Eugenia caloneura Sobral & Rigueira, 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 : 207

3. Eugenia caloneura Sobral & Rigueira , sp. nov. Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: mun. Wenceslau Gumarães , 13º33’ S, 39º42’ W, 650 m, 17 November 2011, D. Rigueira 2 (holotype ALCB!; isotype HUFSJ!). Figure 4 .

This species is apparently related to Eugenia leonorae , from which it is distinguished through its larger blades (to 140 × 60 mm versus 80 × 30 mm in E. leonorae ) and flowers with calyx lobes not fused apically in flowers buds (vs. fused).

Tree 4– 5 m. Twigs brown, sometimes dichotomously branching, terete, glabrous; internodes 35–50 × 2–3 mm. Leaves with petioles 7–11 × 0.7–1.7 mm, semiterete, glabrous; blades narrowly elliptic or slightly obovate, 80–140 × 28–61 mm, 2.3–2.9 times longer than wide, sometimes of distinct sizes in one pair, discolorous when dry, adaxially dull green and glabrous, abaxially lighter, with very scattered asymmetrical dibrachiate trichomes to 0.2 mm, these occasionally more dense along the midvein; glandular dots visible abaxially, of variable sizes but always smaller than 0.05 mm in diameter, up to 15 / mm², raised and darker than the surface, sometimes shining under lenses; apex abruptly acuminate to 4–12 mm; base cuneate; midvein finely sulcate adaxially and strongly raised abaxially; lateral veins 16 to 20 at each side, leaving the midvein at angles of 50–60°, barely visible adaxially and markedly salient abaxially, the secondary lateral veins occasionally visible; marginal veins two, the inner one very continuous and raised abaxially, 2–4.6 mm from the margin, the outer one faint and scarcely visible, 0.5–1 from the plain or moderately revolute margin. Inflorescences at the axils of leaves or at the apex of branches, not subtended by leaves, racemiform, the axis to 5 × 1 mm, with up to six flowers, densely covered with simple grey appressed trichomes to 0.3 mm; bracts not seen; pedicels 3–7 × 0.3–0.4 mm, pilose as the axis; bracteoles narrowly triangular, to 3.5 × 0.7 mm, sparsely pilose as the pedicels, deciduous at anthesis; flower buds obovate, to 6 × 4 mm, externally with simple grey appressed trichomes to 0.3 mm sparse or absent on the calyx lobes and dense on the ovary, the ovary itself with an irregular, somewhat minutely foveolate surface; calyx lobes four, visible in buds, separate or partially fused on the proximal half and then tearing moderately at anthesis, widely elliptic or hemispheric, minutely ciliate, the cilia to 0.1 mm, concave, unequal in size, the outer ones 3.8–4 × 3–3.2 mm, the inner ones 4–5 × 3.5–4 mm; petals not seen; stamens more than 100 (most already fallen from the examined flowers), to 6 mm, the anthers elliptic, to 0.5 × 0.2 mm, with one very visible apical gland; staminal ring glabrous, to 5 mm in diameter; calyx tube absent; style glabrous, broken in the examined flowers; ovary bilocular, with two to four ovules per locule. Fruits not seen.

Distribution, habitat and phenology:— Eugenia caloneura is presently known from coastal rainforests in the municipality of Wenceslau Guimarães, at altitudes about 650 m elev.; flowers were collected in October and November.

Conservation:—The municipality of Wenceslau Guimarães has been relatively well surveyed botanically, with 2,900 gatherings ( CRIA 2015) for an area of 674 km ² ( IBGE 2015), resulting in an average of 4.3 collections/km², a reasonable botanical effort. The fact that this species is known only from two collections may be an indicative of its rareness; however, in the lack of additional habitat information, we suggest that it be presently scored as DD (Data Deficient) according to IUCN conservation criteria ( IUCN 2001).

Affinities:—This species is apparently related to Eugenia leonorae Mattos (2005: 6 , a replacing name for Calycorectes schottianus O.Berg ; for description seen Berg 1857 –1859: 357 under this name; type image: W 48330). The species of the former genus Calycorectes O. Berg (1855 –1856: 317) are nested in clade 7 of the phylogenetic scheme proposed by Mazine et al. (2014), and we suppose E.caloneura may prove related to it.

Etymology:—The epithet is derived from the Greek words for “beautiful” and “veins”, alluding to the marked venation of this species.

Paratype:— BRAZIL. Bahia: mun.Wenceslau Guimarães, Estação Ecológica, Trilha da Água Vermelha, 13º34’43” S, 39º42’55” W, 579 m, 14 October 2012, E. Lucas, W. Milliken, E. NicLughadha, F. Mercês, D. Zappi & C.J. Santos 1160 (HURB, K, RB!).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Eugenia caloneura. Holotype.