Varronia globosa Jacquin (1760: 14)

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 : 246

2.2. Varronia globosa Jacquin (1760: 14) .

Subshrubs to shrubs, up to 3 m tall; branches strigose to scabrous. Leaves alternate; blade 1.8–6 x 0.6–3 cm, membranaceous, bicolor, elliptic, lanceolate to ovate, apex acute to rarely obtuse, margin dentate to serrate, base obtuse to rarely truncate, adaxially strigose, abaxially tomentose; venation semicraspedodromous; petiole 0.1–0.7 cm long, sulcate, hirsute. Inflorescences 0.6–1.5 cm long, terminal and axillary, glomerular to globose, congested; peduncle 0.5–6 cm long, hirsute. Flowers ca. 3 mm long, sessile, heterostylic; calyx ca. 3 mm long, campanulate, lobes ca. 2 mm long, elliptic, apex cirrose; corolla ca. 3 mm long, infundibuliform, white, cream to ocher; tube 0.5–0.7 cm long; lobes ca. 1 mm long, emarginate. Stamens with filaments ca. 2 mm long in the long-styled flowers and ca. 4 mm in the short-styled, anthers ca. 1 mm long, oblong, lobes divaricate, dorsifixed. Ovary ca. 1 mm long, piriform; style ca. 5 mm long in the long-styled flowers, ca. 2 mm in the short-styled; stigmatic branches ca. 1 mm long, stigmas ca. 1 mm long in the long-styled flowers, ca. 0.5 mm in the short-styled, foliaceous. Drupe 4–6 mm diam., ovoid, red, almost completely enveloped by the calyx; seeds not seen.

Notes:— The species is morphologically related to V. leucocephala , sharing with it the glomerular to globose inflorescences. However, corolla in V. globosa is smaller (ca. 3 mm long in V. globosa vs. 28–30 mm in V. leucocephala ), white, cream, turning ocher when mature. Illustrations of this species can be found in Melo & Sales (2005a) and Vieira et al. (2013, 2015).

Geographic distribution:— Occurs from southeastern United States (Florida), through the Antilles, to northeastern South America ( Miller 1988) . According to Flora do Brasil 2020 (under construction), in Brazil occurs exclusively in the Northeast (CE, RN, PB, PE, AL, SE, BA). B2, C2, C3, C4, D1, D2, D3, D4, D5.

Habitat:— Caatinga, riparian forest and disturbed environments, in sandy soils and argisoils.

Phenology:— Collected in flower from January to March, June, and October; in fruit in June.

Selected material examined:— BRAZIL. Rio Grande do Norte: Açú, 05º47’58”S, 36º55’14”W, June 1995, fl. fr., F. Galvani & L.G.L. Diniz 10 (MOSS). Almino Afonso, 06º11’00”S, 37º47’00”W, June 1997, fl. fr., O.F. Oliveira 5095 (MOSS). Apodi, 05º39’51”S, 37º47’56”W, October 1999, fl., A. Pinto 05 (MOSS). Campo Grande, 05º51’50”S, 36º03’30”W, June 1999, fl. fr., W. Castro 08 (MOSS). Florânia, 06º03’30”S, 36º47’00”W, March 1980, fl., O.F. Oliveira et al. 190 (MOSS). Jucurutu, 06º12’08”S, 37º02’08”W, March 2007, fl., A.A. Roque 10 (MOSS). Mossoró, 05º14’00”S, 36º06’00”W, June 1979, fl. fr., M.C. Rego 08 (MOSS). São Miguel, 06º12’43”S, 38º29’49”W, June 1997, fl. fr., C. Marques-Neto 14 (MOSS). São Tomé, 06º03’30”S, 36º03’30”W, June 1980, fl. fr., O.F. Oliveira et al. 343 (MOSS).