Myrcia spathulifolia Proença, 2014

Proença, Carolyn E. B., De Oliveira, Marla I. U., Sobral, Marcos & Landim, Myrna F., 2014, Novelties in Myrtaceae: contributions to the Flora of the State of Sergipe, Brazil, Phytotaxa 173 (3), pp. 217-225 : 223-224

2.4. Myrcia spathulifolia Proença , sp. nov. ( Fig. 1K ).

Flowers and fruit are similar to M. hirtiflora de Candolle (1828: 249) from which it differs by the smaller, densely-disposed, spathulate leaves 1–3cm long (elliptic and 3.5–9.1cm in M. hirtiflora ) with rounded apexes, smaller inflorescences with up to c. 15 flowers, equal calyx lobes to 0.75mm that sometimes detach in the mature fruit, and barely prolonged hypanthial cup. Vegetatively very similar to M. ramuliflora (Berg) Silveira (1985: 66 .) from which it differs by the much more numerous lateral veins and glands.

Type: — BRAZIL. Bahia: Rodovia Ibaitaba-Campinhos ( Ponta do Mutá ), km 75 a direita, em direção a praia (11km antes de Campinhos), 13.5910 S, 38.5702° W, 8 June 1987 (fl., fr.), Mattos-Silva 2201 (holotype UB!, isotype CEPEC, RB!, SP!) .

Tree or shrub 2–10 m high, much branched, the internodes usually shorter than the leaves; young branches, inflorescence axis, flowers and young fruits densely pubescent when young, glabrescent with age, sparse trichomes sometimes persisting on the petioles and lower leaf surfaces; trichomes sordid white, appressed, ascendent; trunk bark rough and finely fissured. Leaves with lamina 1.1–3 × 0.6–1.9 cm, spathulate, obovate or rarely wide-elliptic, leaf ratio 1.5–2.2; apex rounded to rounded-obtuse; base acute, rarely obtuse; margins plane to strongly revolute, when mature coriaceous; the midvein somewhat elevated on the upper surface, this otherwise avenious and eglandulose, shiny, brown to dark olive, drying darker than the lower surface; lower surface light to dark olive, with 8–12 obscurely prominent secondary veins that form a marginal vein c. 1 mm from the leaf margin and yellow-ochre glands conspicuous under a hand lens; petioles 1–3 mm long, drying black. Panicles in the distal leaf axils, 5–8 cm long, with 5–15 flowers, 3–5 nodes, the lateral branches much reduced, only the first pair of branches up to 1.2 cm long, the distal pairs of branches very short or frequently reduced to a pedicellate triad or to a single flower, the panicle thus superficially resembling a raceme. Floral buds not seen; calyx lobes 5(–6), equal to subequal, 0.5–0.75 mm long, deltoid, acute, internally glabrous, revolute in the open flower; hypanthium barely prolonged into a shallow cup above the level of stylar insertion; style glabrous at base and early caducous. Berry 5–8 mm diam., globose, densely albo-velutinous when young; calyx lobes persistent or sometimes partially caducous, revolute or patent at maturity, the ovary disk becoming engorged and plane in the fruit; seeds 1(–2).

Paratypes:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Camaçari, 13.5910° S, 38.5702° W, 11 February 2001 (fl.), Anjos 39 (RB!), 12.6975° S, 38.3242° W, Praia do Forte , 23 January 2006 (buds fr.), Miranda 5382 ( HST, UFRN); Entre Rios , 28 May 1981 (fr.), 12.5455° S, 40.1256° W, Mori 14173 (CEPEC, RB!); Itacaré , Caminho para Piracanga , 17 March 2006 (fr.), Carvalho Sobrinho et al. 763 ( ASU, K!, HUEFS!); Maraú , 13.5910° S, 38.5702° W, 26 February 1980 (fr.), Carvalho s.n. (RB197627!); 22 May 1991 (fr.), Carvalho 3266 (CEPEC, NY, UB!); 6 February 1979, Mori s.n. (RB389116!); 13 June 1979 (fr.), Mattos-Silva 466 (UB!); Mata de São João , 10 February 2001 (fr.), Faria 290 (RB!); Salvador , April 1962, Costa 1099 (ALCB, RB!), 22 May 1981, Mori 14039 (CEPEC, MO, RB!) 23 May 1981, Mori 14084 (CEPEC, NY, RB!) .

Distribution:— Apparently restricted to northeastern Brazil (Bahia, and probably Sergipe). The erect, spathulate, albo-pubescent young leaves make this is a very distinctive species and we have seen sterile plants in the field in Sergipe that we believe belong to this species.

Ecology:— Flowers in February and produces fruits from March to June. A relatively common species in Bahia .

Comments:— This species superficially resembles Myrcia ramuliflora (O.Berg) N. Silveira ( Figure 1K ) in leaf shape and size and many specimens identified as such are found in herbaria. In M. ramuliflora , however, the inflorescence is a wide, delicate panicle with up to 50 flowers; the fruits are not known, but the buds have a marked hypanthial cup and glabrous hypanthia, so the fruits can be presumed to be glabrous as well. M. spathulifolia has a shallow, dish-shaped hypanthial cup, narrow, raceme-like panicles and densely albo-velutinous young fruits.

3. Myrcianthes Berg (1856: 315) .

Myrcianthes is a predominantly Andean genus of ca. 35 species distributed from Mexico to Chile ( Grifo 1992, Landrum & Kawasaki 1997, Govaerts et al. 2008). Nine species occur in Brasil and only one is currently known from the Brazilian Northeast, i.e., Myrcianthes fragrans Swartz (1788: 79) in Pernambuco ( Sobral et al. 2013).

Figures

FIGURE 1. New or rare species of Myrtaceae from Sergipe and Bahia, Brazil. A–B. Eugenia brejoensis Mazine. Mature fruits and seeds (Landim et al. 1252, ASE), scale in cm. C. E. tephrogyna Sobral & Proença. Mature fruits (Paula-Souza s.n., ASE 15432). D–E. E. tephrogyna. Old flowers (Viana 471, ASE). F, H. Myrcia landimiana Proença & M.Ibrahim. Mature fruits (Paula-Souza s.n., ASE 15430). G. Myrcia landimiana. Young inflorescence with leafy bracts (Gomes & Santos 282, ASE). I–J. Myrcia ovina Proença & Landim. Inflorescence with persistent bracts and upper surface of mature leaf (Carneiro 264, UB). K. Myrcia spathulifolia Proença. Leaves and immature fruits (Carvalho Sobrinho 763, UB). L. Myrcia ramuliflora (O.Berg) N.Silveira. Leaves and inflorescence (Fonsêca s.n., ASE 405). Photographs: C.E.B. Proença.