Ceiba rubriflora (Malvaceae: Bombacoideae), a new species from Bahia, Brazil

KEW BULLETIN VOL. 63: 649–653 (2008)

Ceiba rubriflora (Malvaceae: Bombacoideae), a new species from Bahia, Brazil Jefferson Guedes de Carvalho-Sobrinho1 & Luciano Paganucci de Queiroz1 Summary. Ceiba rubriflora Carv.-Sobr. & L. P. Queiroz, a new species of Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae from the

State of Bahia, Brazil, is described and illustrated. It is considered to be endemic to calcareous outcrops in the valley of the Rio São Francisco, in the western region of the state. Notes on distribution, ecology and phenology are given. Relationships with related species are discussed and an addition to the key to species of Ceiba Mill. published by Gibbs & Semir (2003) are provided. Key Words. Bombacoideae, Ceiba, Malvaceae, new species, seasonally dry tropical forests.

Introduction The genus Ceiba Mill. (including Chorisia Kunth) belongs to the subfamily Bombacoideae of Malvaceae (Bayer et al. 1999; Baum et al. 2004) and embraces about 17 species. It is restricted to the Neotropics except for C. pentandra (L.) Gaertn., which occurs both in the Neotropics and West Africa (Gibbs & Semir 2003). The genus is diagnosed by the character combination of a stoutly aculeate, commonly ventricose trunk, digitately compound and pulvinate leaves clustered toward the branch tips, leaflets articulate with the petiole, calyx opening irregularly, androecium of five stamens with filaments partially or fully connate in a tube and capsules with abundant kapok. Four native species occur in the state of Bahia, mainly in seasonally dry forests and caatinga vegetation: Ceiba erianthos (Cav.) K. Schum., C. glaziovii (Kuntze) K. Schum., C. pubiflora (A. St.-Hil.) K. Schum. and C. speciosa (A. St.-Hil.) Ravenna (Gibbs & Semir 2003). They have caducous foliage during the flowering period (usually the winter season of Southern Hemisphere) which results in incomplete herbarium collections and doubtful species circumscriptions since it is difficult to match leaf, flowering and fruiting specimens. During a survey of the Bombacoideae of the State of Bahia, an intensive field study was carried out, with selected plants being visited several times in order to obtain material from different phenological phases. It allowed us to recognise a new species, which is here described and illustrated, based on material collected

in the Serra do Ramalho, a poorly botanised area in the south-western corner of the State. All cited specimens have been seen by the authors. An addition to the identification key recently published by Gibbs & Semir (2003) in their taxonomic revision of Ceiba is also provided. Ceiba rubriflora Carv.-Sobr. & L. P. Queiroz sp. nov. C. erianthos et C. schottii foliolis integris et tubo staminali exappendiculato affinis sed floribus minoribus usque 55 mm longis, calyce minore usque 25 mm longo, petalis omnibus rubris, trichomatibus sparsioribusque, foliolis angustioribus, lamina anguste elliptica ad oblonga-elliptica, apice aristato differt. Typus: Brazil, Bahia, São Félix do Coribe, J. G. de Carvalho-Sobrinho & L. P. de Queiroz 574 (holotypus HUEFS; isotypi K, UEC, NY). Tree up to 20 m tall, foliage caducous when flowered; trunk ventricose, swollen near the base, when young presenting longitudinal green stripes, provided with stout conical woody prickles to 20 mm long; vegetative branches short, aculeate, with leaves clustered toward the apex; flowering branches short, diverging from larger branches at an angle of c. 90°. Stipules c. 3 × 1 mm, triangular, early caducous. Leaves (3 –) 5-foliolate; petiole 25 – 75 mm long, slightly widened at the base, covered by whitish wax at the ends; leaflets sessile, glabrous, narrowly elliptic, oblong-elliptic, obovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, 3 – 3.8 × longer

Accepted for publication October 2008. 1 Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Km 03, BR 116, Campus Universitário, 44031-460, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil. e-mail: [email protected]

© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2008

650

than wide, apex acute, c. 12°, provided with c. 4 mm long, caducous aristae, base cuneate, c. 11°, margin entire, midrib prominent beneath, inconspicuous above; two basal leaflets 20 – 35 × 6 – 10 mm, shorter than the three distal leaflets, these 45 – 85 × 11 – 25 mm. Racemes 2 – 4.5 cm long, 2 – 5-flowered; pedicel 10 – 15 × 2 – 5 mm; bracteoles 3, caducous, 1 × 3 mm, spirally alternate near the apex of the pedicel. Flowers 48 – 53 mm long; calyx 17 – 20 (23) × 11 – 15 mm, light green, urceolate, 3-lobed, lobes 5 – 7 mm long, outer surface glabrous, inner surface sericeous in the upper half; corolla urceolate, petals 48 – 51 mm long, uniformly deep red, claw 18 – 23 × 3 – 5 mm, expanded in a obovate limb, 28 – 31 × 11 – 16 mm, margin undulate, apex unilaterally apiculate, outer surface sericeous toward the base, puberulous distally, inner surface glabrous becoming sparsely puberulous near the apex; stamens 5, filaments red, joined for ⅔ of their length; staminodial appendages absent; staminal column 28 – 30 mm long, glabrous, base widened, provided with a puberulous band near the swollen portion; free filaments c. 10 mm long, resupinate; anthers sinuous, yellow, 7 – 10 mm long; ovary c. 3 mm, subpyriform, 5furrowed, glabrous; style 45 – 50 mm long, puberulous only in the basal third, exserted from the staminal column by c. 20 mm; stigma clavate, pubescent. Capsule c. 100 × 30 mm, oblong; kapok white. Seed c. 5 × 4 mm, subpyriform, with microtrichomes, black, hilum c. 2 mm, triangular, salient. Fig. 1. DISTRIBUTION: Brazil, Serra do Ramalho (south-western Bahia). Map 1. BRAZIL. Bahia: São Félix do Coribe, 2 km on the road to Lagoinha, 13°27 ′S 44°10 ′W, 17 Sept. 2003 (fl), K. R. Leite, A. A. Araújo, J. A. Costa & C. Corrêa 304 (HUEFS); São Félix do Coribe, c. 7 km on the road to Alagoinha, 13°47 ′22.6 ″S 43°57 ′30.6 ″W, 10 April 2005 (l), J. G. de Carvalho-Sobrinho, E. B. Miranda, R. M. Castro & S. Fiúza 486 (HUEFS); Serra do Ramalho, c. 47 km S of São Félix do Coribe, on the road to Alagoinhas, 13°47 ′S 43°57 ′W, 13 Sept. 2005 (fl, fr), J. G. de Carvalho-Sobrinho & L. P. de Queiroz 574 (holotype HUEFS; isotypes K, UEC, NY). HABITAT. The individuals we studied of Ceiba rubriflora were collected in an area with a predominant vegetation of semi-deciduous forest, about 700 m a.s.l., on calcareous outcrops in the Serra do Ramalho, in the valley of the Rio São Francisco, south-western Bahia. Some other characteristic species of this area include Cavanillesia arborea K. Schum. (Malvaceae), Cnidoscolus vitifolius Pohl (Euphorbiaceae), Encholirium luxor L. B. Sm. & Read (Bromeliaceae), Ficus bonijesulapensis R. M. Castro (Moraceae) and Quiabentia zehntneri (Britton & Rose) Britton & Rose (Cactaceae). It flowers during July and August when leafless and set fruits in September.

© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2008

KEW BULLETIN VOL. 63(4)

