Lychnophora goiana Semir ex Loeuille, Bringel & Valls, 2022

Loeuille, Benoît, Bringel Jr, João Bernardo De A., Faria Jr, Jair E. Q. & Valls, José F. M., 2022, Three new species of Lychnophorinae from the Brazilian Central Plateau (Asteraceae: Vernonieae), Phytotaxa 531 (3), pp. 249-266 : 256-258

Lychnophora goiana Semir ex Loeuille, Bringel & Valls , sp. nov. ( Fig. 4 , 5 )

Species Lychnophorae granmogolensi foliorum basibus cordatis vel auriculatis, nervis mediis supra impressis, floribus 1 similis, sed dense longorum trichomatum fasciculis ad foliorum insertionem (non sparsim), foliorum nervis mediis supra glabris (non glabrescentibus), infra alatis complanatisque (non rotundatis), cypselae costis obscuris (non conspicuis) et pappi seriebus exterioribus maioribus (1.3–2.5 mm, non ca. 1 mm) differt.

Type: — BRAZIL. Goiás: Guarani de Goiás, BR-020, sentido Barreiras ( BA) ca. 15 km NE da entrada para Posse ( GO). 14°00’54’’S, 46°13’08’’W, 890 m, 28 May 2020, J. B. A . Bringel Jr. , B . Schindler , M . Figueira & M. F . Simon 1680 (holotype: CEN!, isotypes HUFU!, MBM!, P!, RB!, UEC!, UFP!) .

Description: —Treelet up to 1.3–2 m tall, erect, candelabriform. Stems highly branched, ochraceous to greyish tomentose to villose with circular, punctiform leaf scars with tuft of subvelutinous trichomes above leaf insertion. Leaves alternate, simple, ericoid, densely imbricate, sessile; blade deltoid to ovate, slightly bent at antrorse position, 6–12 × 2–6 mm, venation obscurely brochidodromous, midrib impressed, secondary veins obscurely impressed to inconspicuous adaxially, midrib prominent, completely covered by indument abaxially, adaxial surface dull or olive green to greyish in sicco, lightly green in vivo, glabrous, with sparse glandular-dots, abaxial surface whitish, greyish or ochraceous, tomentose to villose, tomentum of unbranched, long, thin trichomes and branched, 3- to 5-armed trichomes, coriaceous, margin entire, revolute, apex acuminate with a pungent, spiniform mucro, straight to ascendant, ca. 0.5 mm long, base cordate to auriculate. Capitula fused in a solitary syncephalia (secondary order inflorescence), terminal on side branches. Syncephalium 6–10 mm tall, 10–15 mm diam., hemispherical; surrounded by leaf-like secondary bracts. Capitula 12–32, homogamous, discoid, sessile, slightly appressed at base, interspersed by leaf-like subinvolucral bracts; involucre 6.5–7.5 tall, 2.3–2.5 mm diam., cylindrical, 4-seriate; phyllaries weakly imbricate, light stramineous with brown to dark purple spots at apex, outer phyllaries 2.3–3.4 × 1.1–1.2 mm, obovate, glabrous, apex acute, sparsely mammillate, inner phyllaries 6.2–6.3 × 0.7–1.1 mm, lanceolate, apex obtuse, sparsely mammillate; receptacle flat, naked. Florets 1 per capitulum, bisexual, fertile; corolla actinomorphic, deeply 5-lobed, purple, turning white, corolla tube 3.8–4.8 × 1.5–1.6 mm, glabrous, corolla lobes 3.9–4.2 × 1.1 mm, glandular-punctate, pilose towards apices, apex acute; anther whitish or lilac, apical anther appendages lanceolate, acute, anther base sagittate, acute; style shaft ca. 10.3 mm long, white or pale lilac, glabrous throughout except for pubescent upper ca. 2.8 mm beneath style arms, style arms ca. 1 mm long, apex acute, pubescent outside, hairs acute, style base glabrous, lacking basal node. Cypsela turbinate, 1.9–2.3 × 1.4 mm, terete, slightly 10-ribbed, dark-brown, glandular-punctate, glabrous; carpopodium inconspicuous; pappus setae biseriate, whitish to stramineous, paleaceous, outer series setae, 1.3–2.5 mm long, persistent, free at base, apex acute, dentate or erose; inner series setae, 4.1–4.8 mm long, caducous, barbellate, twisted, apex acute.

