Eremanthus praetermissus Loeuille & Pirani, 2016

Loeuille, Benoît & Pirani, José Rubens, 2016, Two new syncephalous species of Eremanthus (Asteraceae: Vernonieae) from southeastern Brazil, Phytotaxa 243 (2), pp. 128-136 : 128-132

Eremanthus praetermissus Loeuille & Pirani , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1 , 2 )

Species Eremantho erythropappo primo aspectu maxime simile, sed syncephalio brunneo (non stramineo), capitulis inter 1/3 ad 2/5 pro longitudinem connatis (non dimidio ad per totam longitudinem) et phyllariis brunneis (non stramineis) differt.

Type:— BRAZIL. São Paulo: Biritiba Mirim, Pedra do Garrafão, 23° 39’ 33.5” S, 46° 02’ 11” W, 999 m, fl. fr., 17 June 2013, B. Loeuille et al. 830 (holotype: SPF!, isotypes: K!, MBM!, P!, RB!, US!).

Treelet 2.5–3 m, rarely tree up to 6 m; bark ± fissured longitudinally. Stems branched in the upper part, formerly leafy, later becoming leafless, brown-greyish lepidote with triangular leaf-scars following leaf falls, younger branches frequently flattened and furrowed. Leaves alternate, simple; petiole 0.6–2.9 cm long, discolorous; blade elliptic or lanceolate, sometimes narrowly ovate, 4.2–11.9 × 1.3–5.1 cm, venation brochidodromous, midrib prominent abaxially, sometimes slightly furrowed, adaxially shiny dark green, glabrate or rarely sparsely lepidote, glandular dotted, abaxially dirty white, lepidote, tomentum of branched, 3- to 5-armed, bladder-like trichomes, membranaceous to subcoriaceous, margins entire or less frequently dentate, flat, apex acute to acuminate, base attenuate, frequently asymmetrical. Capitula fused in a syncephalium (secondary order inflorescence), organized in a lateral compound cyme of 100 or more syncephalia. Syncephalium 7–17.4 mm tall, 5.7–10.6 mm in diam., hemispherical; bracteoles 1–3, 2.4–9.8 mm long, leaf-like, ovate to lanceolate; secondary bracts deltoid, pale to dark brown, densely tomentose, 1.4–4 mm long. Capitula 6–24, homogamous, discoid, sessile, fused for 1/3–2/5 of their length; involucre 3–6.7 mm tall, 1.3–3.2 mm in diam., 5–6-seriate, obconical; outer phyllaries obovate to oblanceolate, 1–3 × 0.6–1.4 mm, imbricate, margins at the upper part scarious, brown, apex obtuse, tomentose, purple; inner phyllaries lanceolate, 4–5.6 × 0.5–1.1 mm long, loosely imbricate, brown, glabrescent, margins at the upper part subscarious, apex acute to acuminate, tomentulose, purple; receptacle flat, with some isolated fimbriae to c. 0.5 mm. Florets 3–4 per capitulum, bisexual, fertile; corollae actinomorphic, deeply 5-lobed, white to pale lilac, corolla tube 2.1–3.5 × 0.4–1.2 mm, glabrous, corolla lobes 1.7–2.6 × 0.4–0.8 mm, glandular-punctate, apex acute; anther lilac, apical anther appendages trullate, acute, anther base sagittate, acute; style shaft 5.6–6.9 mm long, pale lilac, glabrous throughout except for pubescent upper 0.6–1.3 mm beneath style-arms, style-arms 1–1.4 mm long, apex acute, pubescent outside, hairs acute, style-base glabrous, lacking basal node. Cypsela cylindric to turbinate, 1.9–2.7 × 0.7–1 mm, strongly 10-ribbed, glabrous, densely glandular-punctate; carpopodium minute; pappus setae 3–4-seriate, purple or white, setose, caducous, ± barbellate, frequently slightly twisted throughout length, outermost series 1.5–3.2 mm, innermost series 3.5–4.2 mm.

Vernacular names:—Candeia.

Distribution: —Currently known from the northeastern part of the Serra do Mar along the Atlantic coast of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states, southeastern Brazil ( Fig. 3 ). It grows in restinga (Atlantic coastal strand vegetation on sandy soils at low altitudes), near to beaches, or on high altitude grasslands, and on border of ombrophyllous forests, from low elevations to 1300 m.

Conservation status: —The species is known from several populations, frequently with more than 200 individuals. However several of these populations are highly fragmented. It presents EOO = 2.966, 46 km 2, AOO = 44 km 2 and ten known locations remain after the population decrease especially due to restinga deforestation driven by real estate speculation and tourism developments ( Buzato 2012), and also in consequence to the intentional use related to oil extraction. It results in a continuing decline of extent of occurence, area of occupancy, quality of habitat, number of subpopulations and mature individuals, even though they are situated in protected areas (Parque Estadual da Ilha Anchieta, Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, núcleo Caraguatatuba, and Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, núcleo Picinguaba). According to criteria B1ab (i, ii, iii, iv, v)+B2ab (i, ii, iii, iv, v) ( IUCN 2014), this species is considered vulnerable (VU) ( Negrão 2015a).

