Cryptanthus santateresinhensis Leme, 2020

Leme, Elton M. C., Ribeiro, Otávio B. C., Souza, Fernanda Vidigal D., Souza, Everton Hilo De, Kollmann, Ludovic J. C. & Fontana, André P., 2020, Miscellaneous new species in the “ Cryptanthoid complex ” (Bromeliaceae: Bromelioideae) from Eastern Brazil, Phytotaxa 430 (3), pp. 157-202 : 163-165

1.3. Cryptanthus santateresinhensis Leme , sp. nov. ( Fig. 3 A–D )

Diagnosis:––This new species can be distinguished from the morphologically closest relative, Cryptanthus coriaceus , by the leaf blades with undulate margins (vs. usually not undulate) and smaller marginal spines (0.3–0.5 mm vs. 0.5–1.5 mm), sepals with castaneous lobes (vs. greenish), which are inconspicuously denticulate (vs. entire), linear (vs. narrowly subspathulate), and higher connate petals (ca. 16 mm vs. 5–7 mm).

Type:–– BRAZIL. Bahia: Santa Teresinha, close to the border with Castro Alves, Serra da Jibóia, ca. 600 m elevation, 12º51’ S, 39º28’ W, May 1998, S. Linhares s.n., fl. cult. E. Leme 4222 (holotype RB!).

Description:–– Plants stemless, propagating by short basal shoots. Leaves ca. 8 in number, spreading-arcuate at anthesis, laxly arranged and forming an open rosette; sheath subreniform, ca. 3.3 × 2.2 cm, greenish, densely white lepidote abaxially near distal end, glabrous adaxially; blade narrowly lanceolate, apex caudate, slightly narrowed toward the base, 19–35 × 2.5–3.7 cm, coriaceous, canaliculate, green except for the dark reddish base and apex, lustrous, abaxially densely and coarsely white lepidote, adaxially glabrous except for the densely white lepidote base, margins distinctly undulate mainly toward the apex, densely spinulose; spines triangular, antrorse, reddish, 0.3–0.5 mm long, 0.5–2 mm apart. Inflorescence sessile, shortly corymbose, ca. 3.5 cm long, ca. 2.5 cm in diameter, once branched at the base; primary bracts resembling the leaves; flower fascicles ca. 6 in number, 26 × 15–20 mm, with 2–3 flowers, complanate; floral bracts narrowly triangular-ovate, acuminate, ca. 20 × 7 mm, membranaceous, castaneous, subdensely to sparsely and coarsely white lepidote mainly toward the apex, inconspicuously and irregularly spinulose, exceeded by the sepals, those of the flower fascicles distinctly carinate. Flowers sessile, odorless, the perfect ones ca. 44 mm long (with the petals extended), the staminate ones shorter; sepals ca. 15 mm long, connate for ca. 10 mm, white except for the lobes, lobes ovate, acute, ca. 5 × 3 mm, symmetrical, obtusely carinate, subdensely and coarsely whitish lepidote, castaneous, margins inconspicuously denticulate; petals sublinear-oblong, apex acute, white except for the greenish apex, exceeding the stamens but spreading-recurved at anthesis and exposing them; those of the perfect flowers ca. 35 × 4 mm, connate at the base for ca. 16 mm, bearing 2 conspicuous longitudinal callosities at the base of the free lobes; filaments ca. 26 mm long, adnate to the petal-tube and free above it; anthers ca. 3 mm long, dorsifixed at 1/3 of its length above the base, base distinctly bilobed, apex obtuse; stigma conduplicate-patent, lobes 4.5–5 mm long, narrow, white, margins inconspicuously crenulate, without papillae; ovary subclavate, trigonous, ca. 11 × 5 mm, white, glabrous; epigynous tube lacking; placentation apical; ovules few, obtuse. Fruits not seen.

Distribution, habitat and conservation:–– Cryptanthus santateresinhensis was found growing as a terrestrial species in shaded sites in dry Atlantic Forest fragments on a hill known as Serra da Jibóia ( Fig. 3 A ), in the county of Santa Teresinha, close to the border with Castro Alves, Bahia state, at about 600 m elevation. It is known from the type locality only, in a geographically limited, fragmented habitat of declining quality, thus being considered to be critically endangered (CR) according to the “A.1. c + d” and “B. 1. a + b. iii” criteria adopted by IUCN (2012).

Etymology:––The name of C. santateresinhensis refers to the county of Santa Teresinha, Bahia, where it was collected.

Observations:— Cryptanthus santateresinhensis is morphologically close to C. coriaceous Leme (1991: 14) , a species endemic to Espírito Santo state, known from the type locality only, from the county of Serra, where it grows in shallow soils under partial shade protection of shrub or tree-like vegetation on inselbergs along the road BR 101, north of Vitória city. This new species shares the similar flower fascicles, floral bracts, and sepal conformation with C. coriaceus , but differs from it by the coriaceous, not succulent leaf blades (vs. coriaceous and very rigid, succulent toward the base), with undulate margins (vs. usually not undulate), marginal spines smaller (0.3–0.5 mm vs. 0.5–1.5 mm), sepals with castaneous lobes (vs. greenish), which are inconspicuously denticulate (vs. entire), and by the linearoblong petals (vs. narrowly subspathulate), which are higher connate at the base (ca. 16 mm vs. 5–7 mm).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Cryptanthus santateresinhensis from Serra da Jibóa, Santa Teresinha county Bahia state (Leme 4222): A. In the background, a general view of Serra da Jibóia covered by fragments of Atlantic Forest. B. Habit. C. Details of the inflorescence. D. Details of a hermaphrodite flower of the lateral flower fascicle and the conduplicate-patent stigma type.