Vriesea mourae Kessous, B. Neves

Kessous, Igor M., Neves, Beatriz & Costa, Andrea F., 2018, Vriesea mourae (Bromeliaceae), a new critically endangered species from Serra da Bocaina, southeastern Brazil, Phytotaxa 360 (1), pp. 45-53 : 46-49

Vriesea mourae Kessous, B. Neves & A.F. Costa, sp. nov. ( Figures 1–2 )

Vriesea mourae is distinguished from V. warmingii É. Morren by the shorter leaf blade length up to 90 cm (vs. longer than 90 cm); the longer inflorescence length, 100–120 cm (vs. 50–60 [–70] cm); peduncle 4–7.5 mm in diameter (vs. 10 mm); rachis 2.5–4.5 mm in diameter (vs. 7 mm); floral bracts elliptic with obtuse apex (vs. ovate with acute or subrounded apex), red in lower portion, yellow in middle, and greenish toward the apex (vs. yellow with green apex); sepals oblong, slightly carinate at the apex (vs. lanceolate-ellipitc, ecarinate); petals oblanceolate (vs. linear), yellow with green apex (vs. yellow), 75 mm long (vs. 70 mm).

Type: — BRAZIL. São Paulo: Bananal, Serra da Bocaina, 6 May 2015, I. M. Kessous & B. Neves 221 (holotype R!).

Plant terrestrial, semi-heliophyte, propagating by rhizomes, 115–135 cm tall when flowering. Leaves ca. 20 in number, forming an infundibuliform rosette; sheaths oblong, 14–19 × 6–8 cm, green-whitish, lepidote on both sides, denser lepidote toward the base; blades linear, 32–87 × 3.5–5.5 cm, green, sparsely lepidote on both sides, denser lepidote toward the sheath of peltate and transparent trichomes, the apex narrowly rounded, then acuminate, acumen ca. 12 mm long. Inflorescence simple, 20–35 flowered, 100–120 cm long at anthesis, erect; peduncle erect, 44–75 cm long, 4–7.5 mm in diam., red, glabrous; peduncle bracts erect to suberect, imbricate, triangular to ovate, (4–)5–8 × 2–3 cm, red with green apex, lepidote on both sides, denser lepidote on adaxial side; rachis straight, (15–) 20–30 cm, 2.5–4.5 mm in diam., red, glabrous. Floral bracts elliptic, apex obtuse, 4.2–5.1 × 2.9–3.2 cm, ecarinate, involute, red on the lower portion, yellow in the middle, and greenish toward the apex, equaling the sepals, bearing translucent mucilage inside, lepidote on both sides, denser lepidote on the adaxial side. Flowers ca. 75 mm long, 0.5–1 cm apart, distichous, erect and contiguous before anthesis to divergent at anthesis, pedicel ca. 7 mm long, whitish; corolla tubular, slightly zygomorphic, slightly decurved, with a slightly longer adaxial petal and all stamens and style in a bundle close to it; sepals oblong, apex rounded, 4–4.5 × 1.5 cm, free, yellow with green tip, slightly carinate at the apex; petals oblanceolate, apex rounded, recurved at the apex, 5–5.2 × 1.2–1.4 cm, yellow with green apex, connate for ca. 4.5 mm; petal appendages ca. 9 × 4.6 mm, adnate at the base of the petals for ca. 5 mm, entire, with the free portion obtuse, slightly irregular; stamens exserted, exceeding the corolla, all near the adaxial petal; filaments ca. 50 mm long, yellow-whitish, complanate at the base, adnate to the base of the petals; anthers dorsifixed near the base; ovary conical, slightly angular, ca. 3 mm in diam.; style ca. 5.7 cm long, green-whitish; stigma of the convolute-blade II type, exceeding the anthers, green. Fruits suberect to patent, 4.2–5 cm; seeds 1.3–1.5 cm, apical coma ca. 0.7 mm, basal coma ca. 9 mm.

Phenology: —Flowering specimens were found from May to September. Fruiting specimens were found in June.

Distribution and habitat: — Vriesea mourae is restricted to the Atlantic Rainforest, occurring at elevations between 800 and 900 m. There are records from two neighboring municipalities, Bananal (SP) and Angra dos Reis (RJ). A large population was found in the former site, with terrestrial individuals co-occurring with Vriesea erythrodactylon É. Morren ex Mez (1896: 569) , V. aff. inflata ( Wawra 1880: 183) Wawra (1883: 161) , and V. taritubensis E.Pereira & I.A.Penna (1983: 4).

