The Identity of Clerodendrum manettii Vis. (Verbenaceae)

Abstract

Summary. Clerodendrum manettii Vis. is shown to be a synonym of C. tomentosum (Vent.) R. Br. The question of the identity of Clerodendrum manettii Vis. arose whilst I was preparing an account of the genus Clerodendrum for the Flora of Tropical East Africa and through the kindness of the Director of the 'Istituto di Botanica e Fisiologia Vegetale, Universita di Padova' I have been able to solve the problem satisfactorily. Giuseppe Manetti (fl. 1831-58) in a second supplement (1845) to his list of plants growing in the royal botanic garden at Monza near Milan records C. splendens G.Don and gives the locality Sierra Leone which is indeed where the type of Don's species was collected. Seeds of this or cuttings were sent to Visiani (1801-78) at Padua and when they flowered Visiani was aware that the plant could not be Don's species and he described and figured it as C. manettii and assumed it came from Sierra Leone. Manetti clearly obtained seed of doubtful provenance, identified the plants which resulted as C. splendens and gave the known locality of that species. It was probably not meant to be a clear indication of the origin of his material. This Manetti, who was a head gardener, should not be confused with the Florence physician Xarerio Manetti (1723-85) commemorated by the genus Manettia. Baker (1900) suggested that the West African C. buchholzii Gilg, described much later, might be identical with C. manettii 'a garden plant of uncertain origin'. When Berthold Thomas revised the genus for tropical Africa (1936) he also was convinced Visiani's name must apply to a West African species and accepted Baker's suggestion of affinity. Since C. buchholzii is recorded for East Africa, in fact occurs quite commonly, the problem was brought to my attention and clearly needed solution. Thomas stated in his revision 'eine Anfrage in Rom bzw. Florenz nach dem Typus blieb leider ergebnislos' and appeared to be unaware that Visiani was associated with Padua. My request there resulted in a loan of two sheets both numbered 7191 which I am