Pavonia gerleniae Gonçalez & M.C. Duarte, 2017

Gonçalez, Victor M., Pfeil, Bernard E., Antonelli, Alexandre & Duarte, Marília C., 2017, Two new species of Pavonia (Malvoideae, Malvaceae) from southern Bahia, Brazil, Phytotaxa 305 (2), pp. 97-103 : 98

Pavonia gerleniae Gonçalez & M.C. Duarte , spec. nov.

Type: — BRAZIL: Bahia: Ibirapitanga, Serra do Papuã, APA do Pratigi. A entrada para a Serra está na BR de Gandu para Ibirapitanga do lado esquerdo. Cerca de 3km da subida para a entrada da sede da “Odebrecht”, após plantação de cacau, entre os córregos 1 e 2, 13°38’01.59”S, 39°29’17.56”W, 10 July 2015, V.M. Gonçalez, C. V. Silva, A.A. R Lima & C.A.S. Rodrigues 183 (holotype SP, isotype HUMC, CEPEC).

Figure 1

Pavonia gerleniae is similar to P. longipedunculata Gürke as to the size of pedicels, the petioles bearded in a narrow line on adaxial surface and the number of involucellar bracts; however, differing in the leaf blade shape and size, the stipules persistent and the shape and size of the involucellar bracts.

Shrubs or trees 3–5 m tall, rarely branched at the top, the stems minutely stellate-pubescent. Leaf blades leathery, elliptic, 5–10.5 × 2–4 cm, basally truncate, margin reflexed, entire (rarely with teeth apically), acute to acuminate, sparsely and minutely stellate-pubescent above, stellate-pubescent beneath, glabrescent, basally 3-veined, penninerved (the midrib prominently raised beneath). Petioles 1.5–4 cm long, canaliculate at the base, bearded in a narrow line on the adaxial surface. Stipules 2, erect and slightly curved, persistent along the stems, linear or falcate, 1–2 × 0.1–0.2 cm, minutely stellate-pubescent. Flowers not seen, the pedicels solitary in the axils of the uppermost leaves, 6.5–24.5 cm long, terete, articulated 0.5–3 cm below the calyx, minutely stellate-pubescent; involucellar bracts 6–8, elliptic, 2.3– 2.5 × 0.5–0,7 cm wide, minutely stellate-pubescent, ciliate; calyx 1–1.2 cm long, totally concealed by the involucel, stellate-pubescent with two sizes of indumentum. Fruits 1–1.2 cm diam., greenish, glabrous, the mericarps smooth and shiny, with an obscurely medial ridge.

This new species is similar to Pavonia longipedunculata Gürke (1892: 525) as to the size of pedicels ( Figure 1A,B,D,G ), the petioles bearded in a narrow line on their adaxial surface, and the number of involucellar bracts ( Figure 1C,F ). However, P. gerleniae differs from P. longipedunculata (sensu Fryxell, 1999) by having leaf blades leathery, elliptic, 5–10.5 cm long, 2–4 cm wide in the former, rather than leaf blades papery, narrowly elliptic to oblong-elliptic 12–23 cm long, 3–9 cm wide in the latter ( Figure 1E,G ); the stipules persistent along the stems in the former, versus deciduous in the latter ( Figure 1I ); and involucellar bracts elliptic, 2.3–2.5 cm long, ciliate in the former, rather than narrowly to broadly ovate, 1.2–1.8 cm long, not ciliate in the latter ( Figure 2C–F ).

Pavonia gerleniae is the first species found in the wet Coastal Forest that has leathery leaves similar to two sandbank species, P. alnifolia A. St. -Hilaire (1827: 241) and P. macrobracteolata , newly described below.

Pavonia longipedunculata and P. gerleniae are both known only from Bahia in wet Coastal Forest ( Figure 3 ).

Habitat: —Wet Coastal Forest, Atlantic Rain Forest.

Etymology: —This species has been named to honor Gerleni Lopes Esteves, Brazilian botanist and the major specialist in Malvaceae with a focus on the genus Pavonia .

Conservation status: —According to IUCN (2014) criteria, P. gerleniae should be included in the endangered category (EN), due to this species only being known from a single population.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Pavonia gerleniae. A) Habit. B) Branch with peduncle. C) Involucellar bracts, calyx and fruit. D) Branch apex. E) Leaf blade with margin reflexed. F) Flower bud. G–I) Branch with peduncle and stipules.

FIGURE 2. Pavonia macrobracteolata. A) Habit. B) Branch with leaf arrangement. C) Branch apex with flower. D) Branch apex with stipules. E) Branch apex with flowers. F–H) Flowers and epicalyx. I) Epicalyx. J) Epicalyx, calyx and fruit.

FIGURE 3. Geographical distribution of Pavonia gerleniae (○) and Pavonia macrobracteolata (●)