Ficus tubulosa Pelissari & Romaniuc, 2014

Pelissari, Gisela & Neto, Sergio Romaniuc, 2014, Ficus tubulosa (Moraceae), a new Amazonian species and the re-establishment of Ficus trachelosyce, Phytotaxa 170 (3), pp. 207-212 : 208-209

Ficus tubulosa Pelissari & Romaniuc , sp. nov. Fig. 1

Type:— BRASIL. Acre: Senador Guiomard, Fazenda Experimental Catuaba , BR 364 , Km 35, 10°04’ S, 67°37’ W, 17 April 2010, H . Medeiros et al. 391 (holotype SP!, isotype NY, UFACPZ, RB!) .

Diagnosis:— Folia elliptica , glabra, apicibus acuminati. Receptacula pedunculata , obovata, ostiolum elevatum, tubiforme.

Description:— Tree to 12 (–35) m tall or hemi-epiphytic. Leafy twigs 3–5 mm thick, glabrous; periderm persistent. Lamina (sub)coriaceous, elliptic, 6–14 x 3–6 cm, base acute to cuneate, apex acuminate; both surfaces glabrous; midrib reaching the apex of the lamina; lateral veins brochidodromous, 8–11 pairs, the first pair of lateral veins diverging from the midrib at an 45–50° angle, with one glandular spot at the base of the midrib beneath; tertiary venation reticulate; petiole 2–3.5 cm long, ca. 1 mm thick, glabrous, the epidermis persistent; stipules 3–7 mm long, glabrous or sparsely and minutely puberulous, caducous. Figs axillary, in pairs, greenish; peduncle 0.4–1 cm long; epibracts 1–1.5 mm long, persistent, the apex rounded to obtuse; receptacle rounded to obovate, 5–7 mm in diameter when dry, glabrous, yellowish to greenish, reddish at maturity, maculate, whitish to brownish spots; ostiole tubular, straight, 2–4 mm long, 1–2 mm in diameter, deeply crateriform. Staminate flowers with pedicels absent to very short, with a triangular basal bract ca. 1 mm long; perianth ca. 1 mm long, glabrous, with 3 basally connate tepals; stamens 1, the anthers ca. 1 mm long. Long pistillate flowers with pedicels 1–1.5 mm long; tepals 3, basally connate, 1–1.5 mm long, glabrous; style 0.5 mm long, lateral, the stigma simple, plumose; interfloral bracts up to 0.5 mm, triangular, glabrous. Short pistillate flowers sessile or subsessile, 0.5–1 mm long. Figure 1 .

Distribution and Habitat:— North of Amazonas, Acre to West-central Peru and also from West to Northwest of Bolivia, at elevations between 185–450m altitude in disturbed areas or in forests nearby watercourses.

Vernacular Name:— Apuí (BRA), renaco blanco (PER).

Etymology:— The epithet refers to the tubular format of the ostiole.

Additional specimens examined:— BOLIVIA. Depto La Paz: Provincia Abel Iturralde, Parque Nacional y Area Natural de Manejo integrado Madidi , Laguna Chalalán , entrando 45 min sobre orilla izquierda de río Tuichi , 14°26’S, 67°55’W, 450 m, 25 April 1997, N. Y . Paniagua Zambrana 1242 ( BG!, LPB). Provincia Franz Tamayo, Parque Nacional Madidi, laguna Chalalán, bosque amazônico preandino inundable, 14°25’30’’S, 67°55’16’’W, 300 m, 26 September 2006, A. A . Murakami. et al. 3150 ( BG!, BOLV, LPB, MA, MO, USZ). Depto Pando: Provincia Nicolás Suarez, Cementerio general de Cobija, 15 September 2005, G . Torrico 1899 ( BG!, UAP) . BRAZIL. Acre: Plácido de Castro, margem esquerda do Rio Abunã , 13 May 2001, L. G . Lohmann & E. C . de Oliveira 491 ( BG!). Xapurí, Seringal Cachoeira, BR 317 , ramal Cachoeira , 16km ao longo do ramal, 10°55’49’’ S, 68°13’54’’W, 03 May 2010, H . Medeiros et al. 638 ( RB, SP!). Amazonas: Itu, Rio Acre, 04 November 1923, J. G . Kuhlmann 756 ( INPA!, RB!). Maraã, Rio Jupurá , 01 November 1982, I. L . Amaral et al. 276 ( INPA!) . PERU. Depto. San Martín: Província Mariscal Caceres, Distrito de Campanilla , margen izquierda del río Huallaga , 12 August 1970, J . Schunke 4241 ( IAN!) .

Discussion:— Ficus pertusa complex proposed by Berg (1981) is characterized by species with maculate figs with the ostiole sunken in the receptacle and leaves varying from small to medium-sized. Berg (2007) separates this complex in informal entities: ‘pertusa-form’, ‘subtriplinervia-form’, ‘padifolia-form’, ‘arpazusa-form’, ‘broadwayiform’ and ‘trachelosyce-form’, the latter with small to large figs of which the apex is protracted up to 1 cm long, distributed from Central America to north-western South America.

F. tubulosa is also included in F. pertusa complex, but it is morphologically closest to F. trachelosyce , differing from the latter one by its obovate syconium with tubular ostiole ( Fig. 2 , Tab. 1).

The entire Ficus pertusa complex occurs from southern Mexico through Central America to Jamaica and in South America to western Ecuador, the Guianas, eastern Brazil, and Paraguay. Ficus pertusa occurs in all these areas, in evergreen to deciduous forest, at altitudes up to 2000 m, whereas Ficus trachelosyce occurs from Colombia to Costa Rica up to 400 m and F. tubulosa from north of Amazonas, Acre to west-central Peru and also from west to northwest of Bolivia, in woodland, Igapó forest and river banks, in altitudes up to 450 m ( Fig. 3 ).

Re-establishment of Ficus trachelosyce :— Ficus trachelosyce Dugand was informally treated by Berg (1981) as Ficus pertusa L. ‘trachelosyce-form’. During the Flora of Venezuela, Berg (2000) officially treated this species as synonym of F. pertusa . However, the characteristics identified by the author and the analyzes of both type materials enabled us to re-establish F. trachelosyce as distinct species from F. pertusa . The main characteristics that distinguish them are related to the structure of the inflorescence: F. pertusa has globose syconium with umbilicate ostiole, while F. trachelosyce has globose syconium with infundibuliform ostiole. For these characteristics we re-establish F. trachelosyce as a valid species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Ficus tubulosa (from the holotype). A. Habit. B. Detail of the stipule. C. Detail of the lower surface of the lamina. D. Syconium. E. Syconium apical view and orobracts. F. Syconium basal view and epibracts. G. Short pistillate flower. H. Long pistillate flower. I. Staminate flower with one stamen.

FIGURE 2. Comparative board of the species, showing specially the morphology of the inflorescence. A. Ficus pertusa (photo by G. Pelissari). B. Ficus trachelosyce (illustration by I. Zulueta— from the protologue). C. Ficus tubulosa (photo by H. Medeiros – from the holotype).

FIGURE 3. Specimen locality dot map of Central America and northeast of South America showing distribution of Ficus pertusa, F. trachelosyce and F. tubulosa (based on herbarium material).