Euploca polyphylla (Lehmann) J.I.M. Melo & Semir (2009: 289)

Melo, José Iranildo Miranda De, Paulino, Renan Da Cruz, Oliveira, Regina Célia De & Vieira, Diego Daltro, 2018, Flora of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil: Boraginales, Phytotaxa 357 (4), pp. 235-260 : 250

1.4. Euploca polyphylla (Lehmann) J.I.M. Melo & Semir (2009: 289) . ( Fig. 4C )

≡ Heliotropium polyphyllum Lehmann (1817: 9) .

Common names: crista-de-galo, crista-de-peru, fedegoso, fivela, relógio, relógio-amarelo.

Herbs prostrate or decumbent subshrubs, with sericeous whitish indumentum over the entire plant; branches usually diffused, leafy, with rhytidome-like periderm. Leaves alternate or subopposite; blade 0.6–1.3 × 0.1–0.2 cm, chartaceous, narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate, apex acute, base cuneate, margin plane, sparsely to densely sericeous in both surfaces; venation hyphodromous; petiole 0.3–1 mm long, flattened, sericeous. Inflorescences 1–14 cm long, terminal, solitary, dichotomous or trichotomous, peduncle 6–8 mm long; bracts 3–4 × 1–1.3 mm long, ovate, chartaceous, glabrous externally, sericeous internally. Flowers 6–6.5 mm long, pedicel ca. 0.5 mm long; calyx slightly shorter than the corolla tube, deeply partitioned, lobes 3–4 mm long, unequal, foliaceous, ovate to widely ovate, externally sericeous, internally glabrous; corolla 6–6.5 mm long, tubular, yellow or white with a yellow throat, sericeous externally, tube 3.6–4 mm long, internally sericeous at throat, lobes 2.5–3 mm long, ovate to widely ovate. Stamens subsessile, filaments inserted at ca. 1 mm from the tube base; anthers ca. 1 mm long, ovoid, long-apiculate, coherent. Ovary ca. 0.5 mm long, subglobose, 4-sulcate, glabrous; style 0.3–0.6 mm long, cylindrical; stigma ca. 0.4 mm long, conical, apex slightly 4-lobed. Schizocarp ca. 1.5 mm diam., subglobose, entirely enclosed by calyx lobes; nutlets 4, ca. 1.5 mm diam., trigone, sericeous; seeds ca. 1 mm long, trigone.

Notes:— Euploca polyphylla may be easily recognized by the diffused, prostrate or decumbent, whitish branches; narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate leaf blades with cuneate base; yellow or, less frequently, white corolla with a yellow throat, ovate to widely ovate lobes, stigma slightly 4-lobed at apex. Illustrations of this species can be found in Melo & Semir (2010).

Geographic distribution:— Occurs in Venezuela and Brazil (Tropicos continuously updated). In Brazil in the North, Northeast, and Southeast regions ( Melo & Semir 2010). A1, B2, B3, B5, C4, C6, C7, D7.

Habitat:— Caatinga, littoral.

Phenology:— Collected in flower and fruit from April to July and in September and November.

Selected material examined:— BRAZIL. Rio Grande do Norte: Açu , 05º34’36”S, 36º54’31”W, November 1998, fl. fr., K.H.S. Moura 11 (MOSS). Baía Formosa, April 2005, fl. fr., J.I.M. Melo et al. 513 (MOSS, PEUFR) ; 06º26’38”S, 34º58’32”W, 19 m, September 2011, fl. fr., R.A. Pontes & C.M.L.R. Araújo 783 (JPB). Bento Praxedes, 05º41’38”S, 35º49’11”W, June 1997, fl. fr., E. Vasconcelos 10 (MOSS). Goianinha, s.d., L.P. Félix 11427 (EAN). Grossos, 04º50’00”S, 37º15’00”W, December 1994, fl. fr., N.D.S. Araújo 08 (MOSS). João Câmara, 05º32’15”S, 35º49’11”W, July 1999, fl. fr., E. Lopes 01 (MOSS). Macau, June 2005, fl., fr., R.C. Oliveira 1593 (MOSS). Mossoró, April 2005, fl. fr., J.I.M. Melo et al. 512 (MOSS, PEUFR). Natal, 05º50’13”S, 35º14’22”W, June 2007, fl. fr., M.I.B. Loiola et al. 1047 (EAN, UFRN). Parnamirim, September 2005, fl. fr., A. Ribeiro & J. Silva 168 (UFRN). Porto do Mangue , May 2007, fl. fr., J.I.M. Melo et al. 610 (MOSS). São Bento do Norte, 05º30’31”S, 36º20’29”W, July 2006, fl. fr., M.L. Silva et al. 112 (MOSS) .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Reproductive branches of species: A. Cordia trichotoma; B. Varronia leucocephala; C. Euploca polyphylla; D. Euploca procumbens; E. Heliotropium elongatum; F. Myriopus rubicundus. (Photo credits: A and B of M. Oliveira; C of M.J. Silva; D–F of J.I.M. Melo).