The Identity of Pergularia tacazzeana Chiov. (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae): Telosma africana (N. E. Br.) N. E. Br. Newly Recorded for the Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea

Abstract

Chiovenda (1911) described Pergularia tacazzeana Chiov. from the Tacazze Stream in northern Ethiopia. Unfortunately, the name was overlooked for the account of Asclepiadaceae published in the Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea (Goyder et al. 2003), and its identity therefore needs to be ascertained. Pergularia tacazzeana is based on Chiovenda 617, housed in FT. I am most grateful to Marcello Tardelli for sending me an image of this specimen, which can be readily determined as Telosma africana (N. E. Br.) N. E. Br., a widespread but infrequently collected species occurring across much of tropical Africa, but which has not previously been reported from Ethiopia. Chiovenda's placement of his new species under the genus Pergularia is no surprise, as application of the names Pergularia and Telosma had been confused for a century, and the generic names used almost interchangeably (Brown 1907; Liede 1990).