Typification of the name Celosia nitida (Amaranthaceae) and first record for the State of Sonora, Mexico

The family Amaranthaceae Juss. (including Chenopodiaceae Vent.; APG IV, 2016) is distributed across all continents except Antarctica and comprises 183 genera and 2050 to 2500 species (Hernandez-Ledesma et al. 2015, POWO, 2024). Several species (especially belonging to Amaranthaceae s.s.) are used as ornamental or edible plants and are able to escape from cultivation (as alien species) causing ecological, economical, and social impacts in many countries of the world (see e.g., Iamonico, 2023; Das, 2016).

It is one of the most diverse families of flowering plants represented in Mexico, with 33 genera and around 211 species (Villaseñor, 2016). In addition, it is a group of plants with economic, nutritional, and cultural importance in the country, since many wild and other domesticated taxa are used as a source of food, or as medicinal and/or ornamental plants (Sandoval-Ortega et al., 2023; Sandoval-Ortega & Siqueiros-Delgado, 2019).

Concerning the State of Sonora, 73 Amaranthaceae taxa have been recorded (Van Devender et al., 2010, 2014, 2015), but the genus Celosia L. was not reported.

During a routine collection trip in the municipality of Tepache, Sonora, in September 2022, plants identifiable as belonging to Celosia were collected.

The material was herbarized following the methodology proposed by Engelmann (1986) and deposited at the Herbarium of the University of Sonora (USON). Plants were identified using specialized literature (Robertson, 2003; Standley, 1917; Zumaya-Mendoza & Sánchez-del Pino, 2015).

Additionally, it was compared with images of specimens from the herbaria RSA, F, FLAS, UADY (acronyms according to Thiers, 2024 [continuously updated]), through the portal “Red de Herbarios Mexicanos” (available at: https://herbanwmex.net/). Likewise, the specimens deposited in the MEXU and FCME herbaria were examined by the authors.

After reviewing the literature and herbarium specimens, the name Celosia nitida was typified. Articles of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants cited throughout the text follow the Shenzhen Code (hereafter as “ICN”; Turland & al., 2018).

Using the information obtained in the field and from the consulted herbarium material, a morphological description of the genus and species was prepared, with photographs of important structures for its identification, as well as a distribution map of C. nitida in Mexico using the QGIS v. 2.28.4 program (QGIS Development Team, 2017).

Celosia L., Sp. Pl. 1: 205. 1753.

Type (designated by Hitchcock, 1929: 135): Celosia argentea L.

Herbs or subshrubs, annual or perennial. Stems erect to ascending, glabrous or pubescent with simple trichomes. Leaves alternate, petiolate; leaf blades lanceolate, ovate, elliptic or trulate. Inflorescences terminal and/or axillary, spikes or panicles, pedunculated or sessile; bract 1, bracteoles 2, not crested. Flowers bisexual, tepals 3–5, subequal, filaments fused in a basal cup, pseudostaminodes absent, ovary subglobose, style 1 stigmas 2–3. Fruit pyxidium. Seeds 2–numerous, lenticular, testa glossy.

Genus with around 46 species distributed in America, Asia and Africa (POWO, 2024), 3 in Mexico (Zumaya-Mendoza & Sánchez-del Pino, 2015).

Celosia nitida Vahl, Symb. Bot. 2: 44. 1791.

Lectotype (designated here): — Illustration of Amaranthus fruticosus erectus, spica viridi laxa et strigosa, Sloane (1707), Tab. 91.

Epitype (designated here): — JAMAICA, 1687–1689, Sloane s.n. (BM000588968, available at: https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.bm000588968).

Herbs or subshrubs, perennial. Stems ascending, sometimes supported by neighboring vegetation, up to 2 m long, glabrous. Petioles 0.5–2 cm long, leaf-blades trulate, ovate or lanceolate, 3–7 cm long and 1–5 cm wide, base attenuate, oblique or truncate, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate (Figure 1). Inflorescence lax panicles or solitary spikes; bract ovate, 1.2–1.5 mm long, apex acute; bracteoles broadly ovate, slightly longer than the bract, apex acute (Figure 2C and D). Tepals ovate-elliptic, 5–7 mm long by 2–3 mm wide, sclerous, margins scarious, apex acute, green to whitish or reddish (Figure 2A and D), ovary ca. 2 mm diameter (Figure 2B), stigmas 3. Pyxidium ovoid, 4–5 mm long and ca. 3 mm wide (Figure 2E). Seeds (18)20–24, ca. 1 mm diameter, testa glossy, reddish brown.

