Eugenia pruinosa D. Legrand (1961: 323)

Valdemarin, Karinne Sampaio, Mazine, Fiorella F. & Souza, Vinicius Castro, 2024, Eugenia (Myrtaceae) from Reserva Natural Vale, Espírito Santo, a center of plant endemism in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, Phytotaxa 651 (1), pp. 1-79 : 64

40. Eugenia pruinosa D. Legrand (1961: 323) . ( Fig. 26A .)

Trees 6–24 m tall. Twigs glabrous when young. Young leaves glabrous adaxially and pruinose abaxially; trichomes whitish. Leaves with petioles 5–7 mm long, canaliculate, glabrous; blades 50–75 × 23–40 mm, elliptic or wide-elliptic, discolorous when dry, lighter abaxially, not glaucous and glabrous adaxially and pruinose abaxially; bases acute, attenuate or obtuse, rare rounded; apices obtuse or rounded, sometimes acuminate; midvein sulcate adaxially and raised abaxially, glabrous adaxially and pruinose abaxially; secondary veins 9–11 at each side, inconspicuous or slightly raised adaxially and raised abaxially, the first pair generally not confluent with the innermost marginal vein, rare confluent; marginal veins two, the innermost 2.5–5 mm from the slightly revolute and without thickening margin; oil glands inconspicuous on both surfaces. Inflorescences ramiflorous, fascicle, sessile or with peduncle up to 0.5 mm long, rachis up to 0.5 mm long, glabrous; bracts ca. 0.5 mm long, ovate or narrow-ovate, ciliate, deciduous at anthesis; 2–4 flowers; pedicels 7–10 mm long, glabrous; bracteoles 1–1.5 mm long, free, narrow-ovate or lanceolate, apices acute, ciliate, not reflexed, generally persistent in the fruit; trichomes brownish. Flower buds 3–4 mm in diameter. Flowers with smooth, glabrous hypanthia; calyx lobes 4, free, 3–3.5 × 3 mm, ovate, apices obtuse or rounded, ciliate or glabrous; petals 4, obovate, oil glands inconspicuous; staminal ring pubescent; stamens with filaments 4–4.5 mm, anthers oblong; style ca. 5 mm, glabrous, stigma punctiform and papillose; ovary 2–locular, ovules 10–14 per locule, locule internally glabrous. Fruits 35–44 × 20–25 mm, ellipsoid, slightly striate, glabrous, dark purple when ripe; seed 1 per fruit, 30–41 × 17.5–21.5 mm, ellipsoid, testa smooth.

Specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: Linhares, Reserva Natural Vale – Aceiro Calimã , 23 September 1991, fl., D.A. Folli 1424 (CVRD!, SORO!) ; ibid., Aceiro Marco de Ferro , 10 June 2014, fr., D.A. Folli 7222 (CVRD!, SORO!) ; ibid., Estrada Municipal Canto Grande , 02 May 2008, fr., M.M.M. Lopes 1604 (CVRD!, SORO!, SPF!) ; ibid., 04 June 2008, fr., D.A. Folli 6073 (CVRD!, SORO!) ; ibid., Estrada Peroba Osso , 21 September 1979, fl., I.A. Silva 41 (CVRD!, SORO!) .

Distribution and habitat: — Eugenia pruinosa is known from collections from the state of Espírito Santo to Santa Catarina in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil. In the RNV, the species is found in the Mata Alta vegetation, reaching in most of the times the canopy.

Phenology: —Flowering in September; fruiting in May through June ( Fig. 5 ).

Taxonomic comments: —The species can be assigned to Eugenia sect. Umbellatae due to its fascicle inflorescences and bracteoles persistent after anthesis. Eugenia pruinosa can be easily distinguished from all other species of the genus in RNV by the leaf blades with the first pair of secondary veins generally not confluent with the innermost marginal vein, and the presence of pruinose indumentum abaxially, feature from which the species epithet is derived.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Phenological diagram of Eugenia species from Reserva Natural Vale, Espírito Santo, Brazil. Flowering periods are represented by dark red border triangles, fruiting in grey filled triangles, and “n” is the number of observations.

FIGURE 26. A. Fruiting branch of Eugenia pruinosa (G. Siqueira, Vale S.A.), B. Flowering branch of Eugenia pruniformis (G. Siqueira, Vale S.A.), C. Flowering branch of Eugenia punicifolia (F.F. Mazine 1288), D. Fruiting branch of Eugenia repanda (K.S. Valdemarin s.n.)