Forzzaea coutensis Leme

Leme, Elton M. C., Ribeiro, Otávio B. C., Souza, Fernanda Vidigal D., Souza, Everton Hilo De, Kollmann, Ludovic J. C. & Fontana, André P., 2020, Miscellaneous new species in the “ Cryptanthoid complex ” (Bromeliaceae: Bromelioideae) from Eastern Brazil, Phytotaxa 430 (3), pp. 157-202 : 168-170

2.1. Forzzaea coutensis Leme & O.B.C. Ribeiro, sp. nov. ( Fig. 5 A–G )

Diagnosis:—This new species is morphologically related to F. leopoldo-horstii but differs from it by the narrower leaf blades (0.7–0.9 cm vs. ca. 1.5 cm), smaller flowers (21–22 mm vs. 26–29 mm), sepals acuminate to attenuate (vs. acute to subobtuse and mucronulate), and petals smaller (ca. 17 × 3.5 mm vs. 23–25 × 5–6 mm).

Type:— BRAZIL. Minas Gerais: Couto de Magalhães de Minas, BR 259 toward Diamantina, 841 m elevation, 18°06’16.3” S, 43°29’44.6” W, 9 August 2017, E. Leme 9233, O. Ribeiro & R. Oliveira (holotype RB!).

Description:— Plants stemless, flowering ca. 4 cm tall, propagating by short shoots or short and thick basal rhizomes. Leaves 15–18 in number, thick coriaceous mainly toward the base, suberect to spreading, ofter curved, forming a subdense rosette; sheath subtrapeziform, inconspicuous, 1–1.1 × 1.4–1.5 cm, whitish, glabrescent toward the base, densely and coarsely white lepidote at the apex; blade sublinear-attenuate, ending in a caudate apex, 11–21 × 0.7–0.9 cm, distinctly canaliculate mainly under water stress, distinctly nerved mainly abaxially, green to bronze colored with color partially obscured by the trichomes, both surfaces slightly contrasting, adaxial side subdensely to densely and coarsely white lepidote, abaxial side completely covered by a coarse layer of white trichomes, margins subdensely spinose; spines 1–2 mm long, 5–8 mm apart, triangular, uncinate, the basal to median ones retrorse, the distal ones antrorse. Inflorescence sessile, compound, ca. 2 cm long, 1–1.5 cm in diameter (not including the primary bracts); primary bracts resembling the leaves, subspreading, suberect to curved; flower fascicles ca. 5 in number, densely arranged, complanate, excluding the petals ca. 15 × 8 mm, 2–4-flowered; floral bracts narrowly subtriangular, acuminate, hyaline and membranaceous toward the base, whitish-green toward the apex, white lepidote at the apex with fimbriate trichomes, glabrous elsewhere, finely nerved, slightly exceeded by the sepals, carinate, 11 × 4–5 mm, margins entire or remotely denticulate. Flowers all perfect, sessile, 21–22 mm long, fragrant; sepals narrowly lanceolate, acuminate or attenuate, 10–11 × 2 mm, connate at the base for ca. 0.5 mm, whitish, white lepidote at the apex with fimbriate trichomes, glabrous elsewhere, obtusely carinate or carinate mainly toward the apex; petals spathulate to lanceolate, ca. 17 × 3.5 mm, shortly connate at the base for ca. 1 mm, white, acute to obtuse, distinctly longer than the stamens but spreading at anthesis and exposing them, bearing 2 inconspicuous longitudinal callosities to ca. 9 mm above the base; filaments subequal in length, ca. 12 mm long, the antesepalous ones adnate to the petals for ca. 1 mm, the antepetalous ones highly adnate to the petals for ca. 6 mm; anthers ca. 4 mm long, dorsifixed near the base, base distinctly bilobed, apex apiculate, strongly recurved at anthesis (mainly at late anthesis); pollen oblate, ca. 40 μm in diameter (longest axis), sulcate, sulcus without prominent exine elements, margins indistinct, exine microreticulate; ovary 2.5–3 × 2 mm, trigonous, white, glabrous; epigynous tube lacking; ovules few in number (less than 10), obtuse; placentation apical; style exceeded by the anthers; stigma simple-erect, white, lobes distinctly longer than broad, free, narrowly spathulate, transversely U-shaped, apical margins inconspicuously scalloped, inconspicuously and sparsely papillate. Fruits narrowly ovoid to ovoid-ellipsoidal, 6–7 × 4.5–6 mm, white except for the greenish apex, persisting sepals equalling to slightly longer than the fruit length; seeds ca. 3 mm long, castaneous, ca. 5 in number.

Distribution, habitat and conservation:— Forzzaea coutensis is known from the type locality, in the county of Couto de Magalhães de Minas, at 845 m elevation, at the northern border of the Diamantina Plateau , as well as from the locality of Biri-Biri (State Park of Biri-Biri), in the county of Diamantina, Minas Gerais state, at 1090 m elevation. It has saxicolous habit, growing in crevices, sometimes on more or less vertical sandstone rock surfaces in Campos Rupestres vegetation which characterizes the region ( Fig. 5 A–D ). Plants growing isolated or in small groups of individuals, which is caused by physical limitation of the rock crevices. The size of the population and the extension of the occupied area is not clearly known, and so it is considered here a “data deficient” species (DD) and its conservation status is inconclusive. This new species was found in the State Park of Biri-Biri, along the road Diamantina to Biri-Biri, which is an area severely affected by the expansion of Diamantina suburbs, periodical fires, and the uncontrolled touristic activities.

Etymology:—The name chosen for this new species refers to the county where it was found, in Couto de Magalhães de Minas.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes):–– BRAZIL. Minas Gerais: Couto de Magalhães de Minas , outskirts of the city, May 2015, R. Vasconcelos s.n., fl. cult. E. Leme 9007 (RB) ; ibidem, BR 259 toward Diamantina , 845 m elevation, 18º 06’ 16” S, 43º 29’ 44.6” W, 18 September 2015, E. Leme 9082 & O. Ribeiro (RB!) ; Diamantina, Biri-Biri , 20 January 1972, G. Hatschbach 29031, L.B. Smith & E. Ayensu (MBM).

Observations:— Forzzaea coutensis is morphologically close related to F. leopoldo-horstii ( Rauh, 1988: 68) Leme, S. Heller & Zizka (2017: 68) but can be distinguished from it by the narrower leaf blades (0.7–0.9 cm vs. ca. 1.5 cm), giving the plants a more delicate general appearance in contrast with the more robust aspect of the rosette of F. leopoldo-horstii . The new species also differs by the distinctly canaliculate leaf blades (vs. inconspicuously if at all canaliculate near the base and nearly flat toward the apex), smaller flowers (21–22 mm vs. 26–29 mm), sepals acuminate-attenuate (vs. acute to subobtuse and mucronulate), smaller petals (ca. 17 × 3.5 mm vs. 23–25 × 5–6 mm), with acute to obtuse apex (vs. only obtuse), and pollen with indistinct sulcus margins (vs. weakly distinct).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Forzzaea coutensis from the county of Couto de Magalhaes de Minas, Minas Gerais state: A–C. Saxicolous habit of F. coutensis at the type locality (Leme 9233 et al.). D. General view of the Campos Rupestres habitat at the type locality. E. Details of the inflorescence (Leme 9233 et al.). F–G. Forzzaea coutensis which flowered in cultivation (Leme 9082 & Ribeiro). F. Details of the flower. G. Simple-erect stigma type.