Overview
Goeppertia dodsonii (H.Kenn.) Borchs. & S.Suárez is an accepted species of perennial herb in the family Marantaceae, order Zingiberales, as recorded by the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy under key 9591113 [3]. Plants of the World Online, maintained by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, accepts the same combination and characterises the species as a perennial growing primarily in the wet tropical biome, with its native range documented as Ecuador [4].
The species was first described in 1977 by Harold Kennedy under the name Calathea dodsonii H.Kenn., based on a collection made in Ecuador by Calaway H. Dodson. The International Plant Names Index records the basionym under IPNI ID 41012-2, with the holotype deposited at the Field Museum of Natural History (herbarium code F) [1]. The combination placing the species in Goeppertia Nees was published in 2012 by Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince in Systematic Botany following a molecular phylogenetic revision of Marantaceae [2].
The registry currently holds null values for the native_range and habitat fields of this species record. Both fields can be populated from primary sources: Plants of the World Online records the native range as Ecuador and the habitat as the wet tropical biome [4], and the International Plant Names Index type record likewise places the holotype collection in Ecuador [1]. A human reviewer should confirm these values before the registry fields are updated.
Nomenclature and synonymy
The accepted name is Goeppertia dodsonii (H.Kenn.) Borchs. & S.Suárez. The basionym is Calathea dodsonii H.Kenn., published by Harold Kennedy in 1977 in Selbyana, volume 2, number 1, page 46, in a paper titled 'A New Calathea (Marantaceae) from Ecuador'. The International Plant Names Index records this basionym under IPNI ID 41012-2, with the type specimen collected by C.H. Dodson (field number 6154), the holotype held at the Field Museum of Natural History, and Ecuador as the country of origin [1].
The specific epithet dodsonii commemorates Calaway H. Dodson, who made the type collection on which Kennedy based the description [1]. Plants of the World Online records Calathea dodsonii H.Kenn. (1977) as the sole synonym of the accepted combination [4].
The new combination Goeppertia dodsonii (H.Kenn.) Borchs. & S.Suárez was published at page 630 of Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince (2012) in Systematic Botany 37(3): 620–635 [2]. That paper demonstrated through molecular phylogenetic analysis that Calathea G.Mey. as previously circumscribed was polyphyletic, and published a total of 246 new combinations transferring species into Goeppertia Nees [2]. The GBIF Backbone Taxonomy confirms the accepted name as Goeppertia dodsonii (H.Kenn.) Borchs. & S.Suárez under key 9591113 [3].
The name Calathea dodsonii remains in continued horticultural use for this species; its accepted genus, under current botanical circumscription, is Goeppertia. The registry records the IPNI ID for the accepted combination (60459282-2) as null; the International Plant Names Index entry for the basionym at IPNI ID 41012-2 records the transfer citation as Systematic Botany 37(3): 630 (2012) [1]. A human reviewer should confirm the accepted-combination IPNI ID before the registry field is updated.
Description
Kennedy's 1977 protologue in Selbyana 2(1): 46 constitutes the primary morphological record for Goeppertia dodsonii [1]. Plants of the World Online characterises the species as a perennial and places it in the wet tropical biome, consistent with the Ecuadorian provenance of the type collection [4]. Morphological characters defining the redefined generic limits of Goeppertia relative to the remaining narrowed Calathea — including features of the staminodial complex and associated floral structures — are described in Borchsenius, Suárez and Prince (2012) at the generic level [2].
Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed.
Distribution
Plants of the World Online records the native range of Goeppertia dodsonii as Ecuador, and characterises the species as a perennial of the wet tropical biome [4]. The International Plant Names Index type record places the holotype collection — Dodson 6154, deposited at the Field Museum of Natural History — within Ecuador, in Western South America [1]. The GBIF Backbone Taxonomy accepts the species under key 9591113 without adding finer distributional data [3].
Limited authoritative sources available for detailed distributional data within Ecuador; further research needed.
In cultivation
The registry records Goeppertia dodsonii as in cultivation (in_cultivation: true), and no cultivar names are documented for this species. No International Cultivar Registration Authority has been appointed for Marantaceae; the International Society for Horticultural Science maintains a list of appointed cultivar registration authorities by family and genus, and Marantaceae does not appear on it. In the absence of an appointed authority, no formal mechanism for registering cultivars of Goeppertia dodsonii currently exists. Under the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, a cultivar epithet must be enclosed in single quotation marks; no such epithets are recorded for this species in the registry.
Limited authoritative sources available; further research needed.