Magnolia lozanoi Vázquez & Castro-Arce (2012: 114)

Pérez, Álvaro J., Persson, Claes, Zapata, Nicolás, Mashburn, Brock & Vázquez-García, J. Antonio, 2020, Magnolia lozanoi (Magnolia subsect. Dugandiodendron, Magnoliaceae) rediscovered on Ecuadorian “ tepuis ” in Reserva Biológica El Quimi, Cordillera del Cóndor: critically endangered by open-pit mining, Phytotaxa 428 (3), pp. 255-262 : 258-261

Magnolia lozanoi Vázquez & Castro-Arce (2012: 114) .

Type:— ECUADOR. Morona-Santiago: Gualaquiza Cantón, Campamento Achupalla (Reserva Biológica El Quimi), Cordillera del Cóndor, 15 km east of Gualaquiza , open bromeliad sward with scattered shrubs and small trees, 2090 m, 3°27´S, 78°22´W, 25 Jul 1993 (fl bud), Gentry 80443 (holotype: WIS!; isotypes: MO!-6143527, F!-2140379, QCNE!-92267) .

Trees 3–12 m tall, up to 12 cm dbh; bark gray with fine longitudinal fissures; twig internodes 0.35–1.10 cm long, 0.30–0.80 cm in diameter, densely creamy yellowish pubescent. Leaves with petioles 0.7–1.3 × 0.1–0.3 cm, terete, pubescent to glabrous, blades elliptic to obovate, 4.5–9.5 × 2.5–5.0 cm, apex slightly acuminate, base cuneate, margin entire, adaxially with hairs along the midvein, abaxially appressed-pilose, densely creamy yellowish pubescent, mature leaves with black spots or completely black below caused by a fungus, lateral veins 15–18 on each side of midvein, inconspicuous, midvein impressed above, prominent beneath, stipules 3.0–7.0 × 0.3–0.5 cm, densely creamy yellowish pubescent, darker hairs on stem. Flowers 5.0–6.0 cm in diam., terminal, solitary, fragrant, peduncle 0.6–0.8 cm long, bud ellipsoid, 1.9–2.7 × 1.1–1.3 cm, hypsophylls 3, persistent, ovate-oblong, whitish green, abaxially covered with creamy yellowish pubescence, 2.3–2.7 × 1.0– 1.3 cm, sepals 3, white, ovate-oblong and gradually narrower towards the base, glabrous, apex obtuse to rounded, base rounded, 2.7–3.0 × 1.4–1.5 cm, petals 6, white, navicular, ovate-oblong and gradually narrower towards the base, the three outer ones 2.6–2.8 × 1.3–1.5 cm, inner petals 2.4–2.6 × 1–1.1 cm, stamens 50–72, ca. 0.8 cm long, the connective 0.4 cm long, brittle and entangled, gynoecium, 1.0–1.2 × 0.5–0.7 cm, elliptic, densely tomentose, stigma 0.2 cm long, whitish green. Fruits globose, green with densely creamy yellowish pubescent, 2.0–2.5 × 1.5–2.3 cm, with 2–8 carpels, seeds 1–2 per carpel, sub-prismatic, angled, 0.7–0.8 × 0.8–0.9 cm.

Eponymy, discovery and ethnobotany:— This species is named after Gustavo Lozano-Contreras, an outstanding Colombian scholar and leading authority for decades in the systematics of Neotropical Magnoliaceae . In his career, he described 34 new taxa in Magnoliaceae ( Lozano-Contreras 1994, González 2001, Parra-O, 2001). The discovery of M. lozanoi occurred in 1993 during the first scientific exploration to the Cordillera del Cóndor by researchers from Conservation International and Escuela Politécnica Nacional del Ecuador, arriving by helicopter, with the support from the Ecuadorian Army ( Schulenberg & Awbrey 1997). Al Gentry, the leading botanist of the expedition, made two collections of M. lozanoi . In the 26 years since these first collections, the species was not collected again until recently by the first author and colleagues ( Figs. 1 , 3 , 4 ). Magnolia lozanoi was first described by the second author of this article six years ago based on Gentry’s specimens. This fact illustrates the importance of herbaria as repositories of undescribed species, particularly in connection with field exploration through RAP ( Alonso et al. 2011). No use or vernacular names have been recorded for this species.

Distribution, habitat and ecology:— Endemic to the Cordillera del Cóndor, Ecuador, in El Quimi Biological Reserve in Morona-Santiago Province and known only from the type locality and surrounding areas ( Fig. 3 ). The locality is a broad plateau with quartzitic sandstones of the Hollín Formation, referred to in recent literature as an Andean tepui ( Neill et al. 2014). This is in reference to its similarity with the tepuis of the Guiana Shield ( Huber 1995). The habitat is an open tepui-like bromeliad sward and elfin forest at 1900–2200 m ( Fig. 4 ). Approximately 20 adult individuals were observed but no seedlings or juveniles. According to the Ministerio del Ambiente de Ecuador (2013), this locality lies within a much larger zone dominated by evergreen mountain forest of sandstone plains of Cordillera del Cóndor (bosque siempreverde montano sobre mesetas de arenisca de la Cordillera del Cóndor, BsMa 01). Regarding animal interactions, leaf beetles ( Chrysomelidae , Alticinae ) were seen foraging on the stamens and stigmas, possibly acting as pollinators ( Fig. 1 ). Another finding was the identification of a fungus (Basidiomycota) that grows on the pubescence on the underside of mature leaves, making them black, a character mentioned in the protologue ( Fig. 1 ).

