Remarks on the Genera Stahelia and Tapeinostemon (Gentianaceae)

In 1937 the present author decribed a presumably new Gentianacea from the Wilhelmina Mountains in Suriname. It seemed to belong to a new genus, and was named by him Stahelia surinamensis Jonk. (Tribe Swertieae). It is characterized by its more or less Melastomaceous appearance. In the beginning of 1940, Mr. N. Y. Sandwith, in going through the Gentianaceae of the Kew herbarium, was struck by the close resemblance between the figures and description of Stahelia surinamensis and Bentham’s Tapeinostemon spenneroides (Tribe Chironieae), a species known so far from Amazonian Brazil only, where it was collected once only by Spruce. In a letter dated Jan. 23 1940, Mr Sandwith suggested that the present author should compare the two plants. The international circumstances did not allow to study the Kew material; the author, however, was in a position to borrow the duplicate of the Spruce collection from Brussels. The examination of this specimen proved that Mr Sandwith’s supposition was quite right and that Stahelia surinamensis Jonk. and Tapeinostemon spenneroides Benth. indeed are conspecific.