Pavonia macrobracteolata 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 : 100

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

Type:— BRAZIL: Bahia, Itacaré: Campo Cheiroso, 14°21’37.96”S, 39°00’57.39”W, 11 July 2015, V.M. Gonçalez, C. V. Silva, A. Amorim & C. Pessoa 185 (holotype SP, isotype HUMC, NY, GB, CEPEC, RB, K).

Figure 2

Pavonia macrobracteolata is similar to P. alnifolia A. St. -Hilaire, as to the shape of leaf blades and the number of involucellar bracts; however, differing in the arrangement of leaves along branches, the shape of the stipules and the shape and size of the involucellar bracts.

Shrubs or trees 3–7 m tall, branched at the base with some decumbent branches, the stems glabrescent. Leaf blades leathery, broadly elliptic, 6–13.5 × 3–6.5 cm (becoming smaller), basally truncate, entire, acute to obtuse, glabrous above and beneath, basally 3-veined, penninerved (the midrib prominently raised beneath). Petioles 0.5–3 cm long, canaliculate, glabrous. Stipules 2, eliptical or obovate, 0.5–1.7 × 0.1–0.4 cm, caducous and leaving scars, glabrescent. Flowers solitary in the axils of the uppermost leaves, the pedicels 5–12 cm long, terete, articulated 0.7–1.5 cm below the calyx, glabrescent; involucellar bracts 4, broadly ovate, 1.6–2.5 × 1.4–2.3 cm, glabrous; calyx 0.6–1.2 cm long, completely concealed by the involucel, minutely stellate glabrescent; petals 1–1.3 cm long, tubular, white with the base purplish, inserted in involucel; androecium exserted ca. 0.5 cm beyond the corolla, the column white, the stamens vinaceous, the anthers yellow; styles emergent fom the column. Fruits 0.8–1.2 cm diam., greenish to dark brown, glabrous, the mericarps smooth and shiny, with a medial ridge.

This new species is similar to Pavonia alnifolia A. St. -Hilaire (1827: 241), as to the leaf blade shape (both broadly elliptic), the number of involucellar bracts, although P. macrobracteolata always has 4, and P. alnifolia 4 or 5 ( Figure 2C–D ). However, P. macrobracteolata differs from P. alnifolia (sensu Fryxell, 1999) by having leaves arranged both spirally and alternately in the former, rather than strictly alternate leaves in the latter ( Figure 2A–B ); stipules eliptical or obovate in the former, versus ligulate or spatulate in the latter ( Figure 2D ); and involucellar bracts broadly ovate 1.6–2.5 cm long, 1.4–2.3 cm wide in the former, rather than ovate 1–1.9 cm long, 0.5–1 cm wide in the latter ( Figure 2E–J ).

Pavonia alnifolia is known from both Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo states, whereas Pavonia macrobracteolata occurs only in Bahia state. Both occur in sandbank areas ( Figure 3 ).

Habitat: —Wet Coastal Forest, sandbank.

Etymology: —From the Latin macro: long, large, great; and bracteolata: bracteolate ( Stearn 1992). This species has the largest involucellar bracts of the subgenus Goetheoides .

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

Paratype: — BRAZIL. Itacaré: Campo Cheiroso, 14°22’50”S, 39°02’23”W, 03/12/2011, V.D. Lacerda, A. Amorim, J. Paixão, R. Aspirino, M. Zugaib, Monteiro, 234 (SP, SPF, CEPEC, RB, HUMC).

Figures

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 (●)