Hohenbergia gnetacea Mez
Status: Synonym
Publ: Bromeliaceae (part 1) in Martius, C.F.P. von, Flora Brasiliensis 3 (3): 272 pl. 60 fig. 1 (1891)
Type: Morren Hortus s n (holotype, LG n v), country unknown, given as probably Brazil.
Description: click here.
Taxonomic Notes:
- Hohenbergia gnetacea is synonymized here under Wittmackia polycephala because the type of the former exhibits the following diagnostic characters for W. polycephala: sessile, subglobose spikes surpassed by the primary bracts, and floral bracts covered with brown-tomentose- lepidote indument. Smith (1960) had already suggested that the type specimen of H. gnetacea was doubtfully different from W. polycephala but did not propose its synonymy because this specimen lacks leaves, the inflorescence is exceptionally lax, and it does not have locality information. The study of intraspecific variation in W. polycephala in the present work revealed that lax inflorescences are common in W. polycephala, thus discarding this character as diagnostic for H. gnetacea. Moreover, the leaf architecture among the species of Caribbean Wittmackia is rarely used to differentiate species within the group; for this reason, it is safe to suggest that the lack of this character may not have a large impact in the proposal of the present synonymy. Although it is impossible to know the original locality of the type specimen of H. gnetacea, its strobiliform spikes and unappendaged ovules allow its placement within Caribbean Wittmackia. —See Aguirre-Santoro 2017 p. 23
