New combinations and synonyms in discoid caespitose Andean Senecio (Senecioneae, Compositae)
Author
Calvo, Joel
Author
Granda, Arturo
Author
Funk, Vicki A.
text
PhytoKeys
2019
132
111
130
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.132.38534
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.132.38534
1314-2003-132-111
4772EB67445F54F5843E51C038BE0BA8
3479944
2.
Senecio pygmophyllus (S.F. Blake) J.Calvo, A.Granda & V.A.Funk
comb. nov.
Figs 3C, D
, 4C, D
, 6
Werneria
pygmophylla
S.F. Blake, J. Washington Acad. Sci. 18: 491. 1928. Type: Peru. Moquegua: cordillera East of Carumas, 4500-4600 m, 7-8 Mar 1925, A. We
berbauer
7358 (holotype: F [F-552587]; isotypes: CONC [CONC-28864], G [G00356025], US [US00622822]).
Senecio laucanus
Ricardi & Martic., Gayana, Bot. 11: 17. 1964. Type: Chile. Arica-Parinacota: camino de Putre a Chucuyo, km 17, 4250 m, 12 Feb 1964, C. Marticorena, O. Matthei & M. Quezada 208 (holotype: CONC [CONC-29864]; isotype: CONC), syn. nov.
Description.
Caespitose perennial herb. Leaves long pseudopetiolate; leaf lamina 2.5-5.5 mm long, 2.4-5.5 mm wide, ovate to suborbiculate, obtuse at the apex, rounded to truncate at the base, typically crenate-lobate with 3-9 rounded lobes, revolute, usually strongly conduplicate downwards, pilose on both surfaces, somewhat fleshy, glaucous; pseudopetiole 5-25 mm long, flat, slightly broadened at the base, marginally ciliate. Capitulum discoid, solitary, terminal, sessile or subsessile; involucre 6-8 mm long, 7-10 mm wide. Involucral bracts 16-21, oblong-lanceolate, 2.5-4 mm long, 0.7-1.7 mm wide, partially fused at the base, smooth, with trichomes on the abaxial surface 0.5-0.8 mm long, dark purple- or blackish-tipped. Supplementary bracts ca. 3, linear, 6-7.5 mm long, 0.5-0.8 mm wide, smooth, three-quarters to as long as the involucral bracts, with trichomes on the margins, dark purple- or blackish-tipped. Disc florets 50-82, 3.5-5.1 mm long, 0.6-1 mm wide, 5-lobed, conspicuously differentiated in a distinct tube and campanulate limb, whitish. Anther bases auriculate, clearly acute, dark purple to blackish; filament collar balusterform. Style branches truncate with a crown of sweeping hairs, dark purple to blackish. Achenes 1.7
-1.8(-
2.5) mm long, ca. 0.5 mm wide, brownish, covered by dense indumentum of obtuse whitish myxogenic twin trichomes ca. 0.2 mm long; pappus 3-4.5 mm long, barbellate, whitish. Chromosome number: unknown.
Additional iconography.
Blake (1928
: pg. 496, fig. 1F, G, sub
W. pygmophylla
);
Ricardi and Marticorena (1964
: pg. 19, fig. 6, sub
S. laucanus
).
Distribution and habitat.
Chile (Arica-Parinacota, N
Tarapaca
) and Peru (Moquegua) (
Fig. 5
). The species is also expected in the Peruvian department of Tacna and in the Bolivian region bordering northern Chile, although no collections have been studied from there. It grows in exposed places on sandy soils, between elevations of 4100-4700 m.
Figure 6.
Senecio pygmophyllus
A
habit (drawn from
Funk et al. 13153
)
B
leaf (drawn from
Weberbauer 7358
). Illustration by Alice Tangerini.
Phenology.
Collected in bloom from January to June, although full bloom probably takes place between March and April.
Etymology.
The epithet refers to the resemblance of the leaves to a fist.
Discussion.
Blake (1928)
placed his new species within
Werneria
arguing that the involucral bracts were connate half way. Otherwise, he assumed a close similarity between it and a
Senecio
species collected by Pennell here identified as
S. moqueguensis
Montesinos (see protologue of
W. pygmophylla
). It is certain that the involucral bracts of
S. pygmophyllus
are usually partially fused at the base; however, this character alone cannot be used as diagnostic to place a species in one or another genus. Rather, we prefer to base a decision on a set of characters, i.e., presence or absence of genuine supplementary bracts, involucral bracts free or fused at the base, achene trichomes
myxogenic
or not, and rosettiform or caespitose habit. Accordingly, we consider that this species should be placed within
Senecio
on the basis of the following characters: presence of supplementary bracts, myxogenic achene trichomes, and caespitose habit. This decision is also supported by the fact that it was inaccurately considered a synonym of
S. digitatus
for a long time.
