Salacia frutiplatensis Cast., 2020

Castillo-Campos, Gonzalo, Palacios-Wassenaar, Olivia M. & Martínez, M. Luisa, 2020, Salacia frutiplatensis (Celastraceae, Salacioideae), a new species of the coastal sand dunes of Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico, Phytotaxa 440 (3), pp. 186-192 : 188

Salacia frutiplatensis Cast. -Campos, sp. nov. ( Figs. 2 , 3 ).

Type:— MEXICO. Veracruz: Municipality of Catemaco , SE of Capulteolt, 18°33’8.698”, 94°57’55.056”, 15 m, 3 July 2019, G. Castillo-Campos & O. Palacios-Wassenaar 29785 (holotype XAL!; isotypes ENCB!, MEXU!) .

Salacia frutiplatensis shows traits similar to those of S. elliptica , S. cordata , and S. impressifolia , but differs in that it never displays a lianous habit, the conic and larger extra-staminal disk, the thicker pericarp, and the greater number of seeds.

Tree measuring 3–7 m high; stem 10–30.5 cm in diameter at the base, extensively branched near the base; young branches green, brown when mature; bark lenticular, with longitudinal grooves on branches of previous years, scars of flower insertion remaining; wood very hard, crown rounded, leaves larger in the interior and smaller on the exterior of the crown of the tree. Leaves opposite, simple, elliptical, ovate, 9–33 × 5.2–13.7 cm, coriaceous, glabrous; margin entire, thick, slightly revolute; apex acute, sparsely apiculate, commonly rounded, sometimes barely emarginate; base obtuse, rarely oblique; midvein anastomosed, 6–11 pairs of primary veins; adaxial side lustrous, intense green when fresh, green-yellowish to slightly brown when dry, midvein imprinted; abaxial side light green when fresh, green to slightly brown when dry, midvein and petiole venation prominent; petiole cylindrical, usually curved, 12–21 × 3–5 mm, slightly grooved adaxially, transversally corrugated abaxially, ribbed longitudinally; stipules axillary, free, deciduous, reddish-brown, triangular, 3 × 4 mm. Flowers brown (not seen when fresh, only dry on branches), cauline, fasciculate, pedicels 4–7.2 × 0.4–0.6 mm; sepals 5, imbricate, semicircular, 2–2.8 × 2.6–3 mm, apex rounded, margin ciliate; petals 5, widely obconical, imbricate towards the base, 4–5.8 × 4–5.2 mm thick; margin thick, revolute; disk conical, 3-ribbed, 3–3.6 mm in diameter, style 1.2 × 0.8 mm, stigma apiculate; stamens 3, attached to the disk, filament triangular, 1–1.4 × 0.4 mm, anther yellowish, extrorse, bilocular, 0.6 × 0.8 mm. Fruit amphisarca, one per inflorescence, coriaceous, indehiscent, silver-green when fresh, yellowish when mature, brown to black when dry, slightly grayish, subspherical, sparsely rugose, briefly 3-ribbed toward the base, 7.5–11.8 × 5.2–8.8 cm, 3-locular; apex punctiform, verrucous; base thick, verrucous; pericarp coriaceous, orange when fresh, 6–10 mm thick; pedicel woody, 5–10 × 12–14 mm or sessile. Seeds 14–16(–19) per fruit, 4–6(–7) per locule, brown, amorphous, 2–3.3 × 1.2–1.7 cm; cuticle reticulate, coated by an abundant mucilaginous aril; embryo whitish.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Illustration of Salacia frutiplatensis. a, branch with fruit; b, c, leaves; d, petiole; e, f, flowers; g, infructescence; h, i, fruit, cross-section; j, k, l, seeds with and without aril; m, seed, cross-section. Illustration by Edmundo Saavedra based on the holotype specimen G. Castillo-Campos & O. Palacios W. 29785 and G. Castillo- Campos & M. Escamilla 29844.

FIGURE 3. Salacia frutiplatensis a) mature fruits; b) branch with immature fruit; c) immature fruit on tree branch; d) cross-sectional view of a fruit with seeds coated with mucilaginous aril; e) fruit shell without seeds; f) seeds without mucilaginous aril. (Photographs by G. Castillo-Campos).