Myrcia tocantinensis Glaziou ex P.O.Rosa & Proença, 2021

Rosa, Priscila O., Vasconcelos, Thaís N. C., Lucas, Eve J. & Proença, Carolyn E. B., 2021, Revisiting Glaziou and the botany of the second Cruls Mission: three new species and 23 accepted species of Myrcia (Myrtaceae) collected from Goiás, Brazil and a detailed description of his “ Goyaz ” itinerary, Phytotaxa 509 (1), pp. 69-92 : 76-79

3. Myrcia tocantinensis Glaziou ex P.O.Rosa & Proença , sp. nov. Type:— BRAZIL. Goiás: [Formosa] Fazenda do Lambary , près de Lagoa Formosa, 26 January 1895. Glaziou 21158 (holotype P00553503!; isotypes F, P00553501!, P00553502!, BR!, K000344642 !, G!). Figures 3 , 4D–E .

= Myrcia glaziovii Mattos & D.Legrand (in Legrand & Mattos 1975: 1), pro parte.

= Myrcia labordeana Glaziou , nom. nud., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 54 (Mém. 3c): 222. 1908. Specimens examined:— BRAZIL. Goiás: Glaziou 21157 (BR! G! K000343458 ! P00549408! P00549407! P00549409!).

= Myrcia caparoana Schwacke ex Glaziou , nom. nud., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 54 (Mém. 3c): 222. 1908. Specimens examined:— BRAZIL. Goiás: Glaziou 21159 (BR!, K000342648 !, P00405389!)..

= Myrcia gamaeana Glaziou , nom. nud., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 54 (Mém. 3c): 210. 1908. Specimens examined:— BRAZIL. Goiás: Glaziou 21159 (P 00547996, P 00547997)..

Myrcia tocantinensis resembles Myrcia schottiana O. Berg (1857 –1859: 188). It differs by a whitish indumentum concentrated on the floral and apical branches and sometimes persisting on the abaxial leaf surface with translucent dots (versus a brown indumentum on the apical branches with black dots on the leaves of M. schottiana ), as well as the 1–3 terminal or axillary flowers (vs. a raceme) and flowers with 4–6 sepals (vs. always 5 sepals).

Subshrub 0.2–1 m, cespitose; bark peeling; indumentum tomentose to sericeous, whitish to golden on apical branches, buds, flowers, sepals, external surfaces of petals and fruit; young leaves tomentose on both sides, sericeous to glabrescent at maturity. Branches non-dichotomous, cylindrical at base, apices flattened, not gnarled, without appendages. Leaves opposite, sessile; blades 0.7–2 × 0.2–1.2 cm, ovate to lanceolate, chartaceous, concolorous, adaxial surface waxy, apex acute to rounded, margins slightly revolute, base attenuate; primary veins sulcate for the proximal half of the adaxial leaf surface, secondary veins prominent on the abaxial surface, secondary veins leaving the midvein at angles of 55–75 degrees, collecting veins 2, 2– 3 mm from the innermost collecting vein to the limb respectively. Flowers isolated or 1–3, terminal or axillary; primary axis with 1–3 branches per node, opposite; bracts and bracteoles present, bracteoles opposite, 2–4 × 1 mm, linear, lanceolate or suborbicular; apical flower sessile or pedicellate, pedicel up to 0.2 cm, bud obconic, base non-constricted, 0.3–0.2 × 0.2–0.55 cm; hypanthium not prolonged above level of stylar insertion; sepals 4–6, unequal, 1.1–2.2 5 × 1–2 mm, apices acute to rounded, margins ciliate; petals 5, 3–4 × 3 mm, apices rounded, margins ciliate; stamens 140–150, c. 4 mm long, anthers eglandular, floral disk pubescent; ovary locules 2, ovules 2 per locule. Fruit a berry, globose, 0.25–0.45 × 0.25–0.51 cm, crowned by the remnants of the erect sepals, brown to vinaceous when mature, seeds 1–2.

