, G-DC [IDC microfiche 1904: C1!]).
= Aegiphila aurea Turcz. in Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 36(3): 218. 1863. — Holotype: Cuba: provincia de la Habana, 1844, Linden 131 (KW 1001654 [photo!]).
= Citharexylum longiflorum Turcz. in Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 36(3): 207. 1863. — Holotype: Cuba, Sagra 50 (P? [n.v.]).
Ovieda picardae (Urb.) I. E. Méndez, comb. nov. = Clerodendrum picardae Urb., Symb. Antill. 3: 367. 1903. — Syntypes: Haiti, prope Payan ad habitationem Icard, January; in montibus Furcy, 1515 m, August. Picarda 172, 621 (both B†).
Ovieda tuberculata (A. Rich.) I. E. Méndez, comb. nov. ≡ Clerodendrum tuberculatum A. Rich. in Sagra, Hist. Fís. Cuba 11: 147. 1850 [“Clerodendron”]. — Lectotype (designated here): Cuba: without date, ex herb. Richard without number [“Crescit cerca Jaguae (De la Ossa)”] (P 03283942 [photo!]; isolectotype P 03283945 [photo!]).
Acknowledgements
The author thanks the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin for liberal access to the institution's research facilities and various kinds of help through the collaborative Flora de Cuba programme. He is also grateful to financial support of the Verein der Freunde des Botanischen Gartens und Botanischen Museums Berlin-Dahlem e.V. and to the directors and curators of many herbaria (A, B, BM, F, G, GH, HAC, HAJB, JE, K, MO, NY, P, PAL-Gr, S and US) for lending material for the purpose of his study. Werner Greuter (B, PAL) is acknowledged for his advice on, and critical revision of, the manuscript. Hermann Manitz (JE) is also thanked for his comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript.