CONSERVATION STATUS. Critically Endangered CR B1a,b (IUCN 2001): extent of occurrence estimated to be less than 100 km2 in severely fragmented and declining habitat. ETYMOLOGY. The specific epithet highlights the deep red colour of petals and filaments, unique amongst the Brazilian species of Ceiba. NOTES. Ceiba rubriflora is diagnosed by the relatively small flowers (to 53 mm long), deep red petals and stamens, staminal column lacking basal staminodial appendages, and relatively narrow leaflets with entire margins. A similar combination of nonappendaged column and entire leaflets is found in C. erianthos, C. schottii Britten & Baker f. and in some forms of C. pubiflora. C. schottii is restricted to dry woodlands in Mexico and Guatemala (Gibbs & Semir 2003) and presents a quite distinctive cylindrical calyx and much larger flowers with white, narrowly oblong (vs elliptical, oblong-elliptical, obovateoblong) longer petals (170 – 190 mm long vs 48 – 51 mm long in C. rubriflora). Ceiba erianthos occurs mostly in Eastern Brazil but is unknown from the western São Francisco river basin (Gibbs & Semir 2003) where C. rubriflora is found. It differs from this new species by white (vs deep red), densely lanatevillous (vs puberulous) and larger petals (65 – 90 mm long vs 48 – 51 mm long), and petiolulate (vs sessile) leaflets. Ceiba pubiflora is recorded for semi-deciduous woodlands of Argentina, Paraguay and Central-West Brazil (Gibbs & Semir 2003) and was collected near the Serra do Ramalho area (L. P. Queiroz et al. 6121, HUEFS). The most typical and widespread morphotype of this species is easily distinguished from C. rubriflora by the serrate leaflets (vs entire leaflets) and staminal column bearing a collar of five pinkyellowish, glabrous, bifid staminodial appendages (vs staminodial appendages lacking). Gibbs & Semir (2003) considered C. jaibana Ravenna, a species from dry forests of northern Minas Gerais State, as a synonym of C. pubiflora. The description of C. jaibana was based on two specimens, the type consisting of a twig with a single broken flower (G. Pedralli et al. s.n., HXBH) and the paratype presenting leaves and an open fruit. It is not clear that the type and the paratype came from the same plant but its flower differs from C. publiflora in lacking basal staminodial appendages, thus approaching C. rubriflora. However, C. jaibana, whether considered a good species or a synonym of C. pubiflora, differs from C. rubriflora in its larger flowers (70 – 80 mm long vs 48 – 53 mm long), pale pink (vs deep red), tomentose (vs puberulous) and larger petals (68 – 72 mm long vs 48 – 51 mm long), and staminal column white (vs. deep red) and entirely glabrous (vs provided with a puberulous band near the base).

CEIBA RUBRIFLORA (MALVACEAE: BOMBACOIDEAE)

651

Fig. 1. Ceiba rubriflora. A leaves; B inflorescence; C flower; D swollen portion of staminal column with a puberulous band; E longitudinal section of the calyx and staminal tube, showing the ovary; F fruit; G seed. A, F & G from Carvalho-Sobrinho et al. 486; B – E from Leite et al. 304. DRAWN BY CARLA DE LIMA. © The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2008

652

KEW BULLETIN VOL. 63(4)

Map 1. Distribution of Ceiba rubriflora.

Addition to the key to species of Ceiba (Gibbs & Semir 2003) Petals 48 – 90 × 18 – 22 mm, broadly spathulate, with whitish exterior hairs; lower staminal column 10 – 20 mm, rather swollen below the 5 free filaments, densely hairy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6a Petals 170 – 190 × 15 mm, narrowly oblong, with brownish exterior hairs; lower staminal tube 80 – 100 mm, slender, sparsely hairy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15. C. schottii 6a. Petiolules c. 5 mm long; pedicels 20 – 25 mm long; petals white, 65 – 90 mm long, densely lanate-villous externally; restinga and dry coastal forest, usually on rocky outcrops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10. C. erianthos Petiolules absent; pedicels 10 – 15 mm long; petals deep red, 48 – 51 mm long, puberulous externally; semideciduous forest vegetation, on calcareous outcrops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C. rubriflora 6.

© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2008

CEIBA RUBRIFLORA (MALVACEAE: BOMBACOIDEAE)

Acknowledgements This work was supported by a grant from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (process no. APR0199/2005), a fellowship of CAPES for the first author, and a fellowship of CNPq (process no. 470221/2001-1) for the second author. Field work supported by the Biodiversity Research Program of the Semi-arid (PPBIO) References Baum, D. A., Smith, S. D. W., Yen, A., Alverson, W. S., Nyffeler, R., Whitlock, B. A. & Oldham, R. L. (2004). Phylogenetic relationships of Malvatheca (Bombacoideae and Malvoideae; Malvaceae sensu lato)

653

as inferred from plastid DNA sequences. Amer. J. Bot. 9: 1863 – 1871. Bayer, C., Fay, M. F., de Bruijn, A. Y., Savolainen, V., Morton, C. M., Kubitzki, K., Alverson, W. S. & Chase, M. W. (1999). Support for an expanded family concept of Malvaceae within a recircumscribed order Malvales: a combined analysis of plastid atpB and rbcL DNA sequences. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 129: 267 – 303. Gibbs, P. & Semir, J. (2003). A taxonomic revision of the genus Ceiba Mill. (Bombacaceae). Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 60: 259 – 300. IUCN (2001). IUCN Red List Categories: Version 3.1. IUCN Species Survival Commission, Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, U.K.

© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2008