(3151) Proposal to conserve the name Lantana undulata ( Verbenaceae ) with a conserved type

(3151) Lantana undulata Schrank in Denkschr. Königl.-Baier. Bot. Ges. Regensburg 2: 56. 1822 Angiosp.: Verben., nom. cons. prop. Typus: Brazil, Bahia, Ilhéus, 1835–1837?, Luschnath, Martius Herb. Fl. Bras. No. 1031 (M barcode M-0111631 image!; isotypi: BM barcode BM000992649 image!, BR barcodes BR0000005504619, BR0000005504633, BR0000005504947, BR0000005504985 spicis semiglobosis; bracteis tubo, pedunculis folio brevioribus; caule inermi, pubescente”. Additionally, Schrank emphasized that the inflorescences of L. undulata are capituliform, the flowers are white, with a yellow throat that fades with time, and the lower lip is very delicate and finely undulate. In a comprehensive taxonomic treatment of Verbenaceae, Schauer (in Candolle, Prodr. 11: 606. 1847) modified the original circumscription of Lantana undulata, characterizing it by having “… pedunculis axillaribus geminis singulisve folium subaequantibus, spicis oblongis valde elongandis et relaxandis, bracteis squarrosis membranaceis pallidis reclinatis undulatis ciliatis, infimis majoribus subrotundo-ovatis, superis oblongis basi attenuatis cuspidatis inflexis; corollae labio inferiori porrecto”. The following specimens were cited: “Salzm.! exs. n. 429, Blanchet! exs. n. 218, 631, 2365 et 3137, Luschn.! in Mart. herb. fl. bras. n. 1031! Sell.! Khotzky!” from the province of Bahia; “Guillem.! n. 600” from the province of Sebastianopolis in Ilha-Princesa; and “Cham.!” from S. Catharinae. Subsequently, Schauer (in Martius, Fl. Bras. 9: 263–264. 1851) provided a description of Lantana undulata that closely followed his 1847 treatment, accompanied by an illustration (t. 44, fig. II). This plate depicts inflorescences arranged in pairs in each leaf axil, with peduncles exceeding the subtending leaves, cylindrical spikes, and drupes with two pyrenes. Schauer (l.c. 1851) also described a new variety, L. undulata var. grandiflora, which was based on the specimen Guillemin no. 600, distinguished by its corollas with tubes more than twice as long as the subtending bract. Following the circumscription of Schauer (l.c. 1847, l.c. 1851), the name Lantana undulata became firmly associated with a plant endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, occurring mainly in Restinga (coastal vegetation) but also in seasonally deciduous forest, and characterized by having two inflorescences per leaf axil, peduncles exceeding the subtending leaves, spikes elongating up to 12 cm in fruiting, laxly arranged flowers, white corollas with a yellow throat, and vinaceous drupes with a succulent mesocarp (e.g., Silva, Redelim. Revis. Gên. Lantana Bras. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. São Paulo: 132–135. 1999; Salimena in Melo Silva Cardoso Silva its label indicates “in Brasilia” and cultivation in the “hort. bot. Monac. | 1820”. Accordingly, this specimen would be the obligate choice of lectotype of L. undulata. In contrast, the long-standing interpretation of “Mart. herb. fl. bras. no. 1031” as the type of L. undulata likely results from an early herbarium misidentification, as these specimens bear identification labels as L. undulata in handwriting comparable to that found on M-0165314. The original material of Lantana undulata (M-0165314) does not correspond to the species concept currently applied under this name (e.g., Schauer, l.c. 1847, l.c. 1851; Silva, l.c. 1999; Salimena, l.c.; Silva Cardoso Silva Ascendino Santana Rollo Alves Souza Pereira Souza Silva Singulani Okhale Campos Silva Salimena Cardoso Mirra O'Leary Sousa & al. in Anais Acad. Bras. Ci. 85: 147–157. 2013). On the speciesLink platform (https://specieslink.net/search/, accessed 6 Feb 2026), more than 430 specimens are identified as L. aristata. As outlined above, the strict application of the name Lantana undulata based on Schrank's original specimen would require nomenclatural and taxonomic changes that would threaten the stability of two widely used names. Therefore, we propose the conservation of the name L. undulata with a conserved type (Art. 14.9) that corresponds to the current species concept, thereby maintaining nomenclatural stability. This will preserve the current usage of both L. undulata and Lippia aristata and prevent undesirable nomenclatural changes affecting taxonomic, biochemical, ecological, and related research, while also avoiding substantial consequences for herbarium identifications, as updating specimen determinations is typically a slow process that relies largely on in situ technical visits by specialists. The proposed conserved type (M barcode M-0111631) was likely collected by Bernhard Luschnath from Bahia (Ilhéus), Brazil between 1835 and 1837 (see Martius & al., Fl. Bras. 1: 49. 1906) and has duplicates, only one of which (BR0000005504305) bears Martius's original label, in several herbaria. These were distributed as “Martii Herbar. Florae Brasil. No. 1031”, an exsiccatum which, as mentioned above, has historically though incorrectly been considered the type of the name L. undulata. The duplicates found are as follows: BM barcode BM000992649, BR barcodes BR0000005504619, BR0000005504633, BR0000005504947, BR0000005504985 & BR0000005504305 left-hand specimen, G barcodes G00366440 & G00366434, K barcode K000470739, M barcode M-0111629, NY barcode 00214337, P barcode P00713631, and S No. S04-2479.