Keraunea capixaba Lombardi, Phytotaxa 181: 54. 2014.

Moonlight, Peter W. & Cardoso, Domingos Benicio Oliveira Silva, 2023, A taxonomic revision of Keraunea, including three new species and its phylogenetic realignment with Ehretiaceae (Boraginales), PhytoKeys 219, pp. 145-170 : 145

3. Keraunea capixaba Lombardi, Phytotaxa 181: 54. 2014.

Fig. 5

Type.

Brazil. Espírito Santo: Mun. Jaguaré, perto da Comunidade São Jorge de Paduá, sentido para Fátima, 18°54'29.0"S, 40°8'44.9"W, 26 Sep. 2013, G.S. Siqueira 891 (holotype: CVRD [acc. # 14565]; isotypes HRCB [acc. # 76196], SP [ SP003725 ]) .

Description.

Scandent shrub or liana, to ca. 4 m. Stems cylindrical, hollow, 2-4 mm in diameter, glabrescent, rarely branching, internodes 2.4-11.5 cm long; side shoots 1.3-5.5 cm long, glabrescent. Leaves of main stem with the blades 7.0-13.5 × 2.1-4.5 cm, elliptic, glabrescent, the venation pinnate, camptodromous, with 4-6 secondary veins; the base cuneate, the margins entire, ciliate, the apex attenuate; petioles 5-6.5 mm long, straight. Side shoots with 4-6 leaves, these progressively larger along the shoot; blades 1-9.5 × 0.5-6.5 cm, ovate, rarely obovate or broadly ovate, glabrescent, the venation as on leaves of the main stem, the base cuneate to rounded, the margins entire, rarely crenulate toward the apex (Siqueira 891), ciliate, the apex acute to rounded; petioles 5.5-12 mm long, straight, glabrescent. Inflorescence corymbose, with 2-4 flowers; free portion of the pedicel, 8-14 mm long, 1.8-2.6 cm long, the remainder adnate to the bracteole, sericeous-pubescent with silky hairs; bracteole 3.3-3.5 × 1.9-2.4 cm, inserted ca. ½ of the way along the pedicel or rarely lacking, ovate, glabrescent, the venation as the leaves, the base short acute, margin entire, not ciliate, the apex acute. Flowers 5-merous. Calyx with the tube campanulate, ca. 3.5 mm long, the lobes 6.5-18 × 1.5-2.5 mm, ensiform, glabrescent to minutely pubescent. Corolla with the tube campanulate, ca. 6.5 mm long, the lobes 19-26 × 7.5-11.5 mm, elliptic to oblong, glabrous. Stamens epipetalous, inserted at the base of the corolla tube, the filaments 2-3 mm long, the anthers ca. 9 mm long, connective extending to 3.2 mm. Ovary subglobose, 2-locular, the locules biovulate; style single, conduplicate, unbranched; stigmas 2, truncate. Fruit inserted on the accrescent bracteole; calyx persistent, expanding to 18 mm long.

Distribution.

Endemic to Espírito Santo state and known from the municipalities of Jaguaré, Sooretama and Nova Venécia (Fig. 2 ).

Habitat.

Collections of Keraunea capixaba have primarily been made in "mata tabuleiro" or flat, semi-deciduous forests found within the coast of the Mata Atlântica domain of Brazil. A more recent collection (Gurtler & Dutra 371) was made growing over rocks in forest understory at the base of a granitic outcrop. Specimen labels describe the species as scandent or lianescent.

Conservation status.

Keraunea capixaba was provisionally assessed by Lombardi (2014) as Endangered because it was at that time known from four collections made within disturbed forest patches adjacent to the Sooterama Biological Reserve. We add five collections to the known distribution, including one collected within the Sooterama Biological Reserve (Covre s.n.), two collected at the base of inselbergs> 30 km from the reserve (Gurtler & Dutra 371, Demuner et al. 3799), and a gathering made a remarkable 500 km to the north near Ipauí, Bahia. The species is now known from six localities with a collective Extent of Occurrence (EOO) of ca. 11,000 km2. The species is known from <10 localities and has a EOO of <20,000 km2, so we assess K. capixaba as Vulnerable (VU B1 a b iii) under IUCN criteria ( IUCN 2019).

Etymology.

The epithet is an indigenous term referring to people or objects from Espírito Santo state.

Identification notes.

Keraunea capixaba is most morphologically and ecologically similar to the newly described K. velutina , the two species of the genus that are associated with more humid settings in the Mata Atlântica phytogeographic region, yet they were never found growing sympatrically. Keraunea capixaba differs in lacking an indumentum on the stems, side shoots and lower leaf surface (versus a velutinous-pubescent in K. velutina ), and its ovate leaves on the side shoots (versus elliptic to narrowly-lanceolate). Its range is close to that of K. confusa , from which it is readily distinguished by its camptodromous venation (versus brochidodromous).

Additional specimens examined.

Brazil. Bahia: Rod Ipiau-Ibirataia , [14°6'S, 39°41'W], 13 Nov. 1971, T.S. Santos 2139 (HUEFS) . Espírito Santo: Mun. Sooretama, Reserva Biológica de Sooretama, [19°1'S, 40°7'W], 19 May 2015, C. Covre s.n. (SAMES [SAMES03696]); Mun. Rio Bananal, Alto Bananal , 19°14'56"S, 40°24'59"W, 300-600 m alt., 25 Apr. 2007, V. Demuner et al. 3799 (BHCB [BHCB017211]); Mun. Jaguaré, Perto da Comunidade Sao Jorge de Padua , 25 Sep. 2013, D.A. Folli 7117 (CVRD [acc. #14563]; HRCB [acc. #16194], NY [02687787], RB [00895205]); Mun. Sooretama, Barro Roxo a Córrego Rodrigues, 19°4'35"S, 40°13'25"W, 156 m alt., 8 Oct. 2014, D.A. Folli 7273 (CVRD [acc. #15122]; RB [01103439]); Mun. Nova Venécia, fazenda Santa Rita, ao pé da pedra da torre (P3), 18°47'7"S, 40°26'29"W, 2 Feb. 2018, J. Gurtler & S.C. Dutra 371 (VIES [VIES036853]); Mun. Sooretama, Rodovia ES 358, distrito de Bom Jardim, 19°2'20.31"S, 40°14'48.23"W, 1 Sep. 2012, A. Moreira de Assis & J. Freitas 3340 (HRCB [acc. #76193], MBML [2 sheets: MBML00016754, MBML00016755]); Mun. Jaguaré, perto da Comunidade Sao Jorge de Padua , 18°54'29.0"S, 40°8'44.9"W, 6 Oct. 2013, G.S. Siqueira 893 (CVRD [acc. #14570], HRCB [acc. #76199], K [K001275507], MBML [MBML00016491], NY [02687786], RB [00895202])

Figures

Figure 2. Distribution of species of the genus Keraunea. Shading denotes elevation; two letter codes represent the standardised two letter codes for the states of Brazil. Species are coloured as follows: blue, K. brasiliensis Cheek & Simao-Bianchini; black, K. bullata Moonlight & D. B. O. S. Cardoso; yellow, K. capixaba Lombardi; red, K. confusa Moonlight & D. B. O. S. Cardoso; green, K. velutina Moonlight & D. B. O. S. Cardoso.

Figure 5. Morphology of Keraunea capixaba Lombardi A habit B inflorescence, front view C inflorescence, side view. For photograph of fruit with accrescent bracteole see Lombardi (2014). All photographs by Geovane Siqueira.