Clarifying the occurrence and conservation status of Plantago dielsiana Pilg. and P. australis Lam. subsp. pretoana Rahn (Plantaginaceae) in Brazil

Abstract

Problems in the original description of a species can have long-lasting consequences. This is the case of Plantago dielsiana and P. australis subsp. pretoana, two taxa referred to occur in Brazil by different authors. This work has the objective of clarifying the long standing misunderstanding about the occurrence of these two taxa in Brazil. Additionally, we revise the distribution and assess the conservation status of P. australis subsp. pretoana, an endangered, rather poorly understood subspecies endemic to southeastern Brazil.

Taxonomic novelties in Plantago section Virginica (Plantaginaceae) and an updated identification key

“…Smith et al 7712 [HBR] (see above). Our revision of the material of P. pretoana (actually most of these specimens, originating from Serra do Itatiaia, were previously identified as P. dielsiana; see Hassemer et al 2015a) confirms that these specimens constitute a distinct species, forming a morphologically, geographically, and ecologically well-defined group. …”

“…Seeds collected during these trips have permitted GH to conduct cultivation experiments of several Plantago species in Florianópolis, Brazil and Copenhagen, Denmark, which were important in giving a better understanding of the development, morphology and ecology of these species. We consulted the works of von Linné (1753), de Jussieu (1789), de Lamarck (1791), von Humboldt et al (1817), von Chamisso & von Schlechtendal (1826, Rapin (1827), von Fischer et al (1837, Barnéoud (1845), von Steudel (1849), Decaisne (1852), Schmidt (1878), von Fernsee (1888), Harms & Reiche (1895), Pilger (1912Pilger ( , 1913Pilger ( , 1928Pilger ( , 1937, Rahn (1964Rahn ( , 1966Rahn ( , 1974Rahn ( , 1975Rahn ( , 1978Rahn ( , 1979Rahn ( , 1983Rahn ( , 1992Rahn ( , 1995Rahn ( , 1996Rahn ( , 1999, Luteyn et al (1999), Souza & Souza (2002a, 2002b, Hefler et al (2011), Segarra & Wood (2011 and Hassemer et al ( , 2015aHassemer et al ( , 2015b. To elaborate the new identification key we built upon previous keys from Rahn (1966,1995), Hefler et al (2011) and.…”

“…It is important to note that the specimen illustrated in the Figure 36 in Rahn (1974) [L.B. Smith et al 7712, HBR] is not P. pretoana (Hassemer et al 2015a); the identity of this specimen is still unknown, it might belong to an undescribed species, but more material is necessary to resolve this question. Contrary to Rahn (1974), we found that P. pretoana does not occur in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina states, as the specimens from there attributed to this species [B. Rambo 34589, S and B. Rambo 51492, HBR] were shown to be P. australis subsp.…”

“…The leaves and seeds of some species of Plantago are well known for being edible (Weryszko-Chmielewska et al 2012), an exceptional source of dietary fibre (Marlett et al 2000), and having many medicinal properties (Samuelsen 2000). Plantago is notable for its reduced, wind-pollinated floral morphology, rather variable and plastic vegetative morphology, and complex taxonomy and evolutionary history (Meudt 2011(Meudt , 2012Hassemer et al 2015a). Thus, uncertainties remain regarding species number and circumscription, and the phylogenetic relationships of its sections (Ishikawa et al 2009).…”

First record of Plantago commersoniana (Plantaginaceae), a rare and threatened species, in the Central-West region of Brazil

“…13: Serra do Caparaó, Brazil (2000). In addition to serious conservation issues, P. commersoniana is also notable for its very complicated and unsatisfactorily resolved taxonomy, like many other Plantago species (Meudt 2011;Hassemer et al 2015b;Shipunov 2015). This species is morphologically very variable between regions, especially regarding leaves and roots, and its distribution is highly disjunct.…”