Carex ecuadorensis (G.A.Wheeler & Goetgh.) J.R.Starr, Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 179: 31 (2015)

Jimenez-Mejias, Pedro, Morales-Alonso, Ana, Oleas, Nora H, Sanchez, Enmily, Martin-Bravo, Santiago, Masa-Iranzo, Irene & S. Meseguer, Andrea, 2023, New relevant chorological and conservation data on Carex (Cyperaceae) and Hypericum (Hypericaceae) from Ecuador, Biodiversity Data Journal 11, pp. 99603-99603 : 99603

Carex ecuadorensis (G.A.Wheeler & Goetgh.) J.R.Starr, Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 179: 31 (2015)

Carex ecuadorensis = Uncinia ecuadorensis G.A.Wheeler & Goetgh., Aliso 15: 10 (1997).

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: 117ECU-AMA22 (HUTI, UPOS) ; recordNumber: 117; recordedBy: A. Morales Alonso, P. Jiménez Mejías, I. Masa Iranzo & E. Sánchez; occurrenceID: 117ECU-AMA22 (HUTI, UPOS); Taxon: scientificName: Carex ecuadorensis (G.A.Wheeler & Goetgh.) J.R.Starr; Location: country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Imbabura; locality: National Park Cotacachi ; verbatimElevation: 3918 m; locationRemarks: Imbabura. Parque Nacional de Cotacachi, camino de las antenas del Cotacachi , 00°19.7943'N 078°20.5391'W, 3918 m, acequia en pajonal, cerca del desagüe al camino; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: P. Jiménez-Mejías; dateIdentified: 2022; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Taxon discussion

An Ecuadorian endemic that belongs to sect. Carex Uncinia (Pers.) Baill. (subg. Carex Uncinia (Pers.) Peterm.), a mainly Southern Hemisphere group disjunctly distributed between the Neotropic and the SW Pacific. Formerly recognized as its own genus ( Uncinia Pers.; Global Carex Group (2015)), it is one of the few Carex groups with an unequivocal epizoochorus adaptation: the utricles bear a hooked appendix that allows them to attach to fur or feathers (Fig. 1 A,a).

Carex ecuadorensis was reported as threatened in the Ecuadorian Red List (as Uncinia ecuadorensis ) under the category vulnerable (VU). Known from only two localities collected in the 80s, we confirm its persistence in at least one of these (the type location) and provide an exact location with coordinates. The reported population was found in a natural drainage channel of the pajonal. It was healthy, with about twenty individuals in good conditions. The only direct threat we noticed is the erosion of the slopes next to the road, which was more developed in other sectors. Probably, Carex ecuadorensis is growing in similar habitats in additional places of more difficult access within the same area. In any case, the location of this population in a National Park is an important safeguard for the future persistence of this species.

Figures

Figure 1. Representative photos of Carex species (capital letters) mentioned in this work and their habitats (small letters). Carex ecuadorensis: (A, a), Imbabura, Parque Nacional de Cotacachi, type locality. Carex madida: (B, b), Pichincha, Parque Nacional Cayambe-Coca, type locality; (C, c), Carchi, Reserva Ecologica El Angel. Carex punicola: (D, d), Pichincha, Parque Nacional Cotopaxi. Carex sodiroi: (E, e), Pichincha, Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua. Carex subsacculata: (F 1, F 2, f), Pichincha, Reserva Biologica Yanacocha; the specimen in picture F 1 is still inmature, while the one in picture F 2 is fully ripe.