Brunellia propinqua Humb.
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Authority
Cuatrecasas, José. 1985. Brunelliaceae (supplement). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 2: 28-103. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Brunelliaceae
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Scientific Name
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Discussion
The holotype in the Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth (HBK.) herbarium in P is a unicate. Its label bears only the species name given by Kunth, with no indication of place or country of origin. Bonpland left no duplicates and no data related to this plant. Years ago, I saw the type specimen in P and compared it with collections from Cundinamarca, which did match perfectly, leaving no doubt about the species being from the Bogotá area. Two Mutis collections, also without locality marked on the labels (cited as belonging to the species on p. 127, Cuatrecasas, 1970) suggest that the HBK. specimen might have been given by Mutis to Bonpland when they met in Bogotá (it is known that Humboldt and Bonpland received several collections from Mutis, among them e.g., the type of Brunellia acutangula). Recent close examination of a microfiche of the B. propinqua type and a loose leaflet of it (kindly made available for study by Dr. A. Lourteig), indicates close physical similarity with the Mutis specimens nos. 4148 and 4265, although no absolute proof exists that the specimens originated from the same Mutis collection. These specimens had been severely damaged in the past by insects which destroyed part of the indument, leaving it intact only in some spots, where a dense, entangled and spreading tomentum, typical of B. propinqua, can be observed.