Phenology:— Flowering and fruiting throughout the year.

Conservation status:— According to Rivers et al. (2016a, 2016b), this species was originally assessed as data deficient (DD; IUCN 2012). Based on these new findings, as well as the imminent threat of nearby mining activities, and following IUCN (2017) criteria, we suggest raising its status to critically endangered (CR). This extremely rare species is known only from the type locality and surrounding areas in El Quimi Biological Reserve and is currently threatened by an ongoing open-pit copper mine from the Mirador project, which has already caused deforestation of an area of about 1300 hectares ( Mazabanda et al. 2018, Vandegrift et al. 2018). Urgent awareness more generally and in the Ministerio del Ambiente de Ecuador is needed. Financial support for a continuous protection, monitoring, and conservation programme is urgently needed for this area of great conservation relevance.

Relationships:— Magnolia lozanoi belongs to subsection Dugandiodendron . It is morphologically similar to the Colombian species Magnolia mahechae ( Lozano-Contreras 1975: 33) Govaerts in Frodin & Govaerts (1996: 71), but differs from the latter in being shorter (3–12 vs. 15–25 m), having smaller obovate leaf blades (4.5–9.5 × 2.5–5.0 cm vs. elliptic 11.8 × 4.7 cm), shorter petioles (0.7–1.3 cm long vs. 1.2 cm long) and sparse long black hairs on the twigs (vs. none).

Additional specimens examined:— ECUADOR. Morona-Santiago: Gualaquiza Cantón, Campamento Achupalla (Reserva Biológica El Quimi), Cordillera del Cóndor, 15 km east of Gualaquiza, transect # 2, 2100 m, 03°27’S, 78°22’W, 23 July 1993, Gentry 80383 ( MO!) ; Parroquia Bomboiza, Reserva Biológica El Quimi, sendero y alrededores entre el campamento Río Cristalino y la frontera con Perú, 1900–2200 m, 03°31’05”S, 78°23’28”W, 23 January 2019, Pérez et al. 11419, 11421 ( QCA!) ; 24 January 2019, Pérez et al. 11440, 11461 ( QCA!) ; 24 January 2019, Zapata et al. 551 ( QCA!) .

Acknowledgements. Fieldwork was granted by the Ministry of the Environment of Ecuador (003-2019-IC- FLO-DNB/MAE). AJP, NZ and CP express their gratitude to Wilson Paucar (director of El Quimi Reserve), Juan Carlos Fernandez (park ranger of El Quimi Reserve) and the Valle del Quimi community for their support during the fieldwork. We also thank Luis Albuja, Ana Armendariz and Ramiro Barriga from Escuela Politécnica Nacional for their valuable information and photographs of the RAP to the Cordillera del Cóndor in 1993; Robert Gradstein kindly provided image 2A and Françoise Lopez from Muséum National d’Histoire naturelle, Paris for editing; Carlos E. Sarmiento editor of Caldasia kindly authorised use of image 2B; Rubén D. Jarrín E. (ComCienCia) kindly designed figures 1, 2 and 4; staff of Fungario QCAM kindly identified the fungus; Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de la República del Ecuador for financial support (SENESCYT, Arca de Noé Initiative, S. R. Ron and O. Torres–Carvajal, Principal Investigators); the Universidad de Guadalajara-CUCBA, CONACyT-SNI and PROMEP-SEP in Mexico; the curators of F, MO, QCA, QCNE & WIS herbaria for providing material for this research; anonymous reviewers and Mark Chase, subject editor of Phytotaxa.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Magnolia lozanoi. A. Habit. B. Branch showing the underside of the leaves covered by a black mycelium.C. Flower in female phase. D. Flower in male phase. E. Leaf beetle (Chrysomelidae, Alticinae) foraging on the stamens and stigmas. F. Fruits. (A, B, C and F from Pérez et al. 11419, D from Pérez et al. 11421, E from Pérez et al. 11461, all QCA). Photographs by Álvaro J. Pérez.

FIGURE 3. Distribution of Magnolia lozanoi in the Cordillera del Cóndor, Morona-Santiago, southeastern Ecuador.

FIGURE 4. Habitat of Magnolia lozanoi in the Cordillera del Cóndor, El Quimi Biological Reserve. A, B and C. Broad plateau of the Hollín sandstone formation, the so-called Andean “tepui”. B and C. Open tepui-like bromeliad sward and elfin forest. A and B from the photographic archive of the Escuela Politécnica Nacional, RAP 1993. C by Álvaro J. Pérez.