Paratypes:— BRAZIL. Goiás: Água Fria de Goiás, 30 November 1992, Hatschbach et al. 58318 ( FURB, MBM!); ibidem, 8 February 1994, Hatschbach et al. 60130 ( ASU, F, FURB, HUEFS, MBM!, MO, NY); Alto Paraíso de Goiás, 21 March 1971, Irwin et al. 32901 (NY, MO, FLOR, UB!); ibidem, 4 March 1973, Anderson 6241 (NY, UB!); ibidem, 28 November 1976, Shepherd et al. 3718 ( MBM!, NY, UEC!); ibidem, 20 February 1978, Hatschbach et al. 36311 (NY, SP!); ibidem, 4 February 1979, Gates & Estabrook 134 (UB!); ibidem, 19 November 1987, Mamede et al. 27 ( SPF!, SP!, UB!); ibidem, 20 February 1991, Pereira et al. 1504 (NY); ibidem, 2 July 1994, Proença & Harris 1210 (UB!); ibidem, 6 September 1994, Silva & Mendonça 2263 ( ASU, IBGE!, UB!); ibidem, 22 January 2005, Paula- Souza et al. 4453 ( BHCB, SPF!, UB!); ibidem, 31 October 2010, Queiroz et al. 15142 ( HUEFS); ibidem, Portal da Chapada , 16 July 2011, Faria et al. 1295 (UB!), Faria et al. 1299 ( HUEG, UB!); ibidem, Entrada para a Cachoeira Cristal, 9 October 2011, Faria & Moreira 2005 (UB!); ibidem, 22 October 2012, Delfini et al. 637 (RB!); ibidem, 26 November 2014, Fernandez et al. 145 (RB!); ibidem, Siqueira 201 (UB!); Cavalcante, 21 October 1965, Irwin et al. 9442 ( K!, NY, RB!, US); Chapada dos Veadeiros, 13 February 1966, Irwin et al. 12739 (NY, RB!, US), ibidem, Trilha Ecológica do Portal da Chapada , 21 April 2010, Faria et al. 822 ( HEPH!, HUEG, UB!), Faria et al. 823 ( HEPH!, UB!); Cocalzinho de Goiás , perto do Morro dos Três Picos , 12 September 2014, Rosa et al. 1400 (UB!); Luziânia, 26 September 2007, Cezare et al. 123 (UB!), Cezare et al. 136 ( HEPH!, UB!); ibidem, 23 October 2007, Cezare & Machado-Neto 289 ( HEPH!, UB!); ibidem, 10 December 2007, Cezare et al. 551 ( HEPH!, UB!); Pirenópolis, Parque Estadual da Serra dos Pireneus, 13 August 2006, Faria & Santos 33 ( HUEG, UB!); Rodovia Brasília – Anápolis, 8 December 1965, Belém 1899 ( CEPEC, UB!) .

Phenology:— Specimens with flower buds were collected in April, July, September and December. Specimens with open flowers were collected in February, April, July, August, September and October. Specimens with fruits were collected in July, October, November and December.

Habitat and distribution:— Restricted to high altitude areas between 760 and 1250 m elev. in Goiás and Distrito Federal, occurring both in cerrado s.s. and campo rupestre vegetation.

Etymology: — The specific epithet is probably a reference to São Luiz do Tocantins or the Tocantinzinho river that Glaziou crossed, called Tocantins at that time.

Systematics: —The morphology of this species, including its non-prolonged hypanthium and pubescent disk, positions it in Myrcia sect. Myrcia ( Lucas et al., 2018) .

Comments:— The collection Glaziou 21158, here designated as holotype, was designated as a paratype of M. glaziovii Mattos & D.Legrand (in Legrand & Mattos 1975) but in our opinion the holotype of M. glaziovii (Mello Barreto & Brade 1204 from the Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais) and the paratype are not the same species. The epithet “ tocantinensis ” has been kept due to its frequent use in the examined herbaria. In the field, this species occurs associated with Myrcia linearifolia Cambessèdes (1832: 334) . The greater variability is found in the bracteoles and sepals, in morphology and in the number of the latter ( Figure 3 ). Bracteoles are always present, and their shape varies from linear to suborbicular. Number of sepals range from 4 to 6, but 4 or 5 are the most common. Several collections made by Myrtaceae specialists note the presence of tetramerous flowers on the label, uncommon in Myrcia sect. Myrcia (see collections Faria et al. 823, Faria et al. 1295 and Proença & Harris 1210). The sepal shape is more often lanceolate, and the apex can be rounded to acute. There is some variation in the colour of the apical branch that includes the leaves, buds, flowers and the branch itself; this can be light brown to reddish.

The wide variation in leaf morphology of Myrcia tocantinensis may have led Glaziou to allocate the specimens above into different names. Myrcia caparoana and M. gameana cite the same specimen (Glaziou 21159). One of the specimens labelled as Glaziou 21157 at P (barcode P00405389) is actually Blepharocalyx sp. It has a tetramerous calyx, solitary flowers and glabrous branches. Leandri (1963) and Wurdack (1970) also report erroneous identifications in other Glaziou collections. Collected twice in Goiás, “ Entre Porto do Rio S. Bartholomeu et Serra dos Cristaes – Cristalina ”; “ Fazenda do Lambary prês da Lagoa Formoza – Formosa ”, and once in Distrito Federal (“ Cabeceiras do Rio Gama, au Riacho Fundo ”); it is still a difficult plant to find in nature.

Conservation status:— The assessment for this species was NT–Near Threatened following criteria B2ab(iii) due to an EOO= 36,500 km 2, AOO= 68 km 2 and occurrence estimated as 16 to 21 locations and a continuing decline in the extent and quality of the species habitat.

Placement of Glaziou’s names in currently accepted species of Myrcia

Names of specimens collected in Goiás identified by Glaziou are listed by alphabetical order of accepted names; formal synonymizations are proposed when necessary and additional comments are presented in some cases.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Myrcia tocantinensis. Top (left to right): habit, longitudinal section of bud, open flower and bud with bracteoles. Bottom (left to right): adaxial surface of whole leaf, detail of adaxial surface, abaxial surface whole leaf and detail of abaxial surface (Cezare et al. 551 at UB).

FIGURE 4. Field images. A – C Myrcia siriacoana; D – E Myrcia tocantinensis; F – H Myrcia depauperata. Photographs by P.O. Rosa and T.N.C. Vasconcelos.