Cuphea harleyi L. M. Brauner & T. B. Cavalc., 2018

Brauner, Laiana De Moraes & Cavalcanti, Taciana Barbosa, 2018, A new species, a new synonym and lectotypification in Cuphea (Lythraceae) from Brazil, Phytotaxa 350 (2), pp. 155-160 : 156-158

1. Cuphea harleyi L. M. Brauner & T. B. Cavalc. , sp. nov. Figures 1A–F ; 2A–B .

Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Palmeiras, Margem direita BR-242, entrada próxima à monumento, 12°28’19” S, 41°27’17” W, 860–1070 m, 8 August 2016, Brauner et al. 92 (holotype CEN!, isotypes ALCB!, K!, MO!, RB!, SPF!).

Cuphea harleyi resembles C. acinos both classified in C. sect. Euandra Koehne subsect. Hilariella Koehne , but differs mainly by presenting delicate, usually prostrate habit; branches, leaves and flowers with short, appressed, white and non glandular trichomes; leaves 1–7 mm wide and 2–4 ovules vs. erect and robust habit; branches, leaves and flowers with dense, short, and erect trichomes, mixed with long, red and glandular trichomes; leaves 10–25 mm wide and 6–7 ovules.

Subshrubs, 0.3–0.6 cm tall, delicate, usually prostrate, few branched, branches delicate, strigose, with short, appressed, white trichomes, rarely mixed with sparse, reddish, erect, glandular trichomes. Leaves 11–25 × 1–7 mm, petiolate, petiole 0.7–1.4 mm long., brochidodromous, narrow-oblong, narrow-elliptic, elliptic, rare oval, apex acute, margin plane to subrevolute, base acute to obtuse, strigose, adaxial surface with short, appressed, non glandular trichomes, oriented horizontally scattered on the blade, abaxial surface with appressed, non glandular trichomes concentrated on the veins and absent on the blade. Inflorescence frondose to frondose-bracteose, pedicel 1–6 mm long, internodal to subaxillar, persistent; bracteoles at the apex of the pedicel; floral tube 5.3–7.7 mm long including rounded, horizontal to slightly ascending spur 0.7–1 mm, outer surface greenish to dorsally flushed rose, strigose, with short, white, appressed trichomes especially concentrated on the ribs, rarely with glandular trichomes, inner surface villous above the stamens, densely white, villous in two lines below the two dorsalmost short stamens; petals 6, pink, caducous, obovate to elliptic, two dorsals 2.5–3.4mm long, four ventrals 3–3.2 mm long; stamens 11, slightly exserted; vesicles 0; ovules 2–4; ovary glabrous, style glabrous to pilose; the gland at base of ovary horizontal to slightly deflexed, dorsally convex. Seeds 2–4, 1.6–1.7 × 1.7–1.9 mm. elliptic to orbicular, margin obtuse.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes): — BRAZIL. Bahia: Lençóis, Serra Larga, a oeste de Lençóis, perto de Caeté-Açu, 1400m, 19 December 1984, Harley et al. CFCR 7250 ( CEN!). Lençóis, ca. 1 km do início da estrada lateral que sai da rodovia Lençóis-Seabra, a 23 km NW de Lençóis, Serra do Palmital, 900–1000m, 16 February 1994, Harley et al. CFCR 14129 ( CEN!). Mucugê, Trilha para o Gobira de Cima, estrada de terra, próximo ao km 207, 1230m, 13°05’43” S 41°22’42” W, 11 August 2016, Brauner et al. 96 ( CEN!, UB!); Palmeiras, Pai Inácio, 29 August 1994, Guedes et al. 497 ( CEN!). Palmeiras, Pai Inácio, 900m, 28 June 1995, Guedes et al. 1967 ( CEN!). Palmeiras, Morro do Pai Inácio, na estrada que leva ao morro, lado esquerdo, 1000m, 12 January 1999, Cavalcanti et al. 2479 ( CEN!). Palmeiras, Serra do Brejão, encosta para Morro do Pai Inácio, 1050m, 07 December 2008, Conceição 2952 ( HUEFS!). Palmeiras, em cima do Morro, caminho para Cachoeira da Fumaça, 08 August 2006, Pastore & Suganuma 1536 ( CEN!). Palmeiras, Vale do Capão, Cachoeira da Fumaça, 1000m, 12°36’21” S 41°28’59” W, 31 May 2012, Oliveira Jr. 33 ( HUEFS!). Palmeiras, Vale do Capão, Cachoeira da Fumaça, 12°36’21” S 41°28’59” W, 1000m, 31 May 2012, Oliveira Jr. 42 ( HUEFS!). Palmeiras, Vale do Capão, Cachoeira da Fumaça, 1000m, 12°36’21” S 41°28’59” W, 31 May 2012, Oliveira Jr. 49 ( HUEFS!). Palmeiras, entrada para o Morro do Pai Inácio, beira da estrada, 920m, 12°27’33” S 41°28’40” W, 06 August 2016, Brauner et al. 75 ( CEN!, UB!); Palmeiras, Morro do Pai Inácio, perto da antena, 920m, 12°27’33” S 41°28’40” W, 06 August 2016, Brauner et al. 77 ( CEN!, UB!); Palmeiras, Morro do Pai Inácio, próximo a antena, caminho para a subida do morro, 1070m, 12°27’19” S 41°28’24” W, 06 August 2016, Brauner et al. 80 ( CEN!, UB!); Palmeiras, área de campo, próxima ao orquidário e próxima ao Morro do Pai Inácio, 860m, 12°27’31” S 41°27’55” W, 08 August 2016, Brauner et al. 91 ( CEN!, UB!). Piatã, estrada para Povoado do Rio de Contas, 1258m, 13°7’16” S 41°41’50” W, 19 April 2014, Melo et al. 12648 ( ALCB!). Piatã, próximo à Serra do Gentio, 21 December 1984, Stannard et al. CFCR 7379 ( CEN!).