Rockhausen (1939)
was the first author who treated
W. pygmophylla
as a heterotypic synonym of
S. digitatus
. Since then, most authors followed his treatment (e.g.,
Cabrera 1949
;
Freire et al. 2014
).
Ricardi and Marticorena (1966)
, in disagreement, concluded that they correspond to two distinct taxonomic entities. We agree with Ricardi and
Marticorena's
treatment after studying the respective type materials, further collections from southern Peru and northern Chile, and living plants. The two species can be differentiated by their leaf shape and indumentum type.
Senecio pygmophyllus
has a lamina clearly differentiated from the pseudopetiole (petioliform base); usually the lamina is remarkably reduced when compared with the pseudopetiole length (at least in the more basal leaves). The lamina we observed were ovate to suborbicular, typically crenate-lobate with 3-9 rounded lobes and revolute margins (
Fig. 4C
). In contrast,
S. digitatus
has
linear to slightly spatulate leaves narrowed at the base (
Fig. 3E, F
). This latter species is extremely variable with regard to the leaf margin, which can be dentate, pinnatipartite or distantly pinnatisect, with clearly acute teeth; however, specimens with entire leaves and even individuals displaying both entire and dentate leaves were occasionally observed. The leaf apex is acute and usually shows a whitish callus-like tip, whereas in
S. pygmophyllus
the apex is always plainly obtuse and unadorned (
Fig. 3C
,
4D
). Both species usually have abundant indumentum on the leaves, involucre, and supplementary bracts but the type of trichomes differs and is useful to separate them from one other. The indumentum of
S. pygmophyllus
is pilose whereas in
S. digitatus
the trichomes are clearly arachnoid, longer, and intermingled. Moreover, the indumentum of
S. digitatus
is essentially concentrated on the adaxial surface, whereas in
S. pygmophyllus
the leaf lamina has trichomes on both surfaces. Their distribution areas do not overlap (
Fig. 5
).
Senecio pygmophyllus
might be confused with those forms of
S. melanandrus
displaying pilose, dentate leaves. A useful character to discriminate them from each other is the leaf shape, although some overlap has been detected in a few specimens. In
S. pygmophyllus
the leaves are clearly pseudopetiolate and the ratio lamina/pseudopetiole length usually is very low in the more basal leaves (
Fig. 4D
). In contrast,
S. melanandrus
displays a lamina progressively narrowed at the base (
Fig. 3B
). The distinctive pseudopetiole length of
S. pygmophyllus
might be an adaptation to the sandy soils where this species thrives because the plants usually appear to be partially sunken. Additionally, the number of disc florets tends to be higher in
S. pygmophyllus
(50-82 vs. 20-45), as well as the number of involucral bracts (16-21 vs. 11-16). Since the mentioned morphology coincides with geographical separation, we consider it appropriate to recognize it as a distinct species.
The name
S. laucanus
Ricardi & Martic. was described from northern Chile (Arica-Parinacota) and it was hitherto considered endemic to this country (
Moreira-Munoz
et al. 2016
). It is included in the synonymy of
S. pygmophyllus
since we failed to identify any diagnostic character to differentiate them. In some specimens from Chile the more basal leaves are not so long pseudopetiolate as in the typical forms (e.g.,
Moreira-Munoz
& Luebert 2470
), but it is considered as part of the variability encompassed by this species; indeed, this morphology probably responds to the fact that these plants grow on less sandy soils.
Specimens examined.
Senecio digitatus
. ARGENTINA. Salta
: Los Andes, Huaitiquina,
23°44'S
,
67°12'W
, 27 Feb 1972, Cabrera et al. 22559 (LP).
BOLIVIA.
Potosi
: Sud
Lipez
, a 1 km al W de salar Chalviri,
22°30'S
,
67°38'W
, 7 May 1999, N. Massi & C. Salles 726 (LPB) [first record for Bolivia].
