Staufferia and Pilgerina: Two New Endemic Monotypic Arborescent Genera of Santalaceae from Madagascar

Two new arborescent species of Santalaceae, both endemic to Madagascar, are described in the new monotypic genera, Staufferia Z. S. Rogers, Nickrent & Malécot and Pilgerina Z. S. Rogers, Nickrent & Malécot. Based on available molecular and morphological data, the new species are part of a clade formed with Pyrularia Michx. of Asia and North America, the Indo-Malesian genus Scleropyrum Arn., and the central and western African Okoubaka Pellegr. & Normand. Staufferia is distinguished morphologically from Okoubaka by the smaller inflorescences (4 to 10 vs. 50 to 100 flowers); smaller (1.8–2 × 1.1–1.6 cm vs. ca. 9 × 5 cm), obovoidal (vs. ellipsoidal) fruits; smaller (ca. 1.5 mm vs. 7–8 mm diam.), persistent perianth; thinner (0.5–1 mm vs. 15–20 mm thick), 5-sulcate (vs. smooth) exocarp; and thinner (ca. 0.5 mm vs. 3–4 mm thick), smooth (vs. deeply striate or alveolate) mesocarp. Pilgerina differs from Scleropyrum by the smaller inflorescences (8 to 23 vs. 60 to 100 flowers); pedicellate (vs. sessile) flowers; smaller (1.2–1.9 × 1.7–2.7 cm vs. ca. 3 × 2 cm), broadly transversely ellipsoidal to subspheroidal (vs. obovoidal to pyriform) fruits; and thinner (ca. 0.5 mm vs. 1.5–3 mm thick), smooth or finely striate (vs. deeply striate or alveolate) mesocarp. Both species are illustrated and assigned an IUCN preliminary conservation status of Least Concern (LC)

Historical note on the taxonomy of the genus Delphinium L.(Ranunculaceae) with an amended description of its floral morphology

Since its first valid description by Linnaeus in 1753, the genus Delphinium L. has undergone numerous taxonomical changes that we synthesize here. The knowledge of the taxonomic history of the genus is essential to clarify its circumscription. For this purpose, we outline its pre-Linnaean taxonomic history, from Dioscorides' translated works dating back to the 16th century to Tournefort's classification in 1694. Regarding its post-Linnaean history, we discuss the three different lectotypifications proposed during in the 20th century. In addition, we amend the description of the typical flower of Delphinium by including the characteristics of the species D. ecalcaratum S.Y. Wang & K.F. Zhou and D. turcicum (H.Duman, Vural, Aytac & Adiguzel) Espinosa with actinomorphic flowers