Eugenia plicatocostata O.Berg (1859: 575)

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 : 61

38. Eugenia plicatocostata O.Berg (1859: 575) . ( Fig. 25 .)

Trees 10–18 m tall. Twigs puberulent when young, glabrescent; trichomes brownish. Young leaves glabrous. Leaves with petioles 4–8.5 mm long, canaliculate, puberulent or glabrous; blades 80–115 × 35–70 mm, ovate or sometimes elliptic, concolorous when dry, not glaucous and glabrous on both surfaces; bases rounded or attenuate; apices acuminate or caudate; midvein sulcate adaxially and raised abaxially, glabrous on both surfaces; secondary veins 9–12 at each side, slightly raised adaxially, sometimes sulcate, and raise abaxially, the first pair not confluent with the innermost marginal vein; marginal veins two or three, the innermost 5–12 mm from the plane without thickening margin; oil glands raised on both surfaces. Inflorescences axillary, glomerules or fascicle, peduncle ca. 1.5 mm long, rachis inconspicuous, puberulent; bracts ca. 1 mm long, ovate, puberulent, persistent at anthesis; 4–6 flowers; pedicels up to 2 mm long or absent, puberulent; bracteoles 1–1.5 mm long, completely connate or at least along two-thirds of its length, ovate, apices obtuse, puberulent, not reflexed, persistent in the fruit; trichomes brownish. Flower buds 2–2.5 mm in diameter. Flowers with smooth or slightly glandulose, puberulent hypanthia; calyx lobes 4, free, 1.5–2 × 2 mm, orbiculate, apices obtuse, puberulent; petals not seem; staminal ring pubescent; stamens not seem; style 5–6 mm, glabrous, stigma punctiform and papillose; ovary 2-locular, ovules 5–7 per locule, locule internally glabrous. Fruits 11–18 × 8–12 mm, globose or ellipsoid, slightly glandulose, puberulent; dark purple when ripe; seed 1 per fruit, ca. 9 × 7 mm, ellipsoid, testa smooth.

Specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: Linhares, Reserva Natural Vale – Estrada Gávea , 18 November 1991, fl., D.A. Folli 1486 (CVRD!, HUFSJ!, SORO!) ; ibid., 19 January 2001, fr., D.A. Folli 3811 (CVRD!, RB!, SORO!) ; ibid., RFL 01/80 bloco B, 29 January 2003, fr., D.A. Folli 4459 (CVRD!, HUFSJ!, SORO!) .

Distribution and habitat: — Eugenia plicatocostata is known from collections from the state of Bahia and Espírito Santo in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil. In the RNV, the species is found in the Mata Alta vegetation.

Phenology: —Flowering in November; fruiting in January ( Fig. 5 ).

Taxonomic comments: —The species is assigned to Eugenia sect. Umbellatae . Although Eugenia plicatocostata has fruits with glandular surface being similar to E. adenantha , it can be easily distinguished from the later, and all other species of the genus in RNV, by the leaf blades with the first pair of secondary veins not confluent with the innermost marginal vein, the presence of two or sometimes three marginal veins, and inflorescences in glomerules.

Figures

FIGURE 5. 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 25. Dry specimen of Eugenia plicatocostata.