Stipa tulcanensis Mez was first described in Repertorium specierum novarum regni vegetabilis in 1921.[2]
Perennial, about half a meter tall or slightly more, very slender. Leaves with sheaths distinctly shorter than the internodes of the culm; ligules very short, rounded; blades extremely narrow-linear, apparently flat, hairy at the throat, otherwise glabrous and smooth. Culms minutely roughened. Inflorescence somewhat many-flowered, rather dense, 3–4 times pinnately paniculate, fusiform; branches erect, up to 90 mm long, repeatedly divided from the base, in the lower part prolongedly sterile. All lateral spikelets much longer than the pedicels, which are densely and almost pilosely rough, the spikelets themselves glabrous. Glumes equal, about 7 mm long, linear-elliptic, nearly blunt at the apex, 3-nerved. Palea pale-colored, toward the base sparsely and erectly hairy, otherwise glabrous, symmetrical, produced at the base into a sharp claw about 0.2 mm long, briefly hairy; apex furnished with a crown whose margin is long but sparsely ciliate, and ending in an awn about 7 mm long, twisted only at the very base, glabrous. — Ecuador, Tulcán (André).
The name S. tulcanensis Mez was validly published in 1921. However, it is currently listed as unplaced in modern taxonomic databases, meaning that its precise position within the genus Stipa or related taxa has not been resolved.[3] An “unplaced” name indicates that while the protologue meets the requirements of the International Code of Nomenclature, subsequent taxonomic work has not confirmed its accepted placement, synonymy, or reassignment to another genus.[4]
The holotype of Stipa tulcanensis Mez is deposited at the Berlin Herbarium (B), as recorded in the Tropicos database.[5] Much of the Berlin Herbarium was destroyed during World War II bombing raids in 1943, resulting in the loss of numerous type specimens.[6]
However, a fragment derived from the Berlin type material is held at the United States National Herbarium (US, specimen number 3168164).[7]
