Piptocarpha longipedunculata Volet, 2017

Volet, Danilo Poso, Nakajima, Jimi Naoki, Monge, Marcelo & Semir, João, 2017, Piptocarpha longipedunculata (Asteraceae, Vernonieae) a new species of Serra do Mar, São Paulo, Brazil, Phytotaxa 306 (2), pp. 159-163 : 161-162

Piptocarpha longipedunculata Volet , sp. nov. ( Fig. 1 )

Piptocarpha longipedunculata is morphologically similar to Piptocarpha axillaris (Less.) Baker and Piptocarpha macropoda (DC.) Baker , differing by its inflorescences with large peduncles, capitula of few flowers and leaves generally obovate.

Type: — BRAZIL. Biritiba-Mirim , Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar , Núcleo São Sebastião, Trilha de Guaratuba, 864 m elev., 31 March 2005, F.M. Souza et al. 564 (holotype UEC!; isotype SPSF!) .

Trees 1.5–6 m tall; cylindrical branches, costate, highly stellate-tomentose. Leaves alternate, petioles 1–3 cm long; lamina (3–)3.5–11.5 × 1.5–4.5 cm, coriaceous, generally obovate, sometimes oblong, base cuneate, asymmetrical, margin entire or sparsely toothed above the middle, slightly revolute, apex acute to obtuse, abaxial surface ocraceousstellate-tomentose, adaxial surface stellate-tomentose in young leaves, glabrescent, venation semicraspedodromous, 7–11 pairs of secondary veins. Inflorescences axillary, racemiform, corymbiform, formed by dichasia or cymes; peduncles 1–3.1 cm long, stellate-tomentose; 2–9 capitula. Capitula with 4–6 flowers; involucres 7.4–8.2 × 2.2–4.2 mm, ovate to cylindrical; involucral bracts in 5–6 series, outer series 2.5–5 × 1–2 mm, triangular to ovate, tips acute, brown-ferruginous, external surface villous to arachnoid, inner series 5–8 × 2.5–3 mm, ovate to elliptical, tips acute, margin ciliate from half to apex. Corollas 4.5–6.7 mm long, beige to dark-brown, tube 0.5–1.5 mm long, limb 0.8–1.0 mm long, gland-dotted, lobe 3.2–4.2 mm long, apex with glands; anthers 3.6–4 mm long, caudate, dark-brown, basal appendage 0.7–1 mm long, elongated, papillate at tip, filaments 1.5–2 mm long; styles 6–7 mm long, style branches 2.5–2.7 mm long, dorsal surface with multicellular, apically rounded collecting trichomes, extending until below the bifurcation. Cypselae 4.5–5.3 mm long, 3-angled, 10-costate, gland-dotted, carpopodium present or absent; pappus, white, biseriate, filiform, inner series 6 mm long of equal height, external series 0.5–2 mm long of unequal height.

Phenology, Ecology and Conservation: — Piptocaprha longipedunculata was colleted with flowers and fruits from February to June. The species is found in the Atlantic Forest (‘Serra do Mar’) in areas of the Ombrophilous Dense Forest, riparian forests and forest edges at elevations between 750–900 m ( Fig. 2 ). The area of the Atlantic Forest is currently reduced to only 7.5% of its original size, with the largest preserved remnants located near large urban centers on the coast ( Leitão-Filho 1994, Oliveira-Filho & Fontes 2000, Myers et al. 2000). Most populations of P. longipedunculata occur in a single conservation unit (Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar–Curucutu and São Sebastião), except for the population collected in Salesópolis, which occurs in a forest reserve. The populations that occur in the Curucutu nucleus are located near the city of São Paulo, in areas adjacent to small rural properties, mining areas and condominiums, which are subject to real state speculation resulting in urban sprawl and possibly environmental degradation. Therefore, Piptocarpha longipedunculata was categorized as endangered (EN) according criteria B1ab(i, iii) + 2ab(ii, iii) of IUCN (2012, 2016) with an estimated area of occupancy (AOO) of 24 km ² and an extent of Occurrence (EOO) of 2,062.602 km ².

