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Phytotaxa 104 (1): 30–34 (2013) www.mapress.com/ phytotaxa / Copyright © 2013 Magnolia Press
ISSN 1179-3155 (print edition)
Article
PHYTOTAXA ISSN 1179-3163 (online edition)
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.104.1.4
Eugenia pipensis, a new species of Eugenia sect. Umbellatae (Myrtaceae) from northeastern Brazil ANA RAQUEL LIMA LOURENÇO1, BRUNO S. AMORIM2 & MARCCUS ALVES2 1
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Vegetal, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, CEP: 50670901, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil; e-mail:
[email protected] 2 Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, CEP: 50670-901, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil; e-mail:
[email protected];
[email protected]
Abstract A new species of Eugenia from the Atlantic rainforest of Rio Grande do Norte is described as Eugenia pipensis. The species is close to E. astringens, but differs by having calyx lobes 2.5 to 3 mm long and glandulose-verruculose fruits.
Resumo Uma nova espécie de Eugenia para a Mata Atlântica do estado do Rio Grande do Norte é descrita como Eugenia pipensis. A nova espécie é semelhante a E. astringens, diferindo pelos lobos do cálice com 2.5–3 mm compr. e frutos glanduloso-verruculosos. Key words: Taxonomy, Myrteae, Atlantic Forest, restinga, conservation
Introduction Eugenia L. is a pantropical genus distributed in the New World from southern Mexico, Cuba and the West Indies to northern Argentina and Uruguay, and in the Old World from Sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands, southern Asia, Malaysia, Australia and the Pacific Islands (Snow 2008). In tropical America, it is the largest genus of Myrtaceae, with 1,032 currently known species (WCSP 2012). In Brazil, 371 species of Eugenia are recognized (Sobral et al. 2012). The genus can be narrowly characterized as having tetramerous flowers with free calyx lobes, solitary flowers or racemes and an embryo with fused cotyledons (Holst et al. 2003). Based on inflorescence types, Berg (1856) recognized eight sections within the genus. One of these, Eugenia sect. Umbellatae O. Berg is characterized by having axillary inflorescences, called fascicles, with reduced axes or often seemingly isolated flowers. Mazine (2006) carried out a molecular phylogenetic analysis with the aim to test those sections as natural groups and showed that many of the Eugenia sections recognized by Berg (1856) cannot be accepted as monophyletic groups. Species of Eugenia sect. Biflorae O. Berg, Eugenia sect. Glomeratae O. Berg, Eugenia sect. Uniflorae O. Berg and Eugenia sect. Corymbiflorae O. Berg included in the analysis emerged as a clade with low internal resolution, including the type of Eugenia sect. Umbellatae. Recent taxonomic studies of Myrtaceae in northeastern Brazil (Amorim & Alves 2011, 2012; Lourenço & Barbosa 2012; Oliveira et al.2012) have aimed to improve collections and identify new species, such as the one described here.
30 Accepted by Eve Lucas:30 Apr. 2013; published online in PDF: 29 May 2013
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Eugenia pipensis A. R. Lourenço & B. S. Amorim, sp. nov. (Figs. 1, 2) Type:—Brazil. Rio Grande do Norte, Mun. Tibau do Sul, Praia da Pipa, Restinga de dunas, 06º13'43.7"S, 35º03'31.7"W, 7 April 2012, fl., fr., A. R. Lourenço 436 (holotype: UFP!; isotypes: JPB!, K!, NY!). Tree up to 6m tall, inflorescence a fascicle on foliate or defoliate nodes, closely related to E. astringens but differing in having the calyx lobes 2.5 to 3 mm long and glandulose-verruculose fruits.
FIGURE. 1. A–D. Eugenia pipensis. A. Fruiting branch. B. Detail of fasciculate inflorescences. C. Detail of flower. D. Cross section of ovary. Illustration by Regina Carvalho, based on A. R. Lourenço 436 (UFP).
EUGENIA PIPENSIS, A NEW SPECIES FROM NW BRAZIL
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FIGURE. 2. A–D. Eugenia pipensis. A. Flowering branch. B. Fruiting branch. C. Detail of fasciculate inflorescences. D. Detail of immature fruit. Ana Raquel Lourenço, based on A. R. Lourenço 436 (UFP) (A–C) and A.R. Lourenço et al. 422 (UFP) (D).
Trees 5–6 m tall, glabrous; bark dark brown, no exfoliating rhytidome. Leaf blade elliptic or obelliptic, 6.8– 8.6 × 3.7–4.5 cm, glabrous on both surfaces, chartaceous, discolored, densely covered with oil glands visible on the abaxial surface; apex obtuse, subacute or shortly rounded acuminate, base cuneate; midvein prominent or slightly raised above, prominent below; lateral veins visible on both surfaces, 6–8 pairs, marginal vein 2–4 mm from the margin. Petiole 7–11 mm long, glabrous. Inflorescence a fascicle on foliate or defoliate nodes, sometimes more than one arising from the same point, each fascicle with 1–3 pairs of flowers, rachis up to 4 mm long; floral bracts deltoid, up to 1 mm long, deciduous; pedicels 4–6 mm long; bracteoles deltoid, free, ciliate, 1.6–2 × 1.6–2 mm, persistent. Flower bud not seen; hypanthium not prolonged beyond the ovary, glabrous; sepals slightly unequal, rounded, 2.5 × 3 mm, apex rounded to truncate; petals not seen, mostly deciduous after anthesis; filaments 3–7 mm long, anthers 0.5–1 mm long; staminal disk 3 mm diam., glabrous; style not seen, mostly deciduous after anthesis; ovary glabrous internally, bilocular, 10–14 ovules
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Phytotaxa 104 (1) © 2013 Magnolia Press
LOURENÇO ET AL.
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per locule. Fruit elliptical or slightly elliptical, 12–16 × 10–13 mm, glandulose-verruculose, dark purple to black at maturity with persistent calyx; seeds 1, 10–12 mm diam., coriaceous coat; embryo “c” shaped, flattened, cotyledons fully fused. E. pipensis is morphologically related to Eugenia astringens Cambessédes (1833:361) and they resemble each other in vegetative and reproductive gestalt (bracts and bracteoles). E. astringens is distributed along the Atlantic coastal forest of Brazil (Sobral et al. 2012) and the plasticity of its morphological characters overlaps with some morphological characters of E. pipensis, which is restricted to the northern limit of the Atlantic Forest. The species differ in diagnostic reproductive characters as the length of the calyx lobes that are up to 1mm long, and fruit surface that is smooth, in E. astringens (Legrand & Klein 1969; Amorim & Alves 2011; Sousa & Morim 2008; Lourenço & Barbosa 2012; Sobral et al. 2012b) and 2.5 to 3 mm long and glanduloseverruculose, respectively, in E. pipensis. Considering Berg (1856) and Mazine (2006), E. pipensis fits the circumscription of Eugenia sect. Umbellatae. Distribution, habitat and phenology—Eugenia pipensis is known only from the state of Rio Grande do Norte, northeastern Brazil. It was found in vegetation locally called “restinga” which is open to dense forest on quaternary sandy marine sediments in coastal plains, common along the Brazilian coast and considered an ecosystem associated with the Brazilian Atlantic coastal forest (Stehmann et al. 2009). The area has an open forest physiognomy with widely spread, 3–5 m tall trees and shrubs, and is extremely at risk of further disturbance related to urban expansion. Conservation status—Following the IUCN criteria, Eugenia pipensis is considered critically endangered (CR), based on criteria A4 (an observed population reduction in the past and future) and D (very small or restricted population