Distribution, habitat and conservation status: —All the four specimens known are from a single population in Serra Geral de Goiás (northeastern Goiás) ( Figs 3 , 6 ). It grows on foothill slopes, in cerrado vegetation (savanna) in reddish sandy soil. According to the IUCN Red List criterion B ( IUCN 2012, 2019), Lychnophora goiana can be considered Critically Endangered (CR), since it is known from a single location. In addition, the sandy soil, very susceptible to erosion, and the proximity to agricultural lands considerably increase the threat of extinction for this species.

Etymology: —The species epithet refers to the state of Goiás, where this new species is endemic. We maintain the same epithet originally chosen by Semir (1991), although this species is likely to also occur in the state of Bahia, as it was found near the border of these two states.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes): — BRAZIL. Goiás: Guarani de Goiás, 17 km N de acesso a Posse , BR- 020, 14°S, 46°14’ W, 880 m, 30 March 1983, J. F. M . Valls et al. 7014 ( C, CEN!, CTES, UEC); cerca de 16.5 km ao norte do acesso a Posse desde a BR-020, 14°00’58’’S, 46°13’08’’W, 890 m, 7 May 2019, J. F. M . Valls et al. 17035 ( CEN); ibid., BR-020, sentido Barreiras ( BA), cerca de 15 km NE da entrada para Posse ( GO), 14°00’54’’S, 46°13’08’’W, 27 December 2019, J. B. A . Bringel Jr. et al. 1666 ( CEN) .

Discussion: —This new species belongs to the Lychnophora granmogolensis ( Duarte 1974: 661) Hind (1994: 513) species complex, as defined by Semir et al. (2014), due to its densely imbricate leaves, with cordate to auriculate base, acuminate apex with a pungent mucro, cylindrical heads and outer pappus series setae free or partially fused. It is the fourth species of this complex, which also contains L. granmogolensis , L. nanuzae Semir in Semir et al. (2014: 989) and L. rupestris Semir in Semir et al. (2014: 988). Lychnophora goiana differs from the other three species by its outer pappus series as long as the cypsela, sometimes even longer, with the upper part of the setae frequently twisted. It is similar to L. rupestris by its leaf insertions with a sparse tuft of small trichomes, midrib winged and flattened on the abaxial surface, but differs by the never glaucous leaves with adaxially impressed midrib (vs. frequently glaucous and carinate midrib) and obscurely costate cypsela (vs. conspicuously). Lychnophora goiana shares with L. granmogolensis the leaves with adaxially impressed midvein, but the latter has leaf insertion with a dense tuft of long trichomes, adaxially glabrescent midvein (vs. glabrate), abaxially rounded midvein and conspicuously costate cypsela. Lychnophora nanuzae is easily distinguishable from the new species by the leaves with revolute margins touching each other abaxially, forming flattened cylinders (vs. margins not touching), rounded leaf base (vs. cordate to auriculate) and heads with three florets (vs. one) ( Table 2 ). Each species of the complex has a distinct distribution: L. rupestris is endemic to Serra do Cipó (state of Minas Gerais), L. nanuzae to Diamantina Plateau and Itacambira (state of Minas Gerais), L. granmogolensis occurs from Diamantina Plateau to Chapada Diamantina in the state of Bahia. All these localities are in the Espinhaço mountain range, whereas L. goiana is restricted to Serra Geral de Goiás (state of Goiás), a mountain range that divides two major river basins, the São Francisco and Tocantins rivers ( Fig. 6 ) ( Semir 1991, Semir et al. 2014, Loeuille et al. 2019).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Distribution of the three new species of Lychnophorinae (Vernonieae – Asteraceae).

FIGURE 4. Lychnophora goiana. A. Flowering branch. B. Detail of branch.C.Adaxial leaf surface. D.Abaxial leaf surface. E. Transverse section of leaf showing the midrib on abaxial surface. F. Syncephalium (with some leaf-like bracts removed). G. Capitulum. H. Cypsela with outer pappus. I. Inner pappus setae. A.–I. from Bringel Jr. et al 1680 (UFP).

FIGURE 5. Lychnophora goiana. A. Habitat. B. Habit. C. Detail of branch. D. Flowering branch. E. Flowering syncephalium. F. Fruiting syncephalium. A.–C., F. by J.B. Bringel Jr. D. by M. Figueira & B. Schindler. E. by M. Simon.

FIGURE 6. Distribution map of Lychnophora goiana with satellite image (Bing Virtual Earth). Note the proximity to extensive agricultural land.