Myriopus salzmannii (De Candolle) Diane & Hilger

Melo, José Iranildo Miranda De, Paulino, Renan Da Cruz, Oliveira, Regina Célia De & Vieira, Diego Daltro, 2018, Flora of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil: Boraginales, Phytotaxa 357 (4), pp. 235-260 : 255

3.3. Myriopus salzmannii (De Candolle) Diane & Hilger in Hilger & Diane (2003: 47).

≡ Tournefortia salzmannii De Candolle (1845: 524) .

Decumbent subshrubs, sometimes forming dense colonies; stems subcylindrical, glabrous, with pale brown lenticels. Leaves alternate; blade 3.3–5.6 × 1.9–3.1 cm, membranaceous, bicolor, elliptic to ovate, apex acute to obtuse, margin entire, ciliate, base rounded, adaxially strigose, abaxially villous, trichomes ferrugineous; venation brochidodromous; petiole 0.5–0.7 mm long, villous. Inflorescences 4–4.7 cm long, terminal, paniculiform, scorpioid, with secondary branches, lax; peduncle 1.8–2.6 cm long. Flowers ca. 5 mm long, subsessile; calyx ca. 3 mm long, lobes 2 × 0.3–0.4 mm, slightly unequal, lanceolate, villous; corolla ca. 5 mm long, tube 2.8–3 mm long, constricted at ca. 0.8 mm from the base, externally sericeous, internally pubescent, lobes 2–2.5 mm long, linear, punctate externally and internally, apex pale brown. Stamens inserted at ca. 2 mm from the tube base; anthers ca. 1 mm long, ovate-lanceolate. Ovary ca. 1 mm long, conical-pyramidal; style ca. 1.5 mm long; stigma ca. 0.5 mm long, narrowly conical, pubescent, disc thickened. Drupe ca. 3 mm long, globose, 4-lobate; seed 1 per lobe, ca. 2 mm long, depressed-globose, split ventrally, verruculose.

Notes:— This species is recognized, primarily, by the bicolor leaf blades, conical-pyramidal ovary, and narrowly conical stigma. Illustrations of M. salzmannii can be found in Melo & Sales (2005a) as Tournefortia salzmannii and in Vieira et al. (2015).

Geographic distribution:— Occurs in South America , from Bolivia and Paraguay, to Argentina and Brazil ( Johnston 1930). In Brazil with records for the Northeast, Southeast and South regions ( Flora do Brasil 2020 under construction). B2, C7, D2, D5.

Habitat:— Caatinga, mountainous areas, and the littoral.

Phenology:— Collected in flower and fruit in January, March, June and October.

Selected material examined:— BRAZIL. Rio Grande do Norte: Lagoa Nova, 06º05’00”S, 36º27’30”W, June 1980, fl. fr., O.F. Oliveira et al. 1184 (MOSS). Martins, October 2007, fl. fr., R.G.V. Camacho et al. 79 (HUERN, MOSS). Mossoró, March 2006, fl. fr., M.L. Silva et al. 16 (MOSS). Natal, 05º47’42”S, 35º12’34”W, January 1994, fl. fr., J.A. Fontenele 35 (MOSS). Patu, January 2008, fl. fr., J.I.M. Melo et al. 661 (MOSS).