Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid

Lectotypification of the names Carex alpestris All. and C. nigra Bellardi (Cyperaceae)

Alberto Selvaggi — 2025-12-30

We fix the application of the names Carex alpestris All. and C. nigra Bellardi (usually miscited as “C. nigra All.”) through their typification. We chose two specimens housed at TO, each of them collected by the respective nomenclatural author.

Filling the gap in the geographical range of Pterichis aragogiana (Orchidaceae) and notes on the nominal section of Pterichis in Peru

Marta Kolanowska — 2025-12-30

The orchid genus Pterichis comprises almost 50 species distributed from Costa Rica and Jamaica to Bolivia with the greatest diversity observed in the northern Andes. Recent studies on Pterichis resulted in the description of numerous new species across South America. One of the most interesting findings was P. aragogiana, which is characterized by a spider-like appearance of the flowers. This orchid was described based on material collected in Ecuador and a year later its occurrence was confirmed in Bolivia. Here P. aragogiana is reported for the first time from Peru based on data obtained in USM herbarium. The morphological characteristic of the species is provided together with an illustration and information about its geo-graphical distribution. An updated key for identification of Peruvian representatives of the nominal section of Pterichis is presented.

Callicarpa gonzalezgomezii (Lamiaceae): a new species from Cuba

Isidro E. Méndez Santos — 2025-12-30

Callicarpa gonzalezgomezii sp. nov. (Lamiaceae) is described from the ultramafic soils of northern Holguín Province, Cuba. It is closely related to C. gibaroana, from which it differs in its shorter petioles and smaller leaf blades with obtuse to rounded apex and adaxial surface glossy in fresh material; tomentose-ferruginous indumentum on young branches, petioles, peduncles and calyxes; pale magenta to lilac corolla (sometimes with blue hues); and in growing on serpentine soils. Its known distribution is limited to the municipality Rafael Freyre, and it is classified as ‘Critically Endangered’ according to its preliminary IUCN assessment. Illustrations and an identification key to all 24 currently recognized Cuban species of Callicarpa are provided.

Traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in Yeşilli (Mardin, Turkey)

Yeter Yeşil — 2025-12-30

The Province of Mardin, located in Upper Mesopotamia on the old Silk Road, has hosted 30 civilizations and the amalgamation of various languages and religions. The District of Yeşilli, in Mardin Province, is an important region that shares this cultural richness. The aim of this ethnobotanical study, the first in the district, was to record the plants used for medicinal purposes by the residents of Yeşilli and to achieve which are also used for food purposes. The fieldwork to document the traditional knowledge of plants was carried out in Yeşilli District from March 2017 to April 2022. The data were collected by interviewing 82 informants. Additionally, the data were analyzed based on the Use Value (UV) and Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) to determine both the cultural significance and the knowledge of medicinal plants among the informants. A total of 83 taxa belonging to 34 families were identified in the region. The majority of remedies were prepared by infusion and decoction. Aerial parts were the most frequently used plant parts. The utilization of medicinal plants is still widespread among the residents of Yeşilli. Given the cultural diversity of the region, this study is of invaluable significance for future ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological research.

A new species of Salvia from Colombia with resupinate flowers

John R.I. Wood — 2025-12-30

A new species of Salvia is described from the Central Cordillera of Colombia. It is the second known species of section Tubiflorae with resu-pinate flowers. Its affinities with similar species from the same section are discussed.

Paving the way to the systematic understanding of a challenging clade of lepidote African Croton (Euphorbiaceae)

Álvaro Muñoz-Sánchez — 2025-12-30

Croton is a predominantly woody pantropical genus that exhibits the so-called ‘Odd Man Out’ pattern, with Africa having the lowest species diversity across the tropics. Previous phylogenetic analyses have shown that all the Old World species of Croton sampled so far form a single clade nested within a New World backbone. Here we focus on a taxonomically challenging group of African Croton characterized by the presence of lepidote indument. Species delimitation within this group has proven difficult due to the lack of strong morphological differentiation and the incompleteness of numerous herbarium specimens from tropical Africa. We sequenced two universal genetic regions (ITS, trnL-F) using multiple accessions per species/morphospecies based on herbarium material to provide a preliminary phylogenetic framework to guide the lineage sampling for a broader phylogenomic study targeting this group and the rest of all African Croton. We also used these molecular data, along with information on geographic occurrences, to aid in the identification of poor, immature or infertile specimens and to detect possible instances of taxonomic misidentification in herbarium collections. Our results show that African lepidote species belong to several separate clades, one of them containing the majority of the lepidote species. Phylogenetic resolution within this largest lepidote clade is low, but several highly supported subclades were recovered. The sampling of these subclades should be considered in any future study aimed at reconstructing a phylogenetic tree of African Croton using phylogenomics.