Fleischmannia steinbachii H. Rob., 2015

Robinson, Harold, 2015, The genus Fleischmannia in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay (Eupatorieae, Asteraceae), PhytoKeys 57, pp. 61-92 : 81-82

Fleischmannia steinbachii H. Rob. sp. nov.

Type.

Bolivia: Santa Cruz, Prov. Cercado de Santa Cruz, Angustura, alt. 550 m, hierba abundante - crecehasta 0.6 m de alto, terrano semiseco y arenoso - orilla camino, flores blanco con licero tinte rosa purpurino, 28 June 1966, R.F. Steinbach 322 (holotype US). (Figure 6 ).

Description.

Reclining herbs to 1 m tall, stems green to pale brown, terete, striated when dry, hirsute or hirsutulous. Leaves opposite; petioles 0.7-1.5 cm long densely puberulous; blades ovate, 2-4 cm long, 1.5-2.0 cm wide, base obtuse, margins serrulate with 5-9 blunt teeth, apex narrowly acute, adaxial surface pilosulous, abaxial surface essentially concolorous, pilosulous on and between veins, triplinervate from base, with main veins prominent, usually whitish. Inflorescence, a lax panicle with many pairs of elongate mostly opposite widely divaricating branches spreading at 60-90° angles, distally with cymiform branching, each bearing 2-8 heads, main axis and main branches with foliiform bracts 1.0-2.5 cm long, 0.3-1.2 cm wide; branches and peduncles densely puberulous, peduncles 4-20 mm long. Heads ca. 6 mm high, 4 mm wide; involucre of ca. 25 strongly gradate bracts 1.0-4.5 mm long, mostly ca. 1 mm wide, few at base acute at tips, most bracts broadly rounded at tip, with narrowly scarcious margins, glabrous and with prominent pair of longitudinal veins outside. Florets ca. 17 in a head; corollas pale bluish to reddish tinged, ca. 3 mm long, basal tube ca. 0.5 mm long, throat ca. 2 mm long, lobes ca. 0.5 mm long, with few slender styliform cells on outer surface; anther thecae ca. 1 mm long; style branches not broader distally. Achenes ca. 1.8 mm long, with narrow pale, setuliferous ribs; pappus white, ca. 3 mm long, of ca. 30 slender fragile, non-contiguous bristles.

Paratypes.

Bolivia: Santa Cruz, Prov. Florida, 6.5 km (by road), 3 km (by air) NE of central square in Mairana on road to Yunga de Mairana, 18°06'S, 63°56'W, alt. 1800 m; near upper limit of dry woodland of Schinopsis haenkeanaI, with some columnar cacti ( Cereus cf. dayami ), beginning transition to more humid montane forest with Clethra scabra , Lithtaea ternifolia , etc., mostly turned into brushy pastures by cutting and burning, with Baccharis spp., Dodonaea viscosa , Mimosa lepidota . Weak, supported in shrub. Phyllaries green; flowers very pale violet, almost white, 9 May 1998, M. Nee 49278 (NY, US); Dept. Santa Cruz, Prov. Florida: valley of Río Paredones, near Achiras Camping resort, on road to Paredones, 18°09'30"S, 63°49'W, alt. 1350-1400 m, grazed or brushy areas, dry forest and pastures; weak herb with stems 1 m long; flowers pale blue, 6 June 1998, M. Nee 49614 (NY, US).

This new species would key in Robinson (1920) to what he called Eupatorium tamboense Hieron., and that is is where specimens may have been placed in the past. However, Fleischmannia tambonsis is described with reddish hairs and stipitate glands on the branches of the inflorescence. Some of the present paratypes have been identified in the past as Fleischmannia polopoloensis and Fleischmannia schicktendanzii . Of these the former differs by the denser more corymbiform inflorescence with white corollas. The latter differs by the more alternate distal branching of the mature plants, the more slender peduncles, the fewer and non-contiguous bristles of the pappus, and the lack of hairs or styliform papillae on the outer surfaces of the corolla lobes.

The styliform papillae on the outer surfaces of the corolla lobes have been seen in all three specimens placed in the species. The position of these papillae is one often occupied in other species by a few broader multicellular monoseriate hairs. Such styliform papillae have not been noticed in any other species in the genus, and this may prove a valuable distinguishing characteristic.

Figures

Figure 6. Fleischmannia steinbachii H. Rob., holotype (US).