Chelonanthus purpurascens ( Aublet 1775: 201 ) Struwe & Albert (1998: 70)

Tanajura, Jéssica Leão Barbosa, Pinho, Carolina Santos, Silva, Rilquer Mascarenhas Da & Carvalho, Maria Luiza Silveira De, 2021, Integrative assessment of the floristic diversity of Gentianaceae in an area of campo rupestre of the Espinhaço Range in the state of Bahia, northeastern Brazil, Phytotaxa 500 (2), pp. 61-94 : 71

Chelonanthus purpurascens ( Aublet 1775: 201) Struwe & Albert (1998: 70) Fig. 3B .

Herbs, 35–70 cm tall. Branches green, quadrangular, costate. Leaves opposite, sessile or short-petiolate, discolorous; blades 5–5.5 × 1.5–1.8 cm, ovate-lanceolate, chartaceous, glabrous, attenuate at base, acute at apex, entire at margin. Inflorescence in terminal cymes, 3-flowered, peduncle 3.1–5.3 cm. Flowers homostylous, 5-merous, pedicel 5–7 mm; calyx 0.5 × 0.3–0.4 cm, green, keeled, not winged, tubular, glabrous; lilac corolla, infundibuliform, tube 1.5 cm, lobes ca. 0.5 cm, at base wide-elliptic, at apex cuspidate; stamens ca. 11 mm, heterodynamous, adnate, conation 5–6 mm, anthers basifixed; ovary 6 × 3 mm, style ca. 10 mm, stigma bilamellate. Fruit septifragal capsule.

Habitat and distribution:— Chelonanthus purpurascens has a wide distribution in South America, occurring in “campo rupestre”, Caatiga, Cerrado, “riparian” forests, “igapó” forests, “terra firme” forest and Amazonian savannas ( Siqueira et al. 2014, Calió et al. 2015, Guimarães et al. 2018). In Brazil, there are confirmed occurrences for the states of Acre, Amazonas, Amapá, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, Alagoas, Bahia, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo ( Calió et al. 2015) ( Fig. 3B , Appendix 1).

Comments:—It can be identified by the ovate-lanceolate leaves, lilac flowers, and stigma bilamellate ( Struwe et al. 2002, Guimarães et al. 2018). The plants have a very specific aroma in its roots and is widely used in popular medicine for wound healing ( Harley & Giulietti 2004). It can be found with flowers and fruits throughout the year ( Siqueira et al. 2014).

Specimens examined:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Mucugê, próximo à entrada do Parque, 28 July 2017, fl., M . L .S. Carvalho et al. 450 ( ALCB!); Trilha do Tiburtino , 18 June 2018, fl., M . L .S. Carvalho et al. 606 ( ALCB!); 29 July 2004, fl., A . Ferreira-Silva 21 ( HUEFS!) .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Species of Gentianaceae from the Parque Municipal de Mucugê - Projeto Sempre Viva (PMM), Bahia, Brazil: Calolisianthus pedunculatus (A), Chelonanthus purpurascens (B), Curtia verticillaris (C), Curtia tenuifolia (D), Prepusa montana (E), Schultesia bahiensis (F), Schultesia crenuliflora (G), Schultesia pachyphylla (H). Scale bars:A: 2 cm; B: 1 cm; C: 0,5 cm; D: 0,5 cm; E: 2 cm; F–H: 1 cm. Photo A, B, E, F, G and H by Maria Luiza Silveira de Carvalho; C and D by Vinicius Dittrich and Gustavo Shimizu, respectively.