Taxonomie : Dans sa monographie pour Flora Neotropica, Mori (1990) place ce taxon dans la synonymie de
Lecythis holcogyne (Sandwith) S.A.Mori 1981 dans l'attente d'études plus détaillées. De nombreuses collectes conservées à CAY ont été déterminées au début des années 2000' par S.A. Mori comme
L. praeclara (Sandwith) S.A.Mori ined., une combinaison restant à ce jour non publiée. Des analyses moléculaires récentes placent trois échantillons identifiés comme "
L. praeclara" au sein d'un clade mélangé à
L. chartacea , et un autre comme basal à la lignée
L. holcogyne/
simiorum/
congestiflora. [G.Léotard 04/09/2017, sub
Eschweilera praeclara Sandwith 1935].
D'après Molino
et al. (Adansonia, 44(26):
727. 13/12/2022): "Known only from the Guiana Shield. Mori & Prance (Mori
et al. 1990: 313) hesitantly placed
Eschweilera praeclara in synonymy under
L. holcogyne, specifying that it has “flowers and fruits intermediate in size between
L. holcogyne and
L. chartacea”. They further hypothesized that
E. praeclara could be a hybrid between these two
Lecythis species. Since then, Scott Mori has become convinced that it was indeed a distinct species, whether or not it was the result of hybridization, as proven by the determinavits “
L. praeclara (Sandwith) Mori” that he affixed to several specimens, notably at CAY. More recently, he has personally and repeatedly reasserted this position to the first two authors of the present work, at the same time explaining his reluctance to publish this new combination because of the uncertainty of the generic limits of
Lecythis, which has been shown by genetic studies to be polyphyletic (Mori
et al. 2017). Even so, these studies have provided evidence that
E. praeclara, as well as
E. congestiflora and
E. simiorum are distant from the core
Eschweilera, and grouped together with several
Lecythis species (including
L. holcogyne) in a “
Chartacea clade” (Mori
et al. 2017). Furthermore,
L. praeclara appeared distinct from
L. holcogyne (Mori
et al. 2017). We are therefore in the presence of a taxon whose valid name is still
E. praeclara although it does not belong to this genus. Even if it is on a provisional basis (the provisional often lasts decades when it comes to botanical nomenclature), it seems to us necessary to remove this taxon from the genus
Eschweilera, and this can only be done, for the time being, by a transfer into
Lecythis."
