Casselia integrifolia Nees & Martius (1823: 76)

Cardoso, Pedro Henrique, Valério, Vanessa Imaculada Dos Reis, Neto, Luiz Menini & Salimena, Fátima Regina Gonçalves, 2021, Verbenaceae in Espírito Santo, Brazil: richness, patterns of geographic distribution and conservation, Phytotaxa 484 (1), pp. 1-43 : 10-11

3.1. Casselia integrifolia Nees & Martius (1823: 76) . (Fig. 1B)

Shrubs 0.4‒0.8 m high, branches cylindrical, glabrous to puberulous. Leaves opposite, petiole 0.7‒2 cm long, blade 3.1‒8.3 × 1.4‒3.6 cm, chartaceous, elliptical, apex acute, base attenuate, decurrent, margin entire, glabrous in both surfaces. Inflorescences 1 per axil, 1.3‒2 cm long, peduncle 1‒1.7 cm long, slender, puberulous; bracts 2‒3 mm long, lanceolate, located near the pedicel, not appressed to the calyx, abaxial surface glabrous; calyx 3‒6 mm long, glabrous; corolla 0.8‒1 cm long, lilac. Fruit ca. 8 mm long, partially inserted in the persistent calyx.

Distribution and habitat:— Casselia integrifolia is endemic to Brazil, occurring in the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest, in the states of Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul (O’Leary & Múlgura 2010, O’Leary & Boldorini 2020). It was collected in the Espírito Santo, only in the municipality of Linhares, inside remnants of disturbed dense rainforest. Not found in SPAs in this state.

Phenology:— Collected with flowers in March, October, and December.

Preliminary conservation assessment:— Casselia integrifolia has a highly fragmented distribution, with small and sparse populations, and often represented in scientific collections by old records in areas that are currently disturbed (O’Leary & Múlgura 2010). This species presents an EOO of approximately 452,000 km ², AOO of 48 km ², and was no found inside any PA. Thus, it must be considered “Endangered” EN B2ab(i, ii, iii) ( IUCN 2019).

Selected material:— BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: Linhares , 16 October 1984, fl., G . Hatschbach & O . Guimarães 46899 ( CEPEC, MBM, MO); Linhares , 26 March 1971, fl., T . S. dos Santos 1469 ( CEPEC); Linhares , 7 December 1994, fl., J. R . Pirani et al. 3449 ( NY 593500, SPF, US).

Additional material examined:— BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro: Cabo Frio , 7 November 1968, fl. and fr., D. Sucre 3786 ( RB) .

Notes:— Casselia integrifolia is characterized by cylindrical branches; glabrous leaves with entire margin; peduncle up to 1.7 cm long, slender, and bracts located near the pedicel, not appressed to the calyx. It shares with C. chamaedryfolia Chamisso (1832: 365) the presence of glabrous leaves, however, C. chamaedryfolia has blades with serrate margin, peduncle of the inflorescence longer than 3 cm, and bracts appressed to the calyx.

Illustrations in O’Leary & Múlgura (2010).