CHILE. Antofagasta
: El Loa, camino entre
Ascotan
y San Pedro de Conchi,
21°58'S
,
68°26'W
, 4 Apr 1985, M. Arroyo 85-606 (CONC); El Loa, cerro Losloyo, ladera SE,
23°9'S
,
67°15'W
, 9 Apr 1997, M. Arroyo, L. Cavieres & A.
Humana
97331 (CONC); El Loa, cerro Nevados de Poquis, ladera SO,
23°4'S
,
67°5'W
, 9 Apr 1997, M. Arroyo, L. Cavieres & A.
Humana
97343 (CONC); El Loa, pampa Laguna Helada,
23°6'S
,
67°5'W
, 9 Apr 1997, M. Arroyo, L. Cavieres & A.
Humana
97403 (CONC); El Loa, pampa Loyoques,
23°11'S
,
67°12'W
, 9 Apr 1997, M. Arroyo, L. Cavieres & A.
Humana
97408 (CONC); El Loa,
cordon
cerro de la Pacana, cuesta entre salar de Aguas Calientes y quebrada Quepiaco,
23°3'S
,
67°29'W
, 11 Apr 1997, M. Arroyo, L.
Cavieres
& A.
Humana
97477 (CONC); El Loa,
cordon
cerro de la Pacana, cuesta entre salar de Aguas Calientes y quebrada Quepiaco,
23°4'S
,
67°30'W
, 11 Apr 1997, M. Arroyo, L. Cavieres & A.
Humana
97498 (CONC); El Loa, Toconao, camino a Tara, monjes de La Pacana,
23°3'S
,
67°29'W
, 6 Mar 2019, J. Calvo 7926 (SGO); cruce camino internacional Paso Jama con camino a salar de Tara,
23°3'S
,
67°29'W
, 19 Dec 1996, A.
Moreira-Munoz
317 (SGO); Machuca-Copacoya,
22°28'S
,
68°2'W
, 18 Feb 1885, F. Philippi s.n. (LP, SGO); laguna de Llaillai,
21°55'S
,
68°12'W
, 23 Feb 1885, F. Philippi s.n. (CONC, LP, SGO, SI); El Loa,
Ascotan
,
21°27'S
,
68°21'W
, 23 Jan 1943, E. Pisano & J. Venturelli 1753 (SGO); El Loa, entre Machuca y Tatio, 15 Feb 1943, E. Pisano & J. Venturelli 1866 (CONC, SGO);
Tarapaca
: [without locality], Feb 1885, F. Philippi s.n. (K); Iquique, Collaguasi, San Carlos,
20°58'S
,
68°41'W
, 22 Jan 1994, S. Teillier 3286A (CONC).
Senecio pygmophyllus
. CHILE. Arica-Parinacota
: cerca de laguna de Cotacotani, camino a Guane Guane,
18°10'S
,
69°14'W
, 9 Mar 1984, M. Arroyo 84-724 (CONC); portezuelo entre cerro Guane Guane y cerro Larancagua,
18°9'S
,
69°19'W
, 22 Apr 1984, M. Arroyo 84-935 (CONC); Las Cuevas, antes del Chaku,
18°11'S
,
69°25'W
, 20 Mar 2015, A.
Moreira-Munoz
& F. Luebert 2470 (SGO); camino de Putre a Portezuelo de
Chapiquina
,
18°20'S
,
69°30'W
, 28 Mar 1961, M. Ricardi, C. Marticorena & O. Matthei 277 (CONC);
Tarapaca
: Colchane,
geiser
Puchultiza, 100 m antes del
geiser
,
19°24'S
,
68°57'W
, 16 Jun 2018, A.
Moreira-Munoz
2876 (SGO).
PERU. Moquegua
: minera Quellaveco,
17°6'S
,
70°36'W
, 8 Apr 1999, ESCO 7238 (US); area between the carretera-binacional and the interoceanica sur, on unpaved road that connects the two main roads and borders a large bofedal,
16°51'S
,
70°32'W
, 12 Mar 2014, V.A. Funk, M. Diazgranados & E. Cochachin 13153 (US, USM); Mariscal Nieto, Carumas, Ancolacaya,
16°38'S
,
70°19'W
,
Mar-Apr
2018, V. Morales 140 (USM); 5 km East of lago Suche,
16°55'S
,
70°19'W
, 19 Jan 1952, O.P. Pearson 5 (CONC, UC).