Puya cahuachensis A. Galán, J. Montoya, J.A. Vicente & E. Linares, 2016

Mera, Antonio Galán De, Montoya, Juan, Vicente Orellana, José A. & Perea, Eliana Linares, 2016, Puya cahuachensis (Bromeliaceae, Puyopsis), a new species from Southern Peru, Phytotaxa 283 (3), pp. 286-290 : 286-289

Puya cahuachensis A. Galán, J. Montoya, J.A. Vicente & E. Linares , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1 , 2 & 3 )

This species can be distinguished from P. weberbaueri by its leaf blades with retrorse brown spines (vs. antrorse green yellowish spines), peduncle erect (vs. mostly bending), a sub-pyramidal to oblong inflorescence with long subcylindrical, 5–8 flowered branches becoming lax after anthesis (vs. closely packed, short, 12–18 flowered branches also after anthesis), rachis, pedicels and sepals with a soft white woolly pubescence that does not fully mask the grayish color of the rachis, and greenish bracts and sepals at anthesis (vs. soft white woolly pubescence that fully masks the color of the rachis, bracts and sepals at anthesis).

Type.— PERU. Arequipa: Caravelí, Cahuacho , 15°32’47.57’’S, 73°29’59.89’’W, 3227 m, 11 August 2009, E. Linares, J. Montoya & A. Galán 4306 (holotype CPUN!; isotype USP!) .

Plants flowering up to 1.70 m high. Leaf blades 53–96 × 2.9–6 cm, ensiform, very rigid, broad at the base but tapering gradually to a long attanuate point, glabrous and lustrous adaxilly, minutely appressed lepidote with small white scales abaxially, with rigid margins with curved retrorse flat chestnut colored spines between 2–7 mm, the largest at the base, the upper spines becoming gradually smaller. Peduncle 1.1–1.5 m long and 1.5–3.5 cm in diameter, straight, stout, greyish, glabrous. Peduncle bracts foliaceous 28–37.5 × 0.5–1.5 cm, the lower ones up to 4–5 times longer than the internodes, and upper ones shorter than the internodes, erect with recurved tips at anthesis, deciduous after anthesis, the sheath triangular, 0.5–2 × 3.5–4 cm, the blades with retrorse flat chesnut colored spines of 1–3 mm. Inflorescence 42–45 × 18–21 cm, panicled, laxly sub-pyramidal to oblong, with long subcylindrical, spirally arranged branches, becoming lax after anthesis. Axis greyish, with greenish bracts, clothed with a soft white woolly pubescence of stellate hairs with 3–5 branches, not fully masking the color of the axis and bracts. Primary bracts 2.3–5.5 × 1.5–2 cm, ovate, acuminate, entire, coriaceous, indistinctly veined, longer than the stipes of the branches, but exceeded by the branches for 4–6 cm. Branches 4.2–8.2 cm long, 1.7–2.7 cm in diameter, spirally arranged, 1–2 cm apart, sessile, fertile toward apex, densely 5–8 flowered. Floral bracts 1–2 × 0.5–0.8 cm, ovate, acute, entire, coriaceous, indistinctly veined, about equaling the sepals; Flowers divergent, distinctly pedicellate; pedicels 4–10 × 1–3 mm long, erect to patent, slender. Sepals 23–35 × 4–7 mm, slenderly oblong, acute, all carinate and alike, coriaceous, more or less imbricate, greenish. Petals 31–50 × 5–9 mm, oblong, rounded and mucronate, tightly twisted together counterclockwise after anthesis, green to bluish at maturity, purplish when dry. Stamens included, with whitish filament of 30–45 mm and green oblong anthers of 6–8 mm, with yellowish connective. Pistil 13–19 × 8–11 mm; ovary superior, ovate, placenta axial. Capsule 3–4 cm, oblong, with numerous seeds. Seeds 3.5–4 × 2–3 mm, inner part pale brown, with a circumferentially withish wing.

Distribution and habitat: — Puya cahuachensis is endemic to the northwest Arequipa Region, Peru, near the village of Cahuacho, in the surroundings of Quebrada Ocoruro ( Fig. 4 ). It grows and forms stands between eruptive rocks of the Puca Ccasa and Sara Sara volcanos, at 3220 m above sea level.

Phenology: —Flowering July–August; fruiting December–January.

Etymology: —The specific epithet is derived from Cahuacho, a small village situated in the northwest of the Arequipa Region, close to the Ayacucho Region border, in Southern Peru, near the type locality of this new species.

Additional specimens examined: — PERU. Arequipa, Caravelí, Cahuacho, 3224 m, 31 December 2015, A. Galán

& E. Linares 4307AG (AQP, USM, USP); Arequipa, Caravelí, Cahuacho , 3227 m, 31 December 2015, A. Galán & E. Linares 4308AG ( AQP, USM, USP) ; Arequipa, Caravelí, Cahuacho , 3226 m, 31 December 2015, A. Galán & E. Linares 4309AG ( AQP, B, CPUN, F, HUSA, MA, MO, USM, USP, WU) .

Discussion: — Puya cahuachensis appears to be closely related to P. weberbaueri ( Mez 1904: 633) from the Eastern Andean slopes (Central Peru to Eastern Bolivia) ( Fig. 4 ). It shares the following characters: inflorescences slenderly sub-pyramidal to oblong once-branched with subcylindrical branches spirally arranged, exceeding the primary bracts, white woolly pubescence, carinate sepals, and length and color of petals. However, P. cahuachensis can be distinguished from it by the following characteristics: erect peduncles up to 3.5 cm in diameter (vs. mostly bending peduncles up to 3 cm in diameter, sometime erect and up to 7 cm in diameter), wider leaf blades (2.9–6 cm vs. 1.7–4.5 cm) with retrorse brown spines up to 7 mm long (vs. antrorse green yellowish spines up to 5 mm long), indistinctly veined primary and floral bracts (vs. prominently veined primary and floral bracts), inflorescence up to 45 cm, with long subcylindrical, spirally arranged densely 5–8 flowered branches, exceeding the primary bracts for 4–6 cm, (vs. inflorescence up to 70 cm, with short subcylindrical, spirally arranged, densely 12–18 flowered branches, exceeding the primary bracts for only 1 cm), and covered with a soft white woolly pubescence that does not fully mask the grayish color of the rachis, the greenish bracts and sepals at anthesis (vs. soft white woolly dense pubescence that fully masks the color of the rachis, bracts and sepals at anthesis).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Holotype of Puya cahuachensis. Photo by E. Linares Perea.

FIGURE 2. Puya cahuachensis in the wild (Cahuacho, Arequipa, Peru). A. Habit, B. Stand on volcanic rocks. Photos by E. Linares Perea.

FIGURE 3. Details of Puya cahuachenis. A. Inflorescence, B. part of the leaf blade, C. Peduncle. Photos by E. Linares Perea.

FIGURE 4. Distribution of Puya cahuachensis (1) and P. weberbaueri (2) in Peru, based on herbarium material (Numbers in brackets are collected populations).