Aloysia fiebrigii (Hayek) Moldenke

Wood, J.R.I. 2009. Aloysia axillaris (Verbenaceae), a new species, with notes on the genus in Bolivia. Kew Bulletin 64: 513. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-009-9131-5

Type

Bolivia, Tarija, Fiebrig 3036 (lectotype K, selected here).

Note

Synonym: Lippia fiebrigii Hayek (1908: 165). Synonym: Aloysia herrerae Moldenke (1941: 10). Type: Peru, Urubamba, Herrera 1534 (holotype F; possible isotype K), synon. nov. Synonym: Aloysia arcuifolia Nesom (1991: 145). Type: Bolivia, Potosí, R. Ehrich 339 (holotype TEX; isotype LPB), synon. nov. Aloysia fiebrigii and A. citrodora, are clearly a pair of related species. Both commonly have leaves in whorls of 3 – 4 and an inflorescence ± terminal on the branches rather than clearly axillary as in other species. A strong lemon scent is characteristic of both. All specimens I have seen can be separated without difficulty by the characters given in the key and I am unaware of any intermediates, but it is possible that A. fiebrigii may eventually prove to be no more than a reduced form of A. citrodora adapted to very arid conditions. In any case the combined native distribution of the two species shows a striking parallel to that of Salvia cuspidata Ruiz & Pav., sensu Wood (2007) with disjunct populations on the western Andean slopes of Peru, absence or near absence from the La Paz area, extensive populations in the Cochabamba and Sucre areas, and a wide distribution further south in the subpuna areas of southern Bolivia and north-western Argentina. Von Hayek cited two syntypes, Fiebrig 3036 from Tarija and Weberbauer 4910 from Urubamba in Peru. The original specimens which von Hayek used to prepare his description were apparently destroyed at Berlin in 1943. As lectotype I have selected the Fiebrig collection at K as the specific epithet is linked to this collector. There are likely to be isolectotypes in various European herbaria. The type of Aloysiaherrerae was also collected at Urubamba. There is a possible isotype at Kew with the same collection details but numbered 15351, not 1534 and mixed with A. spatulata Hayek, the two presumably having been mounted together in error. In fact, A. fiebrigii has been collected several times in the Urubamba region of Peru, from where I have also seen E. W. Davis et al. 1757 ( K).

Morphology General Habit

Similar to Aloysia citrodora in general habit but distinguished by its smaller, linear-lanceolate leaves, 1.8 – 3 × 0.2 – 0.5 cm

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

The inflorescence is compact with short (1 – 3 cm long) racemes, arising singly from each leaf-like bract; the racemes are indistinctly spicate.

Distribution

A rare but probably overlooked species of scattered localities in very arid subpuna scrub from 2900 – 3500 m in northern Argentina, southern Bolivia, and southern Peru.