A reappraisal of the genus Bauhinus (Microbotryaceae)

The current status of former Ustilago species on dicotyledonous plants, recently treated as members of the Microbotryaceae, is discussed. Almaraz et al. (2002) pointed out that the genus Microbotryum is restricted to the anthericolous smuts on Caryophyllaceae, based on the sequence analysis of ITS rDNA. They concluded that Sphacelotheca and ovariicolous Microbotryum species on Caryophyllaceae, or at least, Microbotryum duriaeanum, are generically distinct from Microbotryum s. str. These results, on the one hand, alter the taxonomic scheme of the Microbotryaceae and, on the other, reestablish the genus name Bauhinus, reduced by some recent authors to a synonym of Microbotryum, as a correct name. Twenty-six new combinations in Bauhinus are proposed: B. ahmadianus, B. anomalus, B. calandriniicola, B. calyptratae, B. cilinodis, B. coronatus, B. dehiscens, B. dumosus, B. filamenticola, B. lewisiae, B. longisetus, B. ocrearum, B. paucireticulatus, B. perfoliatae, B. picaceus, B. polygoni-alati, B. prostratus, B. radians, B. scabiosae, B. shastensis, B. silybi, B. stewartii, B. tenuisporus, B. tovarae, B. tuberculiformis, and B. tumeformis. A new genus, Haradaea, is described to accommodate the seed-destroying species of Ustilago on Caryophyllaceae. It unites seven species: H. alsineae, H. arenariae-bryophyllae, H. duriaeana, H. holostei, H. jehudana, H. moenchiae-manticae, and H. nivalis.