Guatteria rubiginosa N.Zamora & Maas, 2019

Maas, Paul J. M., Westra, Lubbert Y. Th., Chatrou, Lars W., Verspagen, Nadja, Rainer, Heimo, Zamora, Nelson A. & Erkens, Roy H. J., 2019, Twelve new and exciting Annonaceae from the Neotropics, PhytoKeys 126, pp. 25-69 : 39-41

Guatteria rubiginosa N.Zamora & Maas sp. nov. Fig. 17

Diagnosis.

Guatteria rubiginosa is strikingly similar to Guatteria talamancana N.Zamora & Maas in terms of the presence of long-persistent, erect, brownish red to brownish hairs of 2-3 mm long on its young twigs and lower side of the lamina, but differs by the smaller petals (11-17 by 7-8 mm vs. 15-25 by 10-15 mm), smaller sepals (7-11 by 7-10 mm vs. 15-20 by 10-15 mm), and smaller monocarps (7-13 by 4-7 mm vs. 20-30 by 18-20 mm).

Type.

PANAMA, Bocas del Toro: Changuinola, Parque Internacional La Amistad (PILA), Rancho Santin , 9°06'41.9"N, 82°40'03.7"W, 1340 m, 31 Jul 2008, Monro et al. 6108 (holotype: CR!; isotypes: BM, MO! [MO2494703]) .

Description.

Tree 7-20 m tall; young twigs somewhat zigzagging, densely covered with long-persistent, erect, brownish red to brown hairs to 3 mm long. Leaves: petioles 0-3 mm long, densely covered with erect, brownish hairs; lamina narrowly ovate to narrowly oblong-elliptic, (5-)7-21 by (2.5-)3-5.5 cm (leaf index 3.2-3.6), chartaceous, densely verruculose on both sides, dull or dark glossy green above, brown to greenish brown below, densely covered with erect, brown to reddish brown hairs on both sides, but becoming almost glabrous above, except for the primary vein, base acute to obtuse, often oblique, apex acute to acuminate (acumen 10-15 mm long), primary vein flat above, secondary veins distinct, flat to slightly raised above, 10-20 on either side of primary vein, smallest distance between loops and margin 2-3 mm, tertiary veins inconspicuous, flat above. Flowers solitary in axils of leaves; pedicels 5-15 by 1-2 mm, to 20 by 3 mm in fruit, articulated at ca. 0.5 from the base, densely covered with erect, brown or reddish brown hairs; bracts soon falling, not seen; flower buds depressed ovoid; sepals free, broadly ovate-triangular, 7-11 by 7-10 mm, apex acuminate, outer side densely covered with appressed, brown hairs, inner side glabrous, conspicuously verruculose; petals pale yellow or cream in vivo, ovate to oblong-ovate, 11-17 by 7-10 mm, outer side densely covered with appressed hairs; stamens 1-2 mm long, connective shield glabrous. Monocarps 25-30, green in vivo, black in sicco, ellipsoid to narrowly ellipsoid, sometimes laterally compressed, 7-13 by 4-7 mm, glabrous, apex apiculate (apiculum <0.5 mm long), wall 0.2-0.3 mm thick, stipes 1-8 by 2-3 mm. Seed ellipsoid, 9-11 by 5-6 mm, dark, dark brown to reddish brown, rugose to rugulose, raphe impressed.

Distribution.

Costa Rica and Panama (Fig. 9 ).

Habitat and ecology.

In wet forest, sometimes cloud forest. At elevations of 400-1850 m on the Caribbean slope of the Talamanca mountain range. Flowering: March and July; fruiting: March, April, and July.

Notes.

Guatteria rubiginosa can be recognised by its young twigs and the lower side of the lamina which are densely covered with long-persistent, erect, brown to reddish brown hairs. Moreover, the leaves are subsessile and densely verruculose on both sides. The monocarps are ellipsoid and shortly stipitate. Some material of G. rubiginosa was confused or misidentified as G. talamancana N.Zamora & Maas, due to the high resemblance of the vegetative parts of both species, especially the indument. Moreover, G. rubiginosa differs greatly in its much wetter habitat type on the Caribbean slope of the Talamanca Costa Rica-Panama mountain range.

