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BOTANICAL EXPLORATION IN VENEZUELA - I 231
of Colombia (Cuatrecasas 1556 from Pianos del Toldadero, Dept. of
Boyaca'), where the stamens are also 10 in number.
Proceeding southward in the Andes, there is encountered in Bolivia,
under the name R. Mandonianus Wedd., a Ranunculus Which
superficially resembles greatly the one from Venezuela and Colombia.
In the original description of R, Mandonianus, based upon Mandon's
collection from the Cordillera de Sorata, Bolivia, it was stated that
the "staminibus sub-5". However, an examination of what is apparently
an isotype specimen, preserved in the Herbarium of the Chicago
Natural History Museum (sent originally as a duplicate from the
Botanical Conservatory of Geneva, Switzerland), shows 15 stamens.
Moreover, both this specimen, as well as a photograph of the supposed
type (same collection as referred to above), exhibit much
larger flowers than those found in the Venezuelan collection. In the
Venezuelan (and Colombian) plants the stamens are actually less
numerous (10-8) than in the Mandon collection cited, but are more
than is given ("staminibus sub-5") in the original description. One
wonders whether a typographical error of "5" instead of "15" may
not have been made by Weddell in his original description. Be that
as it
may, the Venezuelan (and Colombian) collections have petals
with a much broader but shorter blade, shorter ovate instead of broadly
oblong sepals, shorter filaments, and smaller achenes than are
found in the Mandon collection from Bolivia. Nothing is mentioned in
Weddell's description to indicate the size of the flower, but both the
photograph of the supposed type specimen and a specimen of the type
collection exhibit the larger flowers. Complications arise with an examination
of Peruvian material referred to R. Mandonianus. In Macbride
& Feathers tone 2474 the stamens are 5-6 in number and the
petals have the narrow shape of those of the Bolivian plant, but in
Mac bride 3355 the stamens are about 10 and the petals resemble the
obovate-rounded type of typical R. limoselloides of Venezuela and
Colombia.
Such modifications and variations indicate that the Venezuelan and
Colombian plants are closely related and not distinct specifically
from the Bolivian entity, the latter, therefore, more logically treated
as a variety. The plant Turczaninow described precedes by at least
three years that which Weddell published*, and, therefore, has
priority.
*An apparent discrepancy would seem to exist between the date of
Weddell's publication and that of Mandon's collection, for the date
appearing in the second volume of Weddell's work is given as 1857,
whereas the Mandon collection examined is dated "1859-Jan., I860".
Evidently, the publication of the last part of this second volume
(p. 299 is near the end of the volume) was deferred until 1861 (as
is suggested by a reference to this work in the Catalogue of the
Library of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, vol.1, p. 737).