Cassia neesiana var. laxiracemosa

Title

Cassia neesiana var. laxiracemosa

Authors

Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

Scientific Name

Cassia neesiana var. laxiracemosa (Harms) H.S.Irwin & Barneby

Description

58b. Cassia neesiana Martius ex Bentham var. laxiracemosa (Harms) Irwin & Barneby, stat. nov. C. laxiracemosa Harms in Feddes Repert. 20: 131. 1924. — "Brasilien: Goyaz, Paranana [= Paranaua or Paranoa in present D.F.] (Glaziou n. 20968; 1894/95)." — Holotypus, †B = F Neg. 1700! clastotypus (fragm), F! neoholotypus, former isotypus, G! isotypi C, K = NY Neg. 1551, P (dated 27.V.1898), S!

In shape and size of lfts resembling var. neesiana as this occurs in Sa. do Cipo, but the lfts less numerous, to 10-15 pairs in larger lvs, combined with diffuse stems and a terminal inflorescence of 1-2 racemes exserted beyond reduced upper lvs but not paniculate. — Collections: 7

Open places in cerrado, near 1000 m, local and scattered, in s. Sa do Espinhaco (Sa. do Cipo, where sympatric with var. neesiana) and on upper R. Paranaiba in s.-centr. and s.-w. Minas Gerais, and on the sources of R. Sao Bartolomeu in Distrito Federal (Lago Paranoa and vicinity; Planaltina). — Fl. V-X.

Unless the known dispersal of var. laxiracemosa is more discontinuous than its real one, our concept may be based on an arbitrary selection of specimens with a somewhat peculiar facies in common, but no genetic homogeneity. Burchell's gathering from the upper Paranaiba river, historically the first, was perhaps rightly interpreted by Bentham (1870) as an unnamed variety of C. neesiana. See also our note on the habitally similar C. cristalinae.