Tillandsia oliveirae E.H.Souza & Leme, 2021

Souza, Everton Hilo De, Leodegario, Marcio De Melo, Aona, Lidyanne Yuriko Saleme, Souza, Fernanda Vidigal Duarte & Leme, Elton M. C., 2021, Tillandsia oliveirae (Bromeliaceae): a new species from an inselberg in Bahia, Brazil, Phytotaxa 527 (1), pp. 60-66 : 61-64

Tillandsia oliveirae E.H.Souza & Leme , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1–2 ).

Diagnosis: — This new species is morphologically similar to Tillandsia hofackeri , but can be distinguished from it by its larger size (14–25 cm vs. 9–12 cm in length), with a smaller diameter (3–4.5 cm vs. 4–6 cm), longer peduncle (7–11 cm vs. 3–4 cm long), leaves more sparsely arranged but more numerous (28–45 vs. 12–40), and whitish petals (vs. light blue).

Type: — BRAZIL. Bahia: Itatim, Road from Itatim to Tartaruga district (Milagres), 15 September 2019, M. M . Leodegario 55 & E. H . Souza (holotype HURB 25010 !) .

Plant saxicolous, heliophyte, caulescent, forming loose clumps, 14–25 cm long, 3–4.5 cm in diameter; stem curved, 0.4–0.6 cm in diameter, internodes 0.6–0.8 cm long. Leaves 2–2.8 cm long, 28–45 in number, arranged in a spiral along the stem, erect to suberect, cinereous lepidote on both sides, trichomes partially to completely obscuring the green color of the leaves; sheath slightly distinct from the blade, elliptic, 0.6–0.9 × 0.9–1 cm, pale-green, white lepidote to glabrous; blade narrowly triangular, attenuate-caudate, 1.6–2.2 × 0.1–0.22 cm. Peduncle 7–11.5 cm, 0.2–0.35 cm in diameter, distinctly exceeding the leaves, pale greenish, slender, completely covered by the peduncle bracts, lepidote to glabrous; peduncle bracts 3–5 in number, partially imbricate, not completely concealing the peduncle, the basal ones foliaceous, 2.5–2.9 × 0.5–0.7 cm, the distal ones caudate, 1.6–1.9 × 0.4–0.6 cm. Inflorescence (fertile portion) a simple spike, fusiform, 2.2–3.5 × 2–3.4 cm, with 3–5 flowers,internodes 0.5–0.8 cm long, horizontally to downwardly oriented. Floral bracts ovate to elliptic, long caudate in the proximal ones to acute in the distal ones, 1.2–1.5 × 0.5– 0.8 cm, pink, distinctly exceeding the sepals, nerved, membranaceous, ecarinate, abaxially and adaxially glabrous. Flowers sessile, polystichous, 2.8–3.3 cm long; sepals lanceolate, acute, 0.9–1.1 × 0.3–0.4 cm, pink, membranaceous, inconspicuously nerved, the adaxial ones connate for 2/3 of their length, glabrous; petals spathulate, 1.6–2.0 cm long, blades 0.3–0.4 cm mm wide, round, free, spreading to reflexed, whitish. Stamens included, 0.9–1 cm long; filament flattened, flaccid, plicate, sublinear, whitish, slightly translucent, free; anther pale yellowish, 2–3 × 0.25–0.3 mm. Pistil equaling the stamens; ovary pale greenish, suborbicular, 2–2.1 × 1.5–1.8 mm; style erect, whitish, 0.7–0.8 mm long, 0.3–0.4 mm in diameter; stigma weekly conduplicate-spiral erect, lobes very slightly divergent, papillose, white. Capsules 2.8–3 cm long, 2.5-3.2 mm in diameter, much exceeding the floral bract, trigonous-cylindrical, apex acute to obtuse. Seeds not seen.

Etymology:— The specific epithet honors the biologist, teacher, and conservationist Flávio Batista Oliveira, who informed us about the existence of the population of this new species.

Phenology: — The blooming season starts in September, and some blooming specimens were found in November.

