Bignonia or Dolichandra?

Discussion in 'Plants: Nomenclature and Taxonomy' started by RAC.Hawaii, Oct 30, 2018.

  1. RAC.Hawaii

    RAC.Hawaii New Member

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    I entered this forum while trying to determine a correct botanical name for a bignoniaceous plant on The Plant List. In this venue, the Google images led me to photos posted by the UBC Botanical Garden and a thread started some years ago by someone named Miriam. The plant I am working with was acquired from the Hortus Botanicus botanical garden in Amsterdam, back in 1976, where it had the label Bignonia argyreoviolescens. We've grown it here in Hawaii since then, and a few years ago it flowered (I'll try to upload an image). The flower is clearly related to Dolichandra unguis-cati (syn. Macfadyena unguis-cati), and the foliage and tri-clawed tendrils are much the same. The only difference is in leaf coloration with the silvery veins and purplish tinges on the upper surface and dark undersurface. Whether this is a different species or merely a variant is not clear as IPNI does not list a species argyreoviolescens for Dolichandra or for Macfadyena.
     

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  2. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Have you tried contacting the plant records staff at Hortus Botanicus?

    They presently only have one species of Dolichandra, Dolichandra unguis-cati - Cat's claw creeper, Uña de gato | Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Plants of the World Online (which I would argue supersedes The Plant List and IPNI in terms of valid synonymy) has no reference whatsoever to anything with argyreoviolescens ( Plants of the World Online | Kew Science ) in the name.

    There is, however, an "unplaced name", Bignonia argyreoviolascens Lem. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science , for a Bignonia argyreoviolascens (at the time in Bignonia), which seems to have been rejected in some recent works on the Bignoniaceae (see Bibliography on the linked page).

    Not particularly helpful, might be worthwhile tracking down this bibliographic reference from that page: "Lohmann, L.G. in Lohmann, L. G. (2006). Personal Communication on Bignoniaceae 1. Review Jan-Feb/2006 Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Botânica."
     
  3. RAC.Hawaii

    RAC.Hawaii New Member

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    Thank you, Daniel, for throwing some additional light on the taxonomy of this plant. Given the similarities to the Cats Claw Climber we already have on campus, I'm willing to throw this into the Dolichandra unquis-cati file and accept it as a color variant, just as we do with many variegated cultivated ornamentals. No, I did not try contacting the plant records staff at Hortus Botanicus. Probably should have, but it's been a long time since acquiring the plant.
     

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