Studies in Bignoniaceae 18: Notes on S. Moore's Mato Grosso Bignoniaceae

Abstract

The 16 species of Bignoniaceae described by Moore from his own and Robert's Mato Grosso collections are identified. Three new combinations based on Moore's species are made. In preparation for the treatment of Bignoniaceae for Flora Neotropica I am attempting to identify the numerous, unaccounted-for species described in Bignonia prior to 1900. Spencer Moore's Mato Grosso Bignoniaceae are among the most important of these. In 1895 Moore (1895) described 14 new species of Bignoniaceae collected during the Percy Sladen Mato Grosso Expedition of 18911892. Later (Moore 1904, 1907) he described two additional species of Bignoniaceae from the same area. Moore's species, described mostly in the genus Bignonia, have never been reinterpreted nor identified with known species of Bignoniaceae. The holotypes of Moore's collections are maintained in the herbarium of the British Museum of Natural History (BM); there are also partial sets at NY and MO. Through the kindness of the curator of the British Museum's Botany Department, I have been able to examine the holotypes of these plants. This paper identifies them to genus and species and proposes the three necessary new combinations based on Moore's names. Moore's other 13 species are reduced to synonymy. The nomenclatural significance of Moore's species is due to the fact that they were published just prior to Bureau & Schumann's (1896-1897) treatment of Bignoniaceae for Flora Brasiliensis. Published too late for inclusion in Flora Brasiliensis, these names have priority over those published in that work and subsequently. A few of Moore's plants were identified in the Flora Brasiliensis on the basis of the distributed specimens, however. The following 16 species of Bignoniaceae were described by Moore. 1. Bignonia rubescens S. Moore is Arrabidaea chica (H. & B.) Verl. (based on B. chica H.&B., PI. Aeq. 1: 107, tab. 31. 1808.) as noted by Bureau & Schumann (as B. erubescens). 2. Bignonia tomentella S. Moore is Arrabidaea pubescens (L.) A. Gentry (based on B. pubescens L., Sp. PI., ed. 2, 2: 870. 1763.) and falls into the synonymy of that species. 3. Bignonia grewioides S. Moore is Arrabidaea fagoidces (Cham.) Bur. (based on B. fagoides Chain., Linnaea 7: 680. 1832.) and becomes a synonym of that species which is itself uncomfortably close to A. platyphylla DC. 4. Bignonia mehioides S. Moore is Pleonotoma brittonii Rusby (Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 27: 72. 1900.) and Moore's name is older. The new combination Pleono