Distribution and habit: — Tillandsia oliveirae was found growing as a saxicole on an inselberg in the Caatinga domain, close to a highway that connects Itatim with Tartaruga, a district of Milagres municipality ( Fig. 1 ). The region of Itatim has dry climatic conditions with a reduced and concentrated rainy period (April to June). The county of Itatim belongs to the region of Milagres ( Brasil 1975), being characterized by the presence of several inselbergs, like “islands” in the Caatinga vegetation, which isolate populations and being responsible for their great floristic diversity, mainly in Bromeliaceae ( França 2014) . Recently described species were found in this same region, like T. itatiensis and T. jequiensis , then considered critically endangered by the same factors that affect any Tillandsia species in Brazil, mainly the following ones: criminal extractivism for regional and international illegal trade, which can be easily verified in social media, like Facebook, Instagram, as well as in e-commerce websites, and by habitat destruction for crops and pastures.

Conservation status: — Tillandsia oliveirae is an endemic species of Bahia state and has a restricted area of occurrence, living exclusively on an inselberg close to a highway being surrounded by deforested area, not protected by any conservation unity. Besides periodical fires, criminal extractivism for regional and international illegal trade are the main cause that seriously affect the existence of this new species.

Based on the IUCN (2020) criteria and the limited geographic range of the species, the GeoCAT (geocat.kew.org) evaluated that the area of occupancy (AOO) a is 0.567 Km², classifying the species as critically endangered [CR B2ab (i, ii, iii, iv)], suggesting habitat fragmentation and fast population decline.

Observations: — Tillandsia oliveirae belongs to subgenus Anoplophytum and is morphologically related to T. hofackeri and T. araujei Mez (1894: 600) . In relation to T. hofackeri , this new species differs from it by its larger size, with a smaller diameter, longer peduncle, leaves more sparsely arranged but more numerous, and whitish petals ( Table 1 ).

It is important to highlight that T. hofackeri is known only from the type collection, being endemic to a restricted zone in the county of Ituaçu, south of Bahia state, inside an area explored by a cement industry ( Ehlers 2013). Despite the intense efforts to locate its population during three expeditions, specially organized for this purpose, nothing was found. Ehlers (2013) has reported the critical threat of T. hofackeri , caused by habitat destruction by industrial activities in the area, and unfortunately this species may be currently considered extinct.

Tillandsia oliveirae can also be compared to T. araujei , an endemic species from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo ( Tardivo et al. 2020), but it is clearly distinct from this new species by their upward secund and longer leaves (3–7 cm vs. 2–2.5 cm long in T. oliveirae ), plant width (6–12 cm vs. 3–4.5 cm), inflorescence normally ascending (vs. horizontally to downwardly oriented or pendant), shorter peduncle (4–6 cm vs. 7–11.5 cm) inflorescence with more numerous flowers (5–12 vs. 3–5 in number), and longer petals (2–3 cm vs 1.6–2.0 cm) ( Table 1 ).

We observed other four species of Tillandsia living sympatrically with T. oliveirae : T. tenuifolia Linneaeus (1753: 286) and T. milagrensis Leme (1993: 243) , both of subg. Anoplophytum , and T. itatiensis and T. jequiensis , both belonging to subg. Phytarrhiza . In a forest fragment close to the inselberg where this new species occurs, we found T. stricta Solander ex Sims (1813: 1529) , T. gardneri Lindley (1842 : sub pl. 63), and T. candida Leme (1987: 404) of subg. Anoplophytum , T. streptocarpa Baker (1887: 241) of subg. Phytarrhiza , as well as T. loliacea Martius ex Schultes & Schultes (1830: 1204) , T. recurvata (Linnaeus) Linnaeus (1762: 410) , and T. usneoides (Linnaeus) Linnaeus (1762: 411) of subg. Diaphoranthema .

The region where T. oliveirae was found has a high diversity of Bromeliaceae species, as reported by Souza et al. (2021), who observed 37 bromeliad species in a single inselberg in the neighborhood of Milagres. This encouraged the mentioned authors to propose the establishment of a conservation unit in the region to protect the local flora, which is composed of many endemic and endangered species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A. Inselberg where Tillandsia oliveirae was found in Itatim municipality. B. spatial distribution of the plants on the rocky surface. C. cluster of specimen. Photo: M.M. Campos.

FIGURE 2. Tillandsia oliveirae. A-C) Habit. D) Inflorescence. E-F) Flower. G) Petals. H) Sepals. I) 3 of 6 stamens. J) Floral bract. K) Gynoecium. L) Stigma. Photos: E.H. Souza. Bars: A = 12 cm; B-C = 2.5 cm; D-E = 1.5 cm; F-G = 5 mm; H-I = 1 cm; J = 8 mm; K = 2 mm; L = 0.8 mm. Photo: E.H.Souza.