Conservation status: — Vriesea mourae is endemic to a small area, estimated at less than 100 km 2, which is heavily impacted by intense tourist activities near the waterfall. Furthermore, the locality is found in a rural region where trout farming is common, and the plant population grows on private land. Its extent of occurrence (EOO) is less than 100 km 2, and the area of occupancy is estimated to be less than 10 km 2. As such, this species should be considered to be critically endangered (CR) [B1ab (i, ii, iii) B2ab (i, ii, iii)] according to IUCN criteria. We predict a decline in its extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, and habitat quality, primarily due to anthropogenic influences. Due to the significant ornamental potential of this species, its specific locality is not indicated here. For information about the locality, contact the authors.

Etymology: —This species is dedicated to the botanist Dr. Ricardo Loyola de Moura (1977–), a Bromeliaceae expert.

Paratypes:— BRAZIL. São Paulo: Bananal, Serra da Bocaina , 6 May 2015, I. M. Kessous & B. Neves 222 ( RB!) ; idem, I. M.Kessous & B. Neves 223 ( HUNI!) ; idem, IM.Kessous & B. Neves 224 ( R!) ; 8 June 2017, I. M. Kessous et al. 295 ( R!) ; idem, 29 September 1994, Rodrigues et al. 239 ( SP!). Rio de Janeiro: Angra dos Reis, 9 June 2017, I. M. Kessous et al. 302 ( R!) .

Comments: —This new taxon clearly belongs to the Vriesea ensiformis group ( Costa et al. 2014, 2015), with morphologically similar flowers (oblanceolate, yellow, or yellow with green-tipped petals, and the positions of the stamens and stigma), with diurnal anthesis, simple inflorescences, with involute floral bracts, usually entirely or partially red (rarely yellow). Its main feature, that distinghish it from all morphological relatives, is the color of the floral bract red on lower portion, yellow in the middle and greenish toward apex. One specimen consulted in the SP herbarium (Rodrigues et al. 239), collected in the same municipality in 1994, was previously identified as V. ensiformis . However, the label of this collection mentioned the three-coloured floral bracts (red, yellow, and green)—one of the characteristics of this new species. Furthermore, other different morphological characteristcs (see V. mourae vs. V. ensiformis paragraph and table 1) were observed in this specimen, that is cited here as a paratype.

The new species we propose is most related to V. warmingii (see Table 1), differing by the blade length, rachis diameter, peduncle diameter, inflorescence length, peduncle bracts color, floral bract shape, sepal shape, petal shape, petal color, and petal length. Vriesea warmingii was described without specific locality in Brazil. Smith (1943) considered this taxon as a variety of Vriesea ensifomis . Leme & Till (1993) emended the description and resurrected this taxon on species level. Currently, the distribution of this taxon is limited to the low mountains (50–100 m) at Barra de Guaratiba, Rio de Janeiro, growing terrestrial or saxicolous, in urban forests ( Leme & Till 1993). Leme & Till (1993) recognize their proximity to V. ensiformis , differentiating them by: flower length, habit, length of inflorescence, length and color of flower bracts, and length of flowers, characteristics that are also observed in this study. While V. warmingii only occurs in the population cited by Leme & Till (1993), V. mourae occurs in the region of the Serra da Bocaina (800–900 m) and has several diferentiating characteristics and therefore proposed as new species here. Furthermore, V. mourae differs from V. ensiformis (see Table 1) mainly by its habit, plant length, inflorescence length, petal shape, petal length and connation, petal color, and flower length. Vriesea ensiformis has the widest distribution of the group, from northern to southern Brazil. Populations with larger plants are present in southern Brazil, though they do not reach the size of V. mourae . Vriesea fluviatilis (also included in the V. ensiformis group), differs from V. mourae (see Table 1) by its habit, plant length, sheath shape, peduncle length, peduncle bracts color, inflorescence length, floral bract shape, sepals shape, petal shape, petal length, and flower length. This taxon is endemic to the northern Serra do Mar, Rio de Janeiro, and has recently been elevated to species rank by Kessous & Costa (2017).

Although these taxa share common characteristics (which binds them in the V. ensiformis group), the new taxon proposed here has several differentiating characteristics that support its positioning as a new species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Vriesea mourae Kessous, B.Neves & A.F.Costa in its native habitat. A. Population, inflorescence and rosette. B. Detail of flower. C. Detail of fruit (Photo A: B. Neves; B–C: I.M.Kessous).

FIGURE 2. Vriesea mourae Kessous, B.Neves & A.F.Costa. A. Leaf and inflorescence. B. Stigma. C. Petal base with appendages and filament bases. D. Floral bract, sepal and petal with stamens (left to right). E. Habit. A–E. I.M.Kessous & B.Neves 221.