Pradosia brevipes ( Pierre 1891: 57 ) T.D. Pennington (1990: 641)

Völtz, Rafael R., Alves-Araújo, Anderson & Goldenberg, Renato, 2020, Native Species of Sapotaceae Juss. in Paraná, Brazil, Phytotaxa 430 (4), pp. 224-276 : 267-268

6.1 Pradosia brevipes ( Pierre 1891: 57) T.D. Pennington (1990: 641) . Figure 24

Geoxylic subshrub. Stems light-brown, not lenticellate, slightly fissured and rough, rounded, young shoots pubescent, soon glabrous. Petiole 3.0–11.5(–14.0) mm long, grooved, tomentose. Leaf blade coriaceous, (2.5–)7.0–20.5 × 3.5–6.5 cm, elliptic, narrow-elliptic, oblanceolate or narrow-oblanceolate, apex shortly acuminate, acute, rounded, emarginate or mucronate, base cuneate or acute, adaxial surface glabrescent or glabrous, but pubescent on midrib and secondaries, abaxial surface pubescent, venation eucaptodromous, midrib sunken on the adaxial surface, raised on the abaxial surface, secondaries 10–23 pairs, straight and arcuate near the margin, parallel, slightly sunken on the adaxial surface, raised on the abaxial surface, without intramarginal veins, tertiaries inconspicuous on the adaxial surface, raised on the abaxial surface. Inflorescences axillary or ramiflorous, 3–7-flowered. Pedicel 6.0–18.0 mm long, tomentose. Flowers purple in vivo; sepals ca. 2.5 mm long, elliptic, ovate or oblong, apex acute, margin entire, abaxial surface hispid-tomentose or indument restricted to the base, adaxial surface glabrous, without a broad glabrous marginal stripe; corolla glabrous or indument restricted to the base on the abaxial surface, ca. 4.0 mm long, tube ca. 1.5 mm long, lobes 2.3–3.7 mm long, oblong, apex rounded; filaments 1.8–3.1 mm long, glabrous, anthers 0.8–1.6 mm long, glabrous; ovary ca. 2.0 mm long, ovoid, style ca. 1.5 mm long, glabrous, stigma simple. Fruit ripening yellowish-orange, 1.4–2.2 × 0.8–1.5 cm, ellipsoid, tomentose, calyx and style persistent. Seeds not available.

Selected material: — BRAZIL. Paraná: Jaguariaíva, 31 October 1997, S.M. Silva s.n. ( UPCB 33610). Jaguariaíva, 30 September 1999, A.C. Cervi 6832 ( UPCB). Jaguariaíva, 27 January 1990, G.G. Hatschbach 52579 ( MBM). Palmeira, 12 June 1969, G.G. Hatschbach 21621 ( MBM). Palmeira, 10 November 1951, G.G. Hatschbach 2566 ( MBM). Ponta Grossa, 23 August 1964, G.G. Hatschbach 11349 ( MBM). Tibagi, 13 November 2016, R.R Völtz 989 ( UPCB, EFC).

In Paraná Pradosia brevipes occurs in the grassy and open low tree Cerrado, mainly on sandy and deep soils between 800 and 1060 m elev.. Collected with flowers in September, October and November, with a single record in March (Hatschbach 18822), with immature fruits in December, January and March and ripening fruits in June and August. It can be recognized by the geoxylic habit with a subterranean caulinar system and only shoot tips emerging above the ground, the leaves densely clustered at the stem apex, the stem rough due to dense leaf scars, and flowers with purple corolla, white stamens and greenish gynoecium.

Conservation Status: —This species was listed as “Least concern” ( LC) by CNCFlora (2018). In Paraná P. brevipes is irregularly distributed on small patches of Cerrado, and most of the individuals are in protected areas. The main problem to its conservation is the loss of habitat to agriculture or forest plantations, leading to small, isolated populations.

Figures

FIGURE 24. Pradosia brevipes. A. Habit. B. Flower in vivo. C. Abaxial surface of the leaf. D. Flower, longitudinal section. E. Adaxial surface of the corolla. F. Fruit. G. Abaxial surface of the corolla. H. Stem with flower. I. Detail of the indumentum. (A–E, G–I from R.R. Völtz 989; F from G.G. Hatschbach 52579) (ov: ovary; st: stamen).