Eugenia bahiensis De Candolle (1828: 271)

Valdemarin, Karinne Sampaio, Mazine, Fiorella F. & Souza, Vinicius Castro, 2024, Eugenia (Myrtaceae) from Reserva Natural Vale, Espírito Santo, a center of plant endemism in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, Phytotaxa 651 (1), pp. 1-79 : 21-22

7. Eugenia bahiensis De Candolle (1828: 271) . ( Fig. 8C .)

Trees 5–30 m tall. Twigs puberulent or velutinous when young, glabrescent; trichomes brownish. Young leaves velutinous, glabrescent; trichomes brownish or whitish. Leaves with petioles 4–8 mm long, canaliculate adaxially, puberulent; blades 40–110 × 20–55 mm, elliptic or ovate, concolorous when dry, not glaucous, glabrous adaxially and puberulent abaxially; bases obtuse or attenuate; apices obtuse or slightly acuminate; midvein sulcate adaxially and raised abaxially, glabrate adaxially and puberulent abaxially; secondary veins 8–11 at each side, slightly raised on both surfaces, the first pair confluent with the marginal innermost vein; marginal veins two, the innermost 2.5–6 mm from the plane to revolute and without thickening margin; oil glands inconspicuous adaxially and slightly raised abaxially. Inflorescences ramiflorous, rarely axillary, fascicle, sessile or with peduncle up to 1 mm long, rachis up to 1 mm long, puberulent or velutinous; bracts ca. 0.5 mm long, ovate, puberulent, deciduous at anthesis; 2–6 flowers; pedicels 5–11 mm long, puberulent or velutinous; bracteoles 0.5–1 mm long, free, ovate, apices obtuse, puberulent, not reflexed, persistent in the fruit; trichomes brownish or whitish. Flower buds 4–7 mm in diameter. Flowers with smooth, velutinous hypanthia; calyx lobes 4, fused by ca. 1 mm long at the base, 2.5–5.5 × 3.5–6 mm, ovate or suborbiculate, apices rounded, velutinous; petals 4, obovate, oil glands not evident; staminal ring puberulent; stamens with filaments 6–7 mm, anthers oblong; style 8–10 mm, puberulent, stigma punctiform; ovary 2–locular, ovules 26–32 per locule, locule internally glabrous. Fruits 12–20 × 9–10.5 mm, ellipsoid or oblong, smooth, velutinous, purple when ripe; seed 1–2 per fruit, 10–17 × 7.5–9 mm, ellipsoid, testa smooth.

Specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: Mun. Linhares, Reserva Natural Vale – Aceiro com catelã, 09 September 2005, fl., G.S. Siqueira 197 (CVRD!, HUFSJ!, SORO!) ; ibid., Estrada Flamengo , ant. X-1, k 8.049, lado direito, 16 November 1980, fl., D.A. Folli 276 (CVRD!, RB!, SORO!) ; ibid., Estrada Mantegueira , 11 December 2016, fl., K.S. Valdemarin 388 (ESA!) ; ibid., 18 November , fl., G.S. Siqueira 1023 (CVRD!, SORO!) ; ibid., 31 March 2012, fr., J.E.Q. Faria 2527 (CVRD!, SORO!, UB) ; ibid., Trilha do Pequi Vinagreiro , 02 December 2013, fl., D.A. Folli 7153 (CVRD!, HUEFS, SORO!) ; ibid., 13 December 2016, fl., K.S. Valdemarin 458 (ESA!) .

Distribution and habitat: — Eugenia bahiensis is known from collections from the state of Bahia and Santa Catarina in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil. In the RNV, the species is found in the Mata Alta vegetation, growing mainly in the understory but sometimes reaching the canopy, as the specimen K.S. Valdemarin 458 which is 30 m tall.

Phenology: — Flowering in September through December; fruiting in March ( Fig. 4 ).

Taxonomic comments: —The species is assigned to Eugenia sect. Umbellatae . Eugenia bahiensis is morphologically similar to E. atlantica and E. prasina O. Berg (1857: 225) specimens that have pubescent hypanthia (see comments under E. prasina for further information). Details about morphological similarities and differences from Eugenia bahiensis and the former have already been presented on the comments of E. atlantica . Regarding Eugenia prasina , the species are similar due to its fasciculate inflorescences, bracteoles persistent in the fruit, which is ellipsoid or oblong, and purple when ripe. However, Eugenia bahiensis can be distinguished by its leaves puberulent abaxially with midvein sulcate adaxially (vs. leaves glabrous on both surfaces and midvein biconvex adaxially), inflorescences mostly ramiflorous (vs. axillary), and velutinous calyx lobes and hypanthia (vs. calyx lobes glabrous and pubescent hypanthia). Further, the combination of flowers with velutinous indumentum in hypanthia and calyx lobes, the smooth hypanthia and calyx lobes fused at the base distinguish the species from all other species of the genus in RNV.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Phenological diagram of Eugenia species from Reserva Natural Vale, Espírito Santo, Brazil. Flowering periods are represented by dark red border triangles, fruiting in grey filled triangles, and “n” is the number of observations.

FIGURE 8. A. Fruiting branch of Eugenia astringens (K.S. Valdemarin 178), B. Flowering branch of E. atlantica (K.S. Valdemarin 772), C. Flowering branch of E. bahiensis (K.S. Valdemarin 458), D. Fruiting branch of E. batingabranca (G. Siqueira, Vale S.A.).