Racinaea condorensis Manzan. & Gouda, 2010

Manzanares, José M. & Gouda, Eric J., 2010, Four new species of the genus Racinaea (Bromeliaceae) from Ecuador, Phytotaxa 3, pp. 1-18 : 2-4

Racinaea condorensis Manzan. & Gouda , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1, 2 , 3 )

A Racinaea contorta cui verisimiliter affinis, rosula haud subbulbosa (nec dense subbulbosa), vaginis foliorum orbicularibus (nec ovatis), laminis triangularibus (nec anguste triangularibus), pedunculo folia superante (nec foliis breviore), spicis 2 cm longis (nec 3–6 cm longis) et valde angulatis (nec teretibus), bracteis floralibus 0.3 cm longis (nec 0.4 cm longis) marginibus in parte distali leviter undulatis (nec marginibus rectis), sepalis 0,4 cm longis (nec 5–6 mm longis) differt.

Type: — ECUADOR: Zamora-Chinchipe: Cordillera del Condor, km 47 on the road Los Encuentros-El Destacamento , 03º 41´S, 78º 31´W, 1450 m, 11 April 1997, J. M . Manzanares , E . Girko , J . Raack , E . Doherty & M . Navarro 6358 (holotype QCNE) .

Plant epiphytic, flowering ca. 31 cm tall. Leaves forming a rosette, erect, numerous, green and red maculate; sheaths ca. 5.5 cm long, 5.5 cm wide, orbicular, adaxially densely lepidote, lower part brown and the center browncastaneous, upper part with violet spots. Blades ca. 8.5 cm long, 2.4 cm wide, narrowly triangular, attenuate and recurved at apex, sparsely lepidote, green, with red-violet circular spots. Inflorescence ca. 13 cm long, 6 cm wide, once branched with about 11 branches; branches 0.4–1.5 cm apart, lax, glabrous, erect; axis green or red. Peduncle exceeding the leaves, ca. 16 cm long, 2 mm in diameter, erect, red, glabrous; peduncle bracts remote, the lower ones not foliaceous (all bractiform), 1–1.5 cm long, 0.6 cm wide, elliptic, apiculate, reddish, adaxially glabrous and abaxially sparsely lepidote, distinctly nerved. Primary bracts ovate, 0.4–1.2 cm long, ca. 0.3 cm wide, the lower ones shorter than and the upper ones equaling the stipe, tubular-involute, distinctly nerved, apiculate, sparsely lepidote, green to pink. Spikes with a stipe of 0.3–2.5 cm long bearing several sterile bracts, upper part dense and lower part sub-dense, ca. 2 cm long, 0.5 cm wide, 8–11-flowered; rachis geniculate, strongly angled, flowers 0.2 cm apart. Floral bracts ca. 3 mm long, 3 mm wide, ovate, rounded and acuminate, carinate, glabrous or lepidote, shorter than the sepals, incurved, green. Flowers distichous, not secund, sessile, spreading. Sepals ca. 4 mm long, 2 mm wide, asymmetrical, oblong, coriaceous, free, obtuse, ecarinate, glabrous. Petals ca. 5 mm long, white, the blade erect. Filaments ca. 1 mm long, flat; anthers 1 mm long, arranged around the stigma. Pistil reaching the middle of the anthers; ovary 1 mm long, globose; stigma and style 1 mm long.

Distribution:— Ecuador, province of Zamora-Chinchipe.

Etymology:—Referring to the Cordillera del Condor, where the type specimen was collected.

Observations:— Racinaea condorensis is related to R. contorta (Mez) Spencer & Smith (1993: 153) , but it can be distinguished by: a cyathiform rosette (vs. forming an ellipsoid pseudobulb), leaf-sheaths orbicular (vs. ovate); leaf-blades narrowly triangular with an attenuate recurved apex (vs. very narrowly triangular, involute, subulate with a long attenuate apex); a peduncle much exceeding the leaves (vs. shorter than the leaves); the inflorescence is erect (vs. a pendulous inflorescence), always once branched (vs. twice branched in most cases); spikes ca. 2 cm long (vs. 3–6 cm long) and rachis strongly angled (vs. rachis terete); the floral bracts 3 mm long (vs. 4 mm long) and the margins in the upper part slightly undulate (vs. strait) and the sepals 4 mm long (vs. 5–6 mm long).It can sometimes be confused with the once branched Racinaea euryelytra Grant (1994: 284) that forms a bulbous rosette with narrower leaf-blades and has only 15–20 leaves in a rosette (vs. about 25 in R. condorensis ). The blades are relatively longer in R. euryelytra (vs. about as long as the sheaths), with acute floral bracts (vs. rounded and acuminate) and the sepals are ca. 3 mm wide (vs. ca. 2 mm in Racinaea condorensis ).

In general Racinaea condorensis can be distinguished from all other species of Racinaea by the following combination of characteristics: plant forming a cyathiform rosette; leaf blades narrowly triangular ca. 2.4 cm wide near the base, with an attenuate apex; inflorescence laxly once branched on a peduncle much exceeding the leaves; spikes dense, only the lower ones long stipitate; floral bracts 3 mm long, exceeded by the 4 mm long sepals, carinate, rounded, and acuminate.

Comment:—In 1997 an expedition to southern Ecuador to study Bromeliaceae in the wild was organized. The participants of the expedition were: Elizabeth Patterson (vice-president of the Bromeliad Society of Dallas), Jerry Raack (president of the Bromeliad Society International), Ed Doherty (president of the Bromeliad Society of Dallas), Monica de Navarro (president of the Orchid Society of Quito) and the first author (curator of the Bromeliaceae at QCNE). During this trip we had the opportunity to study many species, especially Puya and Racinaea . Many of them were flowering at the time, which is unusual especially for Puya , which stays in a vegetative state for most of its life. During the 7 th day of the expedition in the Cordillera del Condor, we studied the bromeliads in an area from Los Ecuentros to El Destacamento. This road starts at the main road Zamora-Gualaquiza and enters into the most beautiful area that exists in Ecuador, the Cordillera del Condor. It terminates at a military camp that prevents visitors from going any further, which is just as well, because this area is loaded with land mines. In this area we found specimens of Racinaea undulifolia (Mez) H.Luther , R. schumanniana (Wittm.) J.R.Grant , R. penladii var. pedunculata (L.B.Sm.) M.A.Spencer & L.B.Sm. , and R. spiculosa (Griseb.) M.A.Spencer & L.B.Sm. , among several species of Aechmea , Guzmania , Mezobromelia , Tillandsia , and Vriesea .

Figures

FIGURE 2. Detail of the inflorescence of Racinaea condorensis Manzan. & Gouda

FIGURE 3. Racinaea condorensis Manzan. & Gouda. A. Spike. B. Flower bract. C. Sepal.