A Synopsis of Leucheria (Asteraceae, Nassauvieae), with Notes on the Morphology

Abstract

A synopsis of Leucheria Lag. (Asteraceae, Nassauvieae) is presented that adds morphological information about the species and encompasses the taxonomic novelties of the genus (new combinations, new varieties, and new species) established after the last revisionary work in 1976. Because previous work showed that the position of the phyllaries of the involucre, interpreted as paleae, and the life cycle are not good taxonomic characters, a new approach is proposed here for the species distinction. The morphological analysis shows that all but one species (L. floribunda) have plumose pappi with cilia of different lengths, and the surface of the fruits is tuberculate in all species. The type and amount of fruit pubescence are useful in the distinction of some species. As a result of the analysis, the number of species of Leucheria was reduced from 49 to 29. Twenty-seven new lectotypifications (Chabraea barrasiana J. Rémy, Chabraea gayana J. Rémy, Chabraea multifida DC., Chabraea salina J. Rémy, Chabraea salinasi Phil. var. bipinnatifida Phil., Chabraea suaveolens (d’Urv.) DC. var. integrifolia Sch. Bip., Chabraea suaveolens (d’Urv.) DC. var. pinnatifida Sch. Bip., Chabraea viscida Bertero ex Colla, Lasiorrhiza lithospermifolia Poepp. ex Less., Leuceria conyzoides D. Don, Leuceria echioides D. Don, Leuceria fuegina Phil., Leuceria garciana J. Rémy, Leuceria gracilis Albov, Leuceria hieracioides D. Don, Leuceria ibari Phil. var. glandulosa Speg., Leuceria ibari Phil. var. sessiliflora Speg., Leuceria lanata Albov fo. virescens Albov, Leuceria lanata Albov, Leucheria candidissima D. Don, Leucheria coerulescens J. Rémy, Leucheria congesta D. Don, Leucheria floribunda DC., Leucheria rosea Poepp. ex Less., Leucheria runcinata D. Don, Leucheria scrobiculata D. Don, Perdicium suaveolens d’Urv.), five neotypes (Leuceria acanthoides D. Don, Leuceria cinerea D. Don, Leuceria laciniata Hook. & Arn., Leucheria ibari Phil. var. glabrata Speg., Leucheria millefolium Dusén & Skottsb.), seven epitypes (Leuceria divaricata D. Don, Leuceria hoffmannii Dusén, Leuceria lanigera O. Hoffm. ex Dusén, Leuceria meyeniana Walp., Leuceria pulchella D. Don, Leucheria glandulosa D. Don, Trixis senecioides Hook.), 36 new synonyms, and some changes in the species distributions are proposed. A key to the species of Leucheria, brief species descriptions, detailed illustrations, and distribution maps for each species are presented.

Revised molecular phylogenetic analysis of Leucheria Lag. sensu lato (Asteraceae; Nassauvieae) and implications for morphological and ecological evolution

“…Most of these are from Jara2017. Katinas et al (2022) radically modified the species concepts in Leucheria such that several of the names applied here are reduced to synonymy. However, DNA sequences corresponding to Katinas et al's species are divergent and, more importantly, appear polyphyletic in Jara2017 and the present work.…”

“…45 species of southern South America (Crisci, 1976;cf. Rodríguez et al, 2018), though Katinas et al (2022) consolidated these among 26 species and recognized three more. Jara-Arancio et al (2017; including M.T.K.…”

“…This would require changing a large number of names that have been applied stably for more than a century (cf. Katinas et al, 2022). Moreover, there are no obvious morphological distinctions between the three subclades (Jara2017; cf.…”

“…Moreover, there are no obvious morphological distinctions between the three subclades (Jara2017; cf. Katinas et al, 2022), such that identifying the new genus would require first identifying the species according to the replaced taxonomy of Leucheria. The other problem is that different individuals of one morphological species per Katinas et al (2022) pertain to two divergent subclades per Jara2017…”

Jorge Víctor Crisci: Latin American champion of synantherology, phenetics, cladistics and biogeography

“…In 2022 Jorge has come around full circle, as he published with Liliana Katinas and María José Apodaca a synopsis of Leucheria (Katinas et al, 2022), a contribution where all the advances in the systematics of the genus since his original 1976 revision are presented.…”