Some Costa Rican collections of G. rubiginosa were previously assigned to the Colombian G. elegantissima R.E.Fr. ( Zamora et al. 2000), which is a species that is very similar but it is restricted to tropical rain forest of the lowland Pacific coast of Colombia (0-350 m). It has much narrower leaves (width 2-3.5 vs. 3-5.5 cm in G. rubiginosa ) and longer pedicels (20-40 vs. 5-20 mm).

Preliminary IUCN conservation status.

LC. It was determined that this species has 5 locations but all of them lie within the boundaries of La Amistad International park and the National Park Palo Seco. Currently, no major threats to this species are known but also no information is available on the current population size and population trend of this species. Based on both EOO (1.583 km2) and AOO (40 km2) this species would classify as Endangered but given that we do not see any immediate threats to the size and quality of the distributional range and habitat we assess it as Least Concern.

Other specimens examined.

COSTA RICA. Limón: Cantón de Talamanca, Coriña, base y ladera intermedia del Cerro Cruibeta , 9°25'15"N, 82°59'00"W, 700 m, 19 Jul 1989 (fl, fr), Herrera 3307 (CR, MO, U); Sukut, de las juntas de Rio Uren y Rio Sukut 1.5 km aguas arriba sobre éste, 9°24'30"N, 82°58'10"W, 400 m, 9 Jul 1989 (fl), Herrera 3228 (CR); Bratsi, Amubri, Alto Lari, Kivut, cuenca superior del Rio Dapari , 9°24'15"N, 83°05'30"W, 1200 m, 9 Mar 1992 (fl), Herrera 5249 (CR, U); Cantón de Limón, El Progreso, siguiendo el sendero de la avioneta, por la fila entre 1000 m y los 1300 m. Fila Matama, Valle de la Estrella, 9°47'18"N, 83°08'45"W, 1150 m, 21 Apr 1989 (sterile), Herrera & Chacón 2701 (CR, U); El Progreso, entre Cerro Muchilla y Cerro Avioneta, Fila Matama, siguiendo la fila y los flancos. Valle de la Estrella, 9°47'40"N, 83°06'30"W, 850 m, 8 Apr 1989 (flower buds), Herrera & Madrigal 2560 (CR) . PANAMA. Bocas del Toro: Campamento la pata del Cedro como a 800 m hacia arriba, 9°03.966'N, 82°43.931'W, 1525 m, 10 Mar 2004 (fr), Alfaro & Monro 5445 (INB); Campamento de Lucho , 9°05.052'N, 82°44.733'W, 1850 m, 17 Mar 2004 (fr), Alfaro & Monro 5577 (INB); Caribbean slopes of Cerro Fabrega at foot of Falso Fabrega, in Palo Seco Reserve , second northernmost tributary of Culubre river , Pavón Camp, 9°09.51'N, 82°39.41'W, 1300 m, 23 Mar 2005 (fr), Monro & Cafferty 4925 (CR); Changuinola Parque Internacional La Amistad (PILA), 10 km del refugio de guardaparques de Uri, 9°04'09"N, 82°42'28"W, 15 Apr 2008 (fr), De Serdas et al. 588 (CR) . Chiriquí: Gualaca, Fortuna Forest Reserve of La Fortuna Watershed, close to Fortuna Dam , forest plot of Jim Dalling , 8°40'N, 82°13'W, 1150 m, 25 May 2004 (sterile), Maas et al. 9516 (INB, U) .

Figures

Figure 9. Distribution map of Guatteria aliciae, G. pseudorotundata, G. rubiginosa, and G. turrialbana.

Figure 17. Guatteria rubiginosa N. Zamora & Maas. A-C Flowering branch D fruiting branch E-G flowers in different views H, I young fruit. (A-C Monro et al. 6108 D Monro & Cafferty 4925 E, F Estrada et al. 5979; G-I Estrada et al. 6406).