Eugenia cambemba Costa-Lima

Costa-Lima, James Lucas Da & Chagas, Earl Celestino De Oliveira, 2018, Six new species of Eugenia (Myrtaceae) from the Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil, Phytotaxa 373 (3), pp. 211-220 : 214

2. Eugenia cambemba Costa-Lima & E.C.O.Chagas, sp. nov. ( Figure 1E–G )

Eugenia cambemba is similar to E. valsuganana but differs by the leaf blades cuspidate (vs. acute to acuminate) at the apex, marginal vein distant 1–3 mm (vs. 4–5 mm) from the margin, and fruits 10.5–14 mm (vs. 20–26 mm) long, obovoid (vs. elliptical), and reddish (vs. yellowish) when ripe.

Type: — BRAZIL. Alagoas: Mun. Mar Vermelho, Fazenda Canadá, 8 May 2009 (fr), E. C. O. Chagas, M. C. S. Mota [as Chagas-Mota], A. I. L. Pinheiro & S. Cavalcanti 3600 (holotype MAC!).

Treelets, ca. 4 m tall; bark exfoliating; branches slender, glabrous, brownish. Petioles 3–6 mm long, glabrous. Leaf blades 5–8.6 × 1.7–3 cm, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, chartaceous, with glandular dots poorly visible on both surfaces, slightly discolorous, glabrous on both surfaces, apex cuspidate, margin flat, base attenuate; midvein impressed adaxially, prominent abaxially, secondary veins 10–14 per side, poorly visible on both surfaces, more visible abaxially when dry, marginal vein 1–3 mm from the margin. Flowers not seen; floral bracts not seen; sepals 4 (measured in fruits), in unequal pairs, the outer ones 2.2–3 × 1.5–2 mm, the inner ones 1.5–1.8 × 1.2–1.5 mm, oblong, glabrous, with poorly visible dots, rounded at apex, sometimes ciliate apically. Fruits axillary, 1–2 per node, sessile, 10.5–14 × 6–8 mm, obovoid, glabrous, subtly glandular-rugose, smooth, reddish when ripe, crowned by calyx lobes, lobes erect; 1-seeded.

Etymology: —The epithet is a tribute to the indigenous people of the Cambembe tribe, who were known as excellent pife (fife) players and inhabited the mountain region in the state of Alagoas ( Brandão 1914), which is the same region where the type specimen was collected.

Distribution and habitat: — Eugenia cambemba occurs in the state of Alagoas in northeastern Brazil, in rainforest subcanopy.

Conservation status: — Eugenia cambemba is here considered Critically Endangered [CR B12ab(i,ii,iii)], according to IUCN (2017) criteria, even though it is known only from the type locality, since the environment where it occurs is not continuous in its extension. The populations of Eugenia cambemba are strongly threatened due to fragmentation of the habitat where it occurs, in the “Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural Fazenda Canadá,” a forest fragment that is only 8.28 ha and presently threatened by extensive cattle farming.

Discussion: —Although it is known only from fruiting material, we infer that the inflorescences of Eugenia cambemba are glomerulate, which suggests that it belongs to Eugenia sect. Umbellatae Berg (1856: 204) , as broadly circumscribed by Mazine et al. (2016). Eugenia cambemba is similar to E. valsuganana Sobral (2010: 136) , due to shared glomerate inflorescences in the axils of leaves or at leafless nodes and sessile flowers and fruits, but see the diagnosis for the distinction between them. Although similar, these species do not occur sympatrically. Eugenia valsuganana occurs in rainforests in the state of Espírito Santo, in southeastern Brazil ( Sobral 2010), and E. cambemba is restricted to Atlantic Forest in Alagoas, in northeastern Brazil. Eugenia cambemba can also be confused with Eugenia mammifera Costa-Lima & E.C.O.Chagas (described here), which occurs sympatrically with E. cambemba and also has cuspidate leaf blades at apex, glomerate inflorescences in the axils of leaves or at leafless nodes and sessile flowers and fruits, but E. cambemba can be distinguished by the 10–14 secondary veins pairs (14–17 in E. mammifera ) that are poorly visible on both surfaces (vs. with a distinct gridiron pattern), marginal vein distant 1–3 mm from the margin (vs. 3–5.5 mm), and smooth (vs. 8-costate) fruits.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Eugenia anthropophaga. A. Fruiting branch, in sicco (scale: 1 cm). B. Buds. C. Immature fruit, with trichomes detail. D. Mature fruit. Eugenia cambemba. E. Mature fruit (reddish). F. Immature fruits. G. Fruiting branch, in sicco (scale: 5 cm). All photographs by the authors.