Typification of plant names published by Giovanni Casaretto based on specimens collected in Brazil a
by Piero G. Delprete, Riccardo M. Baldini, Nicolas Fumeaux, Laura Guglielmone
Giovanni Casaretto (1810–1879) was appointed by King Charles Albert of Savoy- Carignano, Kingdom of Sardinia, as the botanist and mineralogist of a planned circumnavigation of the globe. After collecting in a few localities in southern Brazil and Uruguay, Casaretto collected for eight months, from April to December 1839, in Rio de Janeiro and its vicinity. While in Rio, he also bought about 100 collections from Riedel and about 500 collections from Clausen, which were made in the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Minas Gerais, which he re-numbered and integrated into his collections. He also made significant collections in the state of Bahia, and a few collections in and around Recife (Pernambuco). Based on the preceding collections, Casaretto published a total of 101 names (in 34 plant families, delimited according to APGIII), of which, according to the present study, 27 names are currently accepted, 12 serve as basionyms for currently accepted names, seven are illegitimate due to superfluity, and 55 are heterotypic synonyms of previously published names. All the 101 names of Casaretto are hereby typified and Eugenia casarettoana Delprete is here proposed as a substitute name for an illegitimate later homonym. In addition, a lectotype and an epitype for Couratari estrellensis Raddi are here designated.
