Eugenia mucugensis Sobral, 2015

Sobral, Marcos, Faria Jr, Jair E. Q., Ibrahim, Marla U., Lucas, Eve J., Rigueira, Dary, Stadnik, Aline & Dcnat-Ufsj, Daniel Villaroel, 2015, Thirteen new Myrtaceae from Bahia, Brazil, Phytotaxa 224 (3), pp. 201-231 : 211

5. Eugenia mucugensis Sobral , sp. nov. Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: mun. Mucugê, próximo ao aeroporto de Mucugê, lado direito em direção a Ibicoara, estrada para Fazenda Bela Vista, 13º01’25” S, 41º26’18” W, 1027 m, 24 September 2005, M. G. Bovini, J. M. A. Braga, L. C. S. Giordane & O. Marquete 2503 (holotype RB!; isotype BHCB!). Figure 6 .

This species is apparently related to Eugenia sonderiana , from which it is distinguished through its wider blades (1.2–2 times longer than wide versus 2.5–3 in E. sonderiana ), inflorescences with visible axis (versus axis absent), pedicels to 16 mm (vs. up to 8 mm) and larger calyx lobes (to 2.5 mm vs. to 1.2 mm); it can also be confused with Eugenia luetzelburgii , from which it is kept apart through its petiolate leaves (versus sessile in E. luetzelburgii ), elliptic blades (vs. ovate to cordiform), midvein adaxially sulcate (vs. raised) and blades drying dull green (vs. usually drying black).

Shrub 0.5–1.5 m. Twigs grey, very finely longitudinally fissured, with simple erect trichomes to 0.1 mm, densely covering the young ones and falling with age; internodes 7–14 × 1 mm. Leaves with petioles 1–2 × 0.9–1 mm, adaxially canaliculate, with trichomes as the twigs when young, sometimes visible only at the abaxial side of the blades; blades widely elliptic to rounded, 14–23 × 11–19 mm, 1.2–1.9 times longer than wide, sparsely pilose when young, the trichomes as the twigs and sometimes more concentrated along the midvein at the adaxial side, concolorous or slightly discolorous when dry, lighter abaxially; glandular dots about 25/mm², sometimes of distinct sizes but always smaller than 0.1 mm in diameter, visible on both sides and usually excavated adaxially; apex obtuse to rounded; base rounded or slightly cordate above the petiole; midvein finely sulcate adaxially, moderately raised abaxially; lateral veins 5 to 6 at each side, leaving the midvein at angles of 60–80°, visible and raised on both sides; marginal vein 0.5–0.8 mm from the markedly revolute margin. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, sometimes auxotelic, racemiform, with two to four flowers, sometimes solitary axillary flowers present; axis 10–18 × 0.6–1 mm, with scattered simple light or brown trichomes to 0.1 mm; bracts elliptic to lanceolate, 1–2 × 0.5–1 mm, persisting after anthesis; pedicels 10–16 × 0.5–0.8 mm; bracteoles narrowly triangular or widely elliptic, 0.8–1.5 × 0.9–1 mm, glabrous or with cilia as the trichomes, persisting after anthesis; flower buds obovate, glabrous, 4–4.5 × 3.5–4 mm, the ovary clearly distinct from the calyx lobes, these four, about the same size or slightly unequal, widely elliptic, 2–2.5 × 2.2–2.6 mm, reflexed at anthesis, markedly glandular abaxially and with simple appressed grey trichomes adaxially; petals four, obovate, white, glabrous or ciliate, 4–5 × 3 mm; stamens about 120, to 6 mm, white, the anthers elliptic, to 0.6 × 0.4 mm, with one apical gland; staminal ring to 2 mm in diameter, glabrous; calyx tube absent; style to 7 mm, the stigma punctiform; ovary with two locules and up to nine ovules per locule. Fruits not seen.

Distribution, habitat and phenology:—This species in presently known from rocky outcrops in cerrado vegetation at the municipality of Mucugê, in the cerrado domain in central Bahia; flowers were collected in September.

Conservation:—The municipality of Mucugê is an intensely surveyed location; there are registered 18,519 gatherings ( CRIA 2015) in an area of 2,455 km ² ( IBGE 2015), an average of 7.6 collections/km², a good gathering effort; considering this, the known existence of only two collections of E. mucugensis may be an indicative of its rareness. Nevertheless, in the lack of additional information on habitat conditions, this species must be scored as DD (Data Deficient), according to IUCN conservation criteria ( IUCN 2001).

Affinities:— Eugenia mucugensis is apparently related to Eugenia sonderiana O.Berg ( Berg 1857 –1859: 270; no type images available online), a widepread species occurring from northeastern to southern Brazil, and can also remind Eugenia luetzelburgii Burret ex Luetzelburg ( Luetzelburg 1923: 29; no image available online), a species collected in western Bahia and Goiás, being distinguished of them by the characters given in the diagnosis. This species seems, as the former one, related to those in clade 9 of the phylogenetic scheme for Eugenia proposed by Mazine et al. (2014), due to the presence of racemiform inflorescences with pedicels longer than the internodes.

Etymology:—The epithet is allusive to the collection place.

Paratype:— BRAZIL. Bahia: mun. Mucugê, São Pedro, 16 September 1984, G. Hatschbach 48303 (MBM!).