Figure 1:

Specimen of Celosia nitida collected in the Tepache municipality, Sonora, deposited at USON (barcode USON32388).

Slika 1: Primerek vrste Celosia nitida, nabran v občini Tepache, Sonora, shranjen v herbariju USON (črtna koda USON32388).

Figure 2:

Details of Celosia nitida structures. A = flowers with reddish tepals. B = open flower with ovary and stamens. C = bract and bracteoles. D = flower with mature pyxidium. E = mature pyxidium.

Slika 2: Podrobnosti struktur vrste Celosia nitida. A = cvetovi z rdečkastimi perigonovimi listi. B = odprti cvet s plodnico in prašniki. C = krovni list in predlisti. D = cvet z zrelo glavico s pokrovčkom. E = zrela glavica s pokrovčkom.

Distribution: Species distributed from the south of the United States (Texas and Florida) to South America (Venezuela) and the Caribbean (POWO, 2024). In Mexico, it had been recorded for the States of Campeche, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Yucatán (Zumaya-Mendoza & Sánchez-del Pino, 2015) and is reported for the first time here for Sonora (Figure 3), where it has been recorded in the municipality of Tepache, at 600 m a.s.l., in riparian vegetation, in a site with elements of subtropical vegetation such as Ceiba aesculifolia (Kunth) Britten & Baker f., Esenbeckia hartmanii B.L.Rob. & Fernald, and Ficus pertusa L.f., in a transition site between the biogeographic provinces Chihuahuan Desert and Pacific Lowlands (sensu Morrone et al., 2017).

Figure 3:

Distribution map of Celosia nitida Vahl in México.

Slika 3: Zemljevid razširjenosti vrste Celosia nitida Vahl v Mehiki.

Notes on the type of Celosia nitida: The protologue of Celosia nitida (Vahl, 1791: 44) consists of a short diagnosis (“foliis ovato-deltoidibus attenuatis, spicis terminalibus ramosis floribus distinctis, caule suffruticoso”) and a detailed description; the provenance (“Habiat in India Occidentali”) and a collector (“Dn Martfelt”) was reported and it represent a syntype citation (Art. 9.6 of ICN); further the citation “Amaranthus fruticosus erectus, spica viridi laxa & strigosa. Sloane (1707: 142), Tab. 91” is given, referring to a Sloane's (1707) illustration which can be considered as part of the original material for C. nitida.

The herbarium and types specimens of Martin Vahl (Henrichsen) are preserved in C (HUH-Index of Botanists 2023), where we traced the following four specimens of C. nitida: C10005373 (available at: https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.c10005373), C10005372 (https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.c10005372), C10005375 (https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.c10005375) and C10005371 (https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.c10005371). However, although there is evidence that some of this material was verified by Vahl (see annotations on the back of sheets C10005373, C10005372, C10005371), none of them includes the collection data and Martfelt as collector. Consequently, these C specimens cannot be considered for the lectotypification purpose.

Vahl's additional material is deposited at B-Willd., BM, CGE, E, FR, G-DC, GOET, H-SOL, H, LD, M, P and UPS (HUH-Index of Botanists, 2024). But, after a digital search through different portals (E herbarium, 2024; JACQ consortium, 2024; JSTOR 2024; Natural History Museum, 2024; P herbarium, 2024) and contacting the curators of B-Willd., BM, E, H, LD and UPS, no material was found that matches the protologue of C. nitida.

Thus, the illustration of “Amaranthus fruticosus erectus, spica viridi laxa & strigosa” (Figure 4) on plate 91 in Sloane (1707: 142) is designated here as the lectotype of C. nitida (see Art. 9.3 & 9.4 of ICN).

Figure 4:

Plate 91 from Sloane (1707). Left: Illustration of “Blitum album majus scandens”. Right: Illustration of “Amaranthus fruticosus erectus, spica viridi laxa et strigosa”.

Slika 4: Slika 91 iz Sloane (1707). Levo: ilustracija “Blitum album majus scandens”. Desno: ilustracija “Amaranthus fruticosus erectus, spica viridi laxa et strigosa”.

Figure 5:

Epitype of Celosia nitida Vahl, designated here, BM000588968.

Slika 5: Epitip vrste Celosia nitida Vahl, določen v tem članku, BM000588968.

