Critoniopsis narinoensis H. Rob. & S.C. Keeley, 2015

Robinson, Harold & Keeley, Sterling C., 2015, A refined concept of the Critoniopsis bogotana species group in Colombia with two new species (Vernonieae, Asteraceae), PhytoKeys 48, pp. 85-95 : 90-92

Critoniopsis narinoensis H. Rob. & S.C. Keeley sp. nov.

Type.

COLOMBIA: Nariño: Mun. Pasto, parte alta del bosque de Daza, kilómetro 12 via Pasto-Buesaco, 3000 m, 8 Aug 1991, B.R. Ramírez & Cuayal 4033 (holotype PSO; isotype frag. US).

Description.

Large shrub or small tree. Stem terete, brownish, with appressed pubescence; internodes scarcely deflected, ca. 0.7 cm long. Leaves alternate; petioles 2.0-2.5 cm long; blades narrowly ovate-elliptic, 10-14.5 cm long, 3.5-6.3 cm wide, base obtuse to rounded, ending abruptly at petiole, margins entire, apex scarcely acuminate, with 9 or 10 secondary veins on each half, spreading at ca. 60° at base, somewhat arching, upper surface glabrous, slightly roughened with scarcely prominulous veinlets, abaxial surface with prominent primary and secondary veins, with obvious reticulum of prominulous brownish pubescent tertiary and quaternary veins, areoles filled with minute, pale, thin-walled, flattened trichomes (Fig. 3E). Inflorescence terminal on leafy branches, rounded to somewhat pyramidal, with loosely corymbiform branches; heads clustered on short branchlets and ultimately sessile in clusters of 3 or 4. Heads short-cylindrical, ca. 9 mm long, 3-4 mm wide; involucral bracts ca. 35 in ca. 7 series, basal bracts ca. 16, in 3-4 rows, persistent, weakly spreading in fruit, broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, 1.5-3.9 mm long, 1.0-1.7 mm wide, with scarious lateral margins, inner bracts mostly fallen in specimen, estimated in 3 series, 4-8 mm long, ca. 1.2 mm wide, oblong to oblanceolate, narrowed to base, with narrowly recurved basal margins, apices darkened, rounded, outer surfaces mostly glabrous; receptacle slightly convex, glabrous. Florets ca. 5 in a head; corolla color not stated, probably white, funnelform, 6.5 mm long basal tube ca. 3.5 mm long, throat ca, 0.7 mm long, lobes ca. 1. 8 mm long, lanceolate, traces of few minute monoseriate hairs seen on outer surfaces of upper tube, throat and lobes; anther thecae ca. 1.3 mm long, bases with acute hyaline edge; apical appendages ca. 0.3 mm long; style not observed. Achene body brownish, 3.5-4.0 mm long, with 3 or 4 angles, mostly glabrous with some small glandular dots near base; pappus white, ca. 5 mm long, with ca. 40 inner capillary bristles not or scarcely broadened at tips, outer series of short narrow squamae ca. 0.5 mm long.

The species is known only from the type collection.

Vegetatively the specimen is in excellent condition, and fortunately species of the genus Critoniopsis can usually be distinguished by leaves and number of florets in the head. The present new species might have been placed in either Critoniopsis lindenii Sch.Bip. or Critoniopsis popayanensis (Cuatrec.) H. Rob. on superficial examination, but the former differs obviously by the smoother abaxial surface of the leaves covered with goblet-shaped trichomes. The latter differs by the decurrence of the leaf blade onto the upper petiole.