Etymology: —Even though the new species of Eremanthus occurs in one of the better botanically explored regions in Brazil ( Shepherd 2003) and several specimens have been found in herbaria, it has been overlooked ( praetermissus ) by previous botanists.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes): — BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro: Paraty, Praia Negra —Pico do Caiuruçu, 25 March 1992, Farney et al. 3124 ( RB!). São Paulo: rodovia Bertioga-São Sebastião , 19 June 1972, Leitão Filho 1348 ( UEC!) ; Ubatuba / Caraguatatuba , 16–17 August 1983, Sarti et al. 14996 ( UEC!) ; Ubatuba, praia Dura , 17 June 1985, Semir et al. 17644 ( UEC!) ; ibid., 17 June 1985, Taroda et al. 17644 ( IBGE!, UEC!) ; Ubatuba, estrada da Praia do Tenório ao Fasol , 20 July 1993, Leitão Filho et al. 28740 ( UEC!) ; Caraguatatuba, Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, núcleo Caraguatatuba , estrada intermediária, ca. 41 km, 1200 m, 23° 38’ 44” S, 45° 40’ 21” W, 25 April 2000, Paula-Souza et al. 3477 ( ESA!, SPSF, UEC!, UNIP) ; Salesópolis, Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar , estrada intermediária, ca. 45 km, 1150 m, 23° 38’ 16.7” S, 45° 41’ 56.6” W, 25 April 2000, Franco et al. 3006 ( ESA!, BHCB!, UEC!) ; ibid., 25 April 2000, Franco et al. 3016 ( ESA!, SPF!, UEC!) ; Cunha, subida para Pedra da Macela , 23° 08’ 21” S, 44° 48’ 52” W, 11 July 2006, Paula-Souza et al. 5793 ( ESA!, HB, LPB, SPSF, VEN) ; Ubatuba, Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, Morro do Cuscuzeiro , 1270 m, 18 May 2007, Bertoncello 905 ( UEC!) ; Ubatuba, Parque Estadual da Ilha Anchieta ( PEIA), Mirante do Sul , 23° 31’– 23° 34’ S, 45° 02’– 45° 05’ W, 22 July 2007, Luize & Zipparro 19 ( ESA!) .

Discussion: —Specimens of this new taxon have been identified as Eremanthus erythropappus ( Candolle 1836: 82) MacLeish (1987: 284) until now. Even though herbarium specimens of both species are in fact very similar, during routine identification of field photographs sent by Dr. Vinicius Dittrich ( Fig. 2 A ), the color and morphological details of the syncephalium revealed that the plants here recognized as a new species are conspicuously different from E. erythropappus . This fact highlights the importance of field observations in taxonomic studies of Lychnophorinae : several informative morphological characters, like the habit, color and other aspects of syncephalia, are frequently lost or hidden in exsiccatae.

In E. praetermissus , the presence of obconical heads partially fused into a syncephalium and glabrous cypselae with frequently twisted caducous pappus places this species in E. subgen. Vanillosmopsis sect. Vanillosmopsis ( Schultz-Bipontinus 1863: 398) MacLeish (1987: 283) . Belonging to that same section, E. erythropappus shares with E. praetermissus the heads with 3–4 florets, whereas its heads are also partially fused by tissue concrescence into an hemispherical syncephalium. However, E. praetermissus is distinct from E. erythropappus in the brown syncephalia (vs. stramineous), heads fused for 1/3 to 2/5 of their length (vs. 1/2 to nearly entire length) and brown phyllaries (vs. stramineous) ( Figs. 1 , 2 ). The new species is restricted to northeastern Serra do Mar in São Paulo and southern Rio de Janeiro states; E. erythropappus occurs in both states but not sympatrically with E. praetermissus : populations of the latter occur only on the eastern, Atlantic side of the Serra do Mar, apart from populations of the other species by the upper Paraiba do Sul river ( Fig. 3 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Eremanthus praetermissus. A. Flowering branch. B. Corolla, androecium and style. C. Cypsela and pappus. D. Leaf, abaxial surface. E. Syncephalium. Eremanthus ovatifolius. F. Flowering branch. G. Leaf, abaxial surface. H. Syncephalium. A–E. Loeuille et al. 830 (SPF). F–G. Loeuille et al. 898 (SPF).

FIGURE 2. Eremanthus praetermissus. A. Syncephalium, frontal view. B. Habit. C. Syncephalium, lateral view. D. Flowering branch. Eremanthus erythropappus. E. Syncephalium, lateral view. F. Flowering branch. A. by V. Dittrich; B.–F. by B. Loeuille.

FIGURE 3. Distribution of Eremanthus erythropappus (blue circle), E. praetermissus (red triangle) and E. ovatifolius (yellow star).