Four new species of Eugenia (Myrtaceae) from the Caatinga and Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil
Author
Coutinho, Karoline
Author
Oliveira, Marla Ibrahim Uehbe De
Author
Funch, Lígia Silveira
text
Phytotaxa
2015
2015-11-18
234
3
215
226
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.234.3.2
journal article
302079
10.11646/phytotaxa.234.3.2
92c68aec-df05-46cc-90fc-718bea47f260
1179-3163
13633042
4.
Eugenia potiraguensis
Coutinho & M.Ibrahim
sp. nov.
(
Figures 4
and
5
)
This species is similar to
Eugenia plicata
Niedenzu (1897:81)
, but differs by having glabrous midvein, petioles
3–6 mm
long, calyx lobes of equal length, staminal ring ca.
3 mm
in diameter.
Type:
—
BRAZIL
.
Bahia
: Potiraguá,
15°42’12”S
39°34’32”W
, 10 June de 2004,
P. Fiaschi et al
. 2287 (
holotype
CEPEC!,
isotype
NY).
Tree
5 m
high; young twigs brownish, glabrous or puberulous, adult branches grayish, glabrous.
Leaf blades
29–8 ×
8–22 mm
, chartaceous, lanceolate, flat, reticulate; apex acute; base cuneate; margins slightly revolute and/or undulate, glabrous; glandular dot on both sides
0.1–0.7 mm
diameter, 10–14 per square millimeter; venation acrodromous; midvein sulcate above, prominent below, glabrous on both sides, lateral veins 14–23, erect, leaving the midvein at 55°–60°, glabrous, barely visible abaxially, all confluent with the marginal vein; marginal vein
0.3–0.9 mm
from the border; petiole
3–6 mm
, channeled, glabrous.
Inflorescences
terminal or axillary, 2–4 flowered; rachis ca.
10 mm
long; pedicels
17–27 mm
, brownish; bracts, bracteoles and flower buds not seen; calyx lobes four, 4–5.1 ×
1.2–1.9 mm
, deltoid or linear, equal between them, apex acute or rounded, ciliate, glabrous, abaxially with glandular dots; petals not seen; hypanthium 1.7–2.2 ×
1.8–1.9 mm
, not costate, pubescent, glandular dots absent; staminal ring ca.
3.2 mm
diam., pilose; stamens not seen; style ca. 5.0 mm long, glabrous with translucent dots; ovary, bilocular, glabrous, number of ovules not seen.
Fruit
not costate, globose, puberulous, verrucose; seed one; ca. 7.3 ×
3.7 mm
globose; glandular dot absent.
Etymology:—
The specific epithet refers to the locality in which the species was collected.
Phenology:—
Fruits in June.
Distribution and habitat:—
Eugenia potiraguensis
was collected in the southern region of
Bahia State
in the municipality of Potiraguá and also
350 km
distant in the northeastern region of the same state in the municipality of Cachoeira. Although both sites are within the Atlantic Forest domain, the former is located at
180 m
elev. in a subhumid to dry climate, with
900 mm
of rainfall per year and an average annual temperature of 23 °C. The regional vegetation is composed of semideciduous and seasonally deciduous forests. The Cachoeira area is almost at sea level, the regional climate is tropical humid, with an average of
1800 mm
of rainfall per year and an average annual temperature of 25 °C. The regional vegetation is composed of dense evergreen and seasonal semideciduous forests (
Tomasoni & Tomasoni 2005
). The distance between the specimens of
E. potiraguensis
collected suggests its ample distribution, although the Atlantic Forest biome has become quite degraded, especially in the survey areas.
Morphological comments:
—
Eugenia potiraguensis
is similar to
E. plicata
as they both have leaves
29–90 mm
long, lanceolate and chartaceous, with undulate and/or revolute margins. They can be distinguished by
E. potiraguensis
having a glabrous midvein, petiole
3–6 mm
long, calyx lobes equal, and stamen disk ca.
3 mm
diam.
Eugenia plicata
, on the other hand, has a puberulous midvein, petiole
0.5–1.4 mm
long, calyx lobes unequal, and stamen disk ca.
2 mm
diam.
Conservation status:—
Eugenia potiraguensis
was collected in two municipalities where collection efforts have only been incipient and, according to the CRIA website (2015), 4325 collections have been recorded from Cachoeira (
395 km
²) and 355 from Potiraguá (
985 km
²), yielding a sampling ratio of ~3.4 specimens/km². However, as the rarity of this species may be attributed to few collections, it seems more appropriate to adopt the IUCN category DD (deficient data; IUCN 2015).
Paratype
:—
BRAZIL
,
Bahia
, Cachoeira,
12°32’00”S
39°05’00”W
,
September 1980
,
Grupo Pedra do Cavalo 781
(ALCB!, CEPEC!, BAH, HUEFS!, IPA, RB).