Novelties in Evolvulus from the Caatinga Domain, Brazil: A New Synonym, a Neotypification, and a New Species Evidenced by Morphoanatomical Data

Abstract— Evolvulus linarioides has frequently been confused with E. saxifragus due to overlap of their morphological characters. A careful morphological analysis of herbarium specimens and protologues evidenced no support for considering the two taxa as distinct entities. We therefore propose here the synonymization of E. linarioides under E. saxifragus, and we propose a neotype for the name now synonymized. In addition, we found that the morphotype often cited as E. linarioides from Bahia State, Brazil, cannot be included among the morphological variations of E. saxifragus, being distinguished by leaf size, prominence of the main vein, the length of the peduncle in relation to the pedicel, the presence of epidermal vesicles on anthers, the lengths of the styles, and the shapes of their stigmas and papillae. We therefore propose this morphotype as a new species, E. longipedicellatus, endemic to the Caatinga domain. A complete morphological description, illustrations, taxonomic and ecological comments, conservation status, morphoanatomical data, and a distribution map are provided.