Etymology: —The specific epithet refers to the large peduncles of the inflorescences that the species presents.

Paratypes: — BRAZIL. São Paulo: Salesópolis, Casa Grande, Reserva Florestal , 04 February 1988, G.A.D.C. Franco & A. Custódio Filho 430 (SPSF, UEC) ; Casa Grande , 04 June 1988, G.A.D.C. Franco & A. Custódio Filho 682 (SPSF, UEC) ; Casa Grande, Reserva Florestal , 23°39’ S, 45°52’ W, March 1998, A. Custódio Filho & G.A.D.C. Franco 2893 (SPSF) ; São Paulo, Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, Núcleo Curucutu , 23°59’13” S, 46°45’08” W, 14 February 1997, R.J.F. Garcia et al. 1068 (UEC) ; Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, Núcleo Curucutu, Trilha do Campo , 23°59’28” S, 46°44’36” W, 27 March 1996, R.J.F. Garcia et al. 783 (UEC) ; Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, Núcleo Curucutu, Trilha do Campo , 23°59’ S, 46°44’ W, 11 April 2001, L.D. Meireles et al. 61 (ESA, UEC) ; Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, Núcleo Curucutu, Trilha do Campo , 15 May 1997, N.S. Chukr et al. 600 (UEC, PMSP, SPSF) ; Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, Núcleo Curucutu, Trilha para o Rio Branco , 12 April 1997, R.J.F Garcia & M. Gomes Neto 1154 (PMSP, SPSF, UEC), Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar , Núcleo Curucutu , Trilha para o Rio Branco , 11 June 1997, R.J.F. Garcia et al. 1172 (PMSP, UEC) ; Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, Núcleo Curucutu, Trilha do Rio Embu-Guaçú , 06 March 1998, P. Affonso et al. 167 (PMSP, SPSF) ; Ubatuba, Serra de Ubatuba , 12 March 1940, A.P Viegas et al. s.n. (IAC 5415) .

Discussion: — Piptocarpha longipedunculata belongs to P. subg. Hypericoides as it has basal auricles of their anthers elongated, slender with papillated apex. It differs from the other tree species of the genus by the capitula with few flowers (4–6), large peduncles of inflorescences (1 to 3.1 cm long), and the obovate shape of its leaves.

Among the species of P. subg. Hypericoides , P. longipedunculata most closely resembles P. axillaris ( Lessing 1829: 253) Baker (1873: 122) , and P. macropoda ( Candolle 1836: 19) Baker (1873: 123) for its overall appearance, like arboreal habit, alternate leaves and stellate trichomes on the abaxial surface of its leaves. However, P. longipedunculata differs from P. axillaris by having inflorescences with 2–9 capitula (vs. 5–15 capitula), presence of a peduncle (vs. sessile) and 4–6 flowers per capitula (vs. 8–9). It is also differentiated from P. macropoda by having ovoid to cylindrical capitula (vs. turbinate), capitula with peduncles (vs. sessile), corollas with glands (vs. without glands) and leaves typically small, (3–)3.5–11.5 × 1.5–4.5 cm (vs. (5.6–)8–13.9(–15.5) × (2.4–)3.0– 6.7 cm).

As cited earlier, Leitão-Filho (1972) reported a species that was considered new to São Paulo state, namely ‘ Piptocarpha obovata ’. The author described this species in his PhD thesis. According to Article 30.8 of the ICN, for purposes of nomenclatural novelties this PhD thesis is not regarded as effectively published ( McNeill et al. 2012). Therefore, the name is not validly published and we decided to describe this new taxon under a new name according to Recommendation 50G.1 ( McNeill et al. 2012).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Piptocarpha longipedunculata. A. Reproductive branch. B. Stellate trichomes of leaves. C. Inflorescence squemes. D. Capitula. E. Involucral bracts. F. Flower. G. Style trichomes. H. Anther. I. Cypselae and pappus. J. Pappus bristles. K. Cypselae with glands.

FIGURE 2. Distribution map of Piptocarpha longipedunculata in São Paulo state, Brazil.