Rubiacearum Americanarum Magna Hama Pars LV. Overview with a Revised Circumscription of Palicourea sect. Heteropsychotria (Palicoureeae)
Abstract
Many of the species classified in Psychotria L. subg. Heteropsychotria Steyerm. have been shown to belong to Palicourea Aubl. based on morphological and molecular characters. Here, species corresponding to Psychotria sect. Heteropsychotria Steyerm. are studied. This section is circumscribed here differently than by Borhidi, to include 29 species found from Mexico and the Antilles to southeastern Brazil with centers of diversity in northeastern South America and the Greater Antilles. This section is not easily diagnosed morphologically because its features are ancestral and widespread in Palicourea, but it can be characterized generally by the combination of stipule form, inflorescence arrangement, and corolla and fruit details. Here several species have revised taxonomic circumscriptions and names, seven new nomenclatural combinations are published, seven names are lectotypified, and four new species are described: Pal. laxivenulosa C. M. Taylor and Pal. pseudovenulosa C. M. Taylor are found in the Andes of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, and Pal. chiribiquetensis C. M. Taylor and Pal. hopkinsiana C. M. Taylor are found in the central to western Amazon basin.
