Cremastosperma antioquense Pirie

Pirie, Michael D., Chatrou, Lars W. & Maas, Paul J. M., 2018, A taxonomic revision of the Neotropical genus Cremastosperma (Annonaceae), including five new species, PhytoKeys 112, pp. 1-141 : 1

2. Cremastosperma antioquense Pirie Fig. 9 , Map 2

Cremastosperma antioquense Pirie, Blumea 50: 43, f. 1. 2005.

Type.

COLOMBIA, Antioquia: Mun. Anorí, Corregimiento Providencia, Buenos Aires, 4 km from Providencia, 500-700 m a.s.l., 10 Dec 1972, Soejarto, D.D. 3586 (holotype: COL! [COL000334459]; isotypes: F! [V0054279F], GH! [GH00257162], HUA, MEDEL! [MEDEL000017], MO! [MO-047625]).

Description.

Tree ca. 5 m tall; young twigs and petioles sparsely covered with appressed brown hairs up to 0.2 mm long or glabrous. Leaves: petioles 7-10 by 2-3 mm; lamina elliptic, 16-27 by 6-9.5 cm (index 2.3-2.8), chartaceous, drying to a mosaic of brown and lighter green on both sides, glabrous on both sides, base obtuse, apex acuminate (acumen 10-15 mm long), primary vein grooved in the basal half, 1-1.5 mm wide at widest point, secondary veins 8-11, intersecondary veins occasional, distance between from 10 mm at the base to 50 mm closer to the apex, angles with primary vein from 50° at the base to 70° closer to the apex, forming distinct loops, smallest distance between loops and margin 3-4 mm, tertiary veins more or less percurrent. Inflorescence of single flowers, axillary on leafy twigs or from main trunk, then solitary or clustered in groups of at least two on brachyblasts; peduncles ca. 2 by 1.5 mm (in flower), 2-3 by 1.5-2 mm (in fruit); pedicels 20-28 by ca. 1 mm at the base, 1.5-2 mm at the apex (in flower), 20-40 by ca. 2 mm at the base, ca. 3 mm at the apex (in fruit), peduncles and pedicels sparsely covered with appressed whitish-golden hairs to 0.2 mm long; 2 lower bracts, deltate, ca. 1 mm long, obtuse, soon falling off; upper bract attached around halfway along pedicel, deltate, ca. 1 mm long, obtuse, outer side of upper and lower bracts rather densely to densely covered with appressed whitish-golden hairs to 0.2 mm long; closed flower buds not seen; flowers light green, stamens and carpels yellowish or pinkish in vivo, petals dark brown, contrasting to lighter colour of sepals and pedicels in sicco; sepals fused at base, deltate, appressed, 2-2.5 by 2-2.5 mm, acute, soon falling off, sparsely to rather densely covered with appressed whitish-golden hairs to 0.2 mm long; outer petals elliptic, ca. 12 by 8 mm, inner petals elliptic, 10-12 by 5-6 mm, outer side of outer and inner petals rather densely covered with appressed whitish-golden hairs to 0.2 mm long; receptacle depressed ovoid; androecium 5-7 mm diam., stamens ca. 1 mm long, connective appendage 0.5-0.7 mm wide, glabrous; gynoecium 1-1.5 mm diam., carpels ca. 1.5 mm long, glabrous. Monocarps ca. 10, ellipsoid to broadly so, strongly asymmetrical, 13-14 by 11 mm, orange to deep red, maturing to black in vivo, dark reddish-brown in sicco, with an excentric apicule; stipes orange to deep red in vivo, ca. 20 by 1.5 mm; fruiting receptacle depressed ovoid, ca. 6 mm diam; monocarps, stipes and receptacle glabrous. Seeds ellipsoid, reddish-brown with dark pits each surrounded by a raised rim, ca. 12 by 9 mm, raphe sunken, regular.

Distribution.

Colombia (Antioquia).

Habitat and ecology.

Primary forest. At elevations of 500-700 m. Flowering: February, fruiting: December.

Notes.

The distinctive strongly asymmetrical monocarps of Cremastosperma antioquense could only be confused with those of C. chococola ,and collections of both species display cauliflory (though not exclusively so in C. antioquense ) with inflorescences inserted on similar brachyblasts. However, C. chococola can easily be distinguished from C. antioquense by its somewhat smaller, narrowly elliptic leaves with typical pinkish-brown colour on the underside (no such colour contrast in the brown/green-drying leaves of C. antioquense ) and by the absence of hairs on the pedicels. The flowers of C. antioquense are superficially similar to those of C. awaense , particularly in the dimensions of the sepals and petals and lengths of the pedicels. However, petals of C. antioquense are uniformly covered in indument in contrast to the distinctive indument patterning on those of C. awaense and the fruits of the two species are more distinct: in contrast to C. awaense , the monocarps of C. antioquense are smaller, shorter than the stipes, strongly asymmetrical and entirely glabrous. In addition, none of the collections of C. awaense display cauliflory, a condition found in both of the two collections of C. antioquense .

Preliminary conservation status.

None of the only three known collections of C. antioquense was found in protected areas. Given the low area of occupancy and a likely ongoing decline in area, extent and/or quality of the habitat, we propose to classify the species as Endangered [EN] (Table 1 ).

Other specimens examined.

COLOMBIA. Antioquia: Providencia, 7°30'N, 74°40'W, 500-700 m a.s.l., 12 Feb 1971, Soejarto 2798 (COL, GH, HUA); Anorí, Vereda "La Esperanza", 7°11'03"N, 75°01'53"W, 8 Nov 1999, Tuberquia et al. 1416 (COL).

Figures

Map 2. Distribution of Cremastosperma alticola Pirie & Chatrou, C. antioquense Pirie, C. chococola Pirie, C. dolichopodum Pirie & Maas, C. longipes Pirie, C. novogranatense R. E. Fr., C. osicola Pirie & Chatrou, C. panamense Maas and C. stenophyllum Pirie

Figure 9. Cremastosperma antioquense Pirie. a leaf and flower b fruit (a Soejarto 2798 b Soejarto 3586).