The plates in Sloane (1707) were engraved by Michael van der Gucht from drawings made for Sloane by the Rev. Garret Moore (in Jamaica) and Kickius (in London), many are dated 1700 and 1701. These Illustrations are now deposited mainly in the Sloane Herbarium at the Natural History Museum with others in the Royal Collection, at Badminton and at the BM (see: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG33747). The original illustration of “Amaranthus fruticosus erectus, spica viridi laxa et strigosa” is now deposited at BM (BM000588967, available at https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.bm000588967). However, this illustration is schematic and ambiguous in terms of diagnostic characters, like size and shape of tepals, bracts and bracteoles and does not show the number of styles, so it is necessary to designate an epitype (see Art. 9.9 of the ICN).

Among the plants collected by Sloane during his trip to Jamaica between 1687 and 1689 and deposited in BM is a specimen of C. nitida (BM000588968, available at: https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.bm000588968), the fragment at the top right (Figure 2) evidently served as the basis for the elaboration of the illustration in Tab. 91 of Sloane (1707). This specimen is designated here as an epitype since it contains reproductive structures, was collected in the Antilles, served as the basis for the figure cited in the protologue (Vahl 1791) and is consistent with the current species concept in Celosia (e.g. Robertson, 2003; Standley, 1917; Zumaya-Mendoza & Sánchez-del Pino, 2015).

EXAMINED SPECIMENS: MÉXICO, Campeche, Calakmul, A 2 km al W de Calakmul, 25 Nov. 1997, Martínez S. E. 29930 (MEXU: 975442); Hopelchén, Finca San Nicolas en la carretera Xpijuil a Chetuma, a 5 km de Xpijuil, 02 Feb. 2004, Duno de Stefano R. 1886 (MEXU: 1362657). Nuevo León, Cerralvo, Sierra de Picachos, Rancho el 30, Cañón el Gallo, 12 Nov. 1994, Villareal J.A. 8013 (MEXU: 667287); Montemorelos, San Vicente, 4 km aguas abajo de Montemorelos, 15 Oct. 1983, Sánchez Silva R. 443 (MEXU: 591209). Oaxaca, San Juan Bautista Cuicatlán, Barranca de Agua amarilla, a 3.1 km al SW de San José el Chilar, 4 Oct. 2002, Cruz Espinosa C.A. 1374 (MEXU: 1060766). Quintana Roo, A 500 m al N del Parque Natural El Garrafón, en Isla Mujeres, 08 Jan. 1986, Cabrera E. 10465 (MEXU: 512668). San Luis Potosí, San Antonio, Tanchanhuil, 19 Sep. 1978, Alcorn J.B. 1733 (MEXU: 406536). Sonora, Tepache, Río Tepache, 16 Sep. 2022, Sandoval-Ortega M.H. s.n. (USON: 32388). Tamaulipas, Aldama, Sierra de Tamaulipas, región of Rancho Las Yucas, ca. 40 km NNW of Aldama, 07 Oct. 1957, Dressler R. L. 2275 (MEXU: 11878); Camargo, 3 km al Norte de Comales, borde de la cortina de la presa Marte R. Gómez, 15 Nov. 1995, González Medrano F. 17611 (MEXU: 556155); Victoria,15 km al NE de Cd. Victoria Camino V. Gro.-Victoria, 24 Sep. 1985, Yañez M. 552 (MEXU: 806240). Veracruz, Emiliano Zapata, 28 Oct. 1975, Ventura A. F. 12033 (MEXU: 347032); Apazapan, 1 km E del poblado, en las faldas del Río Jalcomulco, 10 Oct. 1991, Castillo C. G. (MEXU: 732136). Yucatán, Abalá, 15 km al S del poblado de Yaxcopoil, a lo largo de la carretera Mérida-Muna, 7 Nov. 2001, Carnevali G. 6443 (MEXU: 1238128); Dzemul, 5-6 km de Dzemul, carretera de Dzemul a Xtampu, 12 Nov. 2003, Duno de Stefano R. 1848 (MEXU: 1362655); Mérida, Ruinas de Dzibilchaltun, 20 km al N de la Ciudad de Merida, carretera para progreso, 4 Nov. 1980, Calzada J.I. 06485 (MEXU: 826299); San Felipe, 1 km al norte del rancho “Chinalco”, reserva ecológica de Dzilam, 7 Sep. 2010, Tun J.C. 373 (MEXU: 916300); Santa Elena, En los alrededores de la Zona Arqueológica de Sayil por la carretera Uxmal-Oxkutzkab, 25 Dec. 1985, Cabrera E. 10355 (MEXU: 948209).