Cryptanthus santosii Leme & E.H. Souza, 2021

Souza, Everton Hilo De & Leme, Elton M. C., 2021, New Cryptanthus species (Bromeliaceae: Bromelioideae) from the State of Bahia, Brazil, Phytotaxa 523 (2), pp. 179-191 : 186-188

3. Cryptanthus santosii Leme & E.H. Souza , sp. nov. ( Fig. 5 A–F )

Diagnosis:—This new species can be distinguished from the closest relative, C. walkerianus , by the longer leaves (60–95 cm vs. 35–75 cm), with longer pseudopetioles (32–57 cm vs. 12–33 cm), and narrower blades (3.5–4.2 cm vs. 5.5–9 cm), inflorescence with an inconspicuous central head of staminate flowers (vs. conspicuous central head of staminate flowers), sepals densely and remotely denticulate (vs. entire), and petals longer (ca. 40 mm vs. 27–28 mm long) and acute (vs. obtuse).

Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Belmonte, BA-275, near to Rio Preto, entrance to the right toward Rio do BU, Comunidade do Canta Galo , 75 m elevation, 12 October 2019, E. Leme 9835, J.E. Santos & E.H. Souza (holotype RB!, isotype HURB!) .

Description:— Plants terrestrial, stemless, propagating by short basal shoots. Leaves ca. 8 in number, 60–95 cm long, suberect at anthesis, laxly arranged; sheath trapeziform, 5 × 2.5–3 cm, green to wine colored mainly abaxially, inconspicuously and sparsely white lepidote, distinctly rugose, inconspicuously and densely spinulose near distal end; blade long petiolate; petiole 32–57 × 0.5–0.8 cm, distinctly contrasting with the blades, strongly “U”-channeled, thick coriaceous, subdensely white lepidote abaxially, sparsely white lepidote to glabrous adaxially, wine colored near the base and green toward distal end, margins entire or irregularly and minutely spinulose mainly near the base and distal end; blade narrowly lanceolate, apex long caudate, 22–39 × 3.5–4.2 cm, thin coriaceous, thicker channel absent, flat toward the apex, dull green colored, sulcate due to sparsely pronounced longitudinal nerves, abaxially densely and coarsely white lepidote, adaxially inconspicuously and sparsely white lepidote but appearing glabrous, margins straight or inconspicuously if at all undulate, subentire or irregularly and minutely spinulose at the base and near the apex to densely and inconspicuously spinulose throughout; spines triangular, straight to slightly antrorsely uncinate, ca. 0.3 mm long, 1.5–10 mm apart. Inflorescence ca. 5 cm long, ca. 1.5 cm in diameter, sessile, slightly elongate, once branched at the base and bearing an inconspicuous, simple, upper-central head of ca. 10 densely arranged flowers, surrounded by ca. 3 fascicles; primary bracts resembling the leaves; fascicles inconspicuous, ca. 2 flowered, complanate; floral bracts narrowly triangular-lanceolate, acuminate, 15–17 × 5–7 mm, straight, membranous, white-hyaline toward the base, reddish near the apex, sparsely brown lepidote toward the apex, minutely spinulose near the apex to entire, with fimbriate trichomes along the apical margins, exceeding the ovary to equaling 1/4 of the sepal length, those in the fascicles distinctly carinate, those in the upper-central head of flowers ecarinate. Flowers sessile, odorless, the perfect ones ca. 53 mm long (with the petals extended), the staminate ones ca. 48 mm long (with the petals extended); sepals 19–20 mm long, connate for 11–12 mm, whitish, sparsely and coarsely brown lepidote toward the apex; the lobes narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, long acuminate, 8 × 3–3.5 mm, symmetrical, obtusely carinate, margins densely and remotely denticulate, with inconspicuously fimbriate trichomes; petals lingulate, apex acute, white, exceeding the stamens but recurved at anthesis and exposing them; those of the perfect flowers ca. 40 × 5 mm, connate at the base for ca. 9 mm, bearing 2 conspicuous callosities at the base of the free lobes; filaments ca. 31 mm long, the antesepalous ones for ca. 9 mm adnate to the petal-tube, the antepetalous ones adnate to the petals for ca. 15 mm; anthers 2–3 mm long, dorsifixed at 1/3 of its length above the base, base obtusely bilobed, apex obtuse; ovary subtrigonous obovoid, 12–13 × 5 mm, white, glabrous or nearly so; stigma white, conduplicate-patent, lobes suberect, ca. 3 mm long, margins shortly crenulate; epigynous tube lacking; placentation apical; ovules few, obtuse. Fruits unknown.

Distribution, habitat and conservation:— Cryptanthus santosii was found growing as a terrestrial species on the shaded forest floor in a small Restinga area near the highway, in the county of Belmonte, Bahia ( Fig. 1 and 2 C ). The population at the type locality is constituted by isolated and scattered individuals or sometimes by small groups of plants in a sandy terrain.

The region where this new species was found shelters only small forest fragments that remained after a severe deforestation process for pasture faming activities, agriculture of monocultures and also for expansion of local communities. The GeoCAT (Bachmann et al. 2011) estimated the extent of the occurrence of C. santosii as about 1.850 km 2, while its area of occupancy is 12.000 Km² (AOO), so classifying the species as critically endangered (CR) according to the criteria adopted by IUCN (2020).

Etymology:—The name chosen for this new species honors its collector, João Eduardo dos Santos, responsible for the preservation of an important fragment of Atlantic Forest in the county of Itapebi, Bahia state, and responsible for several botanical descoveries.

Observations:— Cryptanthus santosii is morphologically closely related to C. walkerianus Leme & L. Kollmann ( Leme et al. 2014: 83), a typical inhabitant of the low elevated Atlantic Forest of the state of Bahia. However, this new species differs from it by its longer leaves, with longer petioles and narrower blades. On the other hand, the inflorescence has an inconspicuous central head of staminate flowers, sepals are longer with broader lobes which are densely and remotely denticulate, not entire. Finally, petals are longer and acute