Distribution and ecology:— The distribution of C. harleyi is recorded to high elevation areas (860–1230 m) with vegetation of rocky cerrado and campos rupestres, usually among rock outcrops, in the municipalities of Lençóis, Mucugê, Palmeiras, and Piatã, in Bahia state, covering part of the area included in the Chapada Diamantina National Park ( Figure 3 ). Flowers and fruits were registered in August.

Etimology:—The specific epithet honors Dr. Raymond M. Harley, eminent botanist, who has made an inestimable contribution to the knowledge of the Brazilian flora, especially in Bahia.

Notes and taxonomic affinities:— Cuphea harleyi is primarily characterized by the delicate, usually prostrate ( Figure 2A ), few branched habit, with strigose indumentum constituted of short, appressed and white trichomes ( Figure 2B ), present in the whole plant. In the leaves and flowers, the appressed trichomes are concentrated on the veins and ribs, respectively, and absent among them. Other characters are the presence of pedicels in internodal to subaxilar position, floral tube with a horizontal spur and the gland at base of ovary horizontal to deflexed. The seeds are elliptic to orbicular with obtuse margin. By the characters of the staminal position in the floral tube in which the anthers at anthesis reach or exceed the margin of the tube, the gland at base of ovary plane to convex dorsally, absence of xylopodium and seeds of obtuse margin, Cuphea harleyi is inserted in Cuphea section Euandra subsection Hilariella .

Cuphea acinos A. St. -Hilaire (1833: 101), a species distributed in Minas Gerais state, and positioned in the same subsection Hilariella , is the most similar species due to the presence of internodal pedicels, floral tube of 5–7.5 mm long and seeds of obtuse margin. However, C. acinos presents an erect and robust habit with dense indument formed by very short, erect trichomes, mixed with abundant, long and red glandular trichomes on branches, leaves and floral, leaves wider (10–25 mm), oval to oval-lanceolate with revolute margins. The flowers in C. acinos show a floral tube with horizontal to slightly deflexed spur and floral tube externally hirsute with long, red, glandular trichomes, mixed with short, erect, inconspicuous trichomes, and 6–7 ovules.

In Koehne’s key to Cuphea section Euandra subsection Hilariella ( Koehne 1903) , there is another species, C. polymorphoides Koehne (1877: 269) , positioned near C. acinos due to the presence of oval or oblong-lanceolate leaves with obtuse base and internodal pedicels. Cuphea polymorphoides was compared with C. harleyi through the images of the type-material (Tamberlik s.n. —collected in western Brazil) and it was found that the leaves of C. polymorphoides are decussate to verticillate, elliptic-lanceolate, with attenuate base, apex acute short-acuminate, with visible secondary veins and intramarginal vein, all quite different characters of C. harleyi . The analysis of C. polymorphoides characters for comparison with C. harleyi led us to discover that this species is synonymous of C. spermacoce A. Saint-Hilaire (114: 1833).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Cuphea harleyi L.M. Brauner & T.B. Cavalc.A. Part of the habit. B. Leaf, abaxial surface.C. Flower in lateral view. D. Floral tube opened longitudinally, pistil removed. E. Pistil, showing the gland at the base of the ovary. F. Seed with obtuse margin. A e E from Brauner et al. 91; B, D, F from Brauner et al. 77.

FIGURE 2. Cuphea harleyi L.M. Brauner & T.B. Cavalc. A. Prostrate plant. B. Detail of the branch showing the strigose indumentum. Photographs by L.M. Brauner.

FIGURE 3. Distribution of Cuphea harleyi L.M. Brauner & T.B. Cavalc. in the municipalities of the Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brasil.