Introduction

In the course of evaluating Ebenaceae for the Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar project (Madagascar Catalogue, 2011), we discovered a folder in the Paris herbarium containing the specimen that served as the type of Olax boiviniana Baill., a collection that is referred to in the protologue only as «In S. Maria madagasc. a Bernier olim lecta et cum Boivin, ann. 1846, communicatum» (Baillon, 1862). The specimen bears three original labels along with a handwritten annotation label by René Capuron dated 17 July 1960. The three original labels all indicate the provenance of the collection as Ile Sainte Marie (Madagascar), as follows: 1) a handwritten label with “Olax, Ste Marie B”; 2) another handwritten label with “Ste Marie de Madagascar, Bernier comm. 1846”; and 3) a printed label with the heading “Herb. Mus. Paris” and the footer “Madagascar Voyage de M Boivin 1847–1852”, and in Baillon's handwriting “Olax? Boiviniana H. Bn. (Comm. à Boivin par Bernier) Ste Marie.” Capuron's annotation indicates that the specimen is not an Olax, but rather represents Maba seychellarum Hiern (1873), and further suggests that it is a mislabeled duplicate of Pervillé 36, the type of M. seychellarum. Capuron concluded that a new combination “Maba boiviniana” was thus necessary, but never formally published the name.

In their revision of Olax for Madagascar and the Comoro Islands, Rogers & al. (2006) cited Olax boiviniana as an excluded name, stating that they were unable to find the original material, the reason for which has now become evident. In addition to Olax boiviniana, Baillon (1862) described three other species of Olax from Madagascar that have also proved to be species of Diospyros, two of which are also based upon Pervillé collections (Olax pervilleana Baill.; Olax quercina Baill.). It seems likely that as Baillon gathered together material for his paper on Olax, a single duplicate of Pervillé 36 became separated from the others, and was mistakenly given the printed label with the footer “Madagascar Voyage de M. Boivin 1847–1852”, which the holotype of Olax pervilleana (Pervillé 513) also bears, as well as the handwritten labels indicating the provenance as Ile Sainte Marie. It would appear that many of the collections of Pervillé from the Seychelles and Madagascar were sent by Bernier to Boivin, and that some of them bear a second number associated with either Bernier or Boivin (SCHATZ & LOWRY, in press).

As Capuron correctly discerned, the type specimen of Olax boiviniana clearly represents part of the same gathering as the four Paris duplicates of Pervillé 36, which are isotypes of Maba seychellarum, one of which is labeled “Ile Mahé 13 fév. 1840 Arbrisseau de 10 à 12 pieds de hauteur Montagnes près de Cascade”. Insofar as the Kew holotype of Maba seychellarum (determined as such because of a handwritten annotation “Maba seychellarum, sp. nov.” followed by Hiern's initials “W.P.H.”) has only a Paris printed label with the heading “Herb. Mus. Paris” and the footer “Voyage de M. Pervillé. Iles Seychelles. 1841.”, Hiern clearly must have examined some of Paris duplicates of Pervillé 36 because he included the information on the specific island and locality, date, and habit in the protologue, but evidently did not see the holotype of Olax boiviniana Baill. with its labels incorrectly indicating Ile Ste Marie. Furthermore, as Capuron also correctly determined, since Baillon's epithet “boiviniana” is the oldest available for the Seychelles taxon, a new combination is necessary. Modern generic circumscription within Ebenaceae now recognizes Maba as a synonym of Diospyros (Dungjai & al., 2006; SCHATZ & LOWRY, in press), and we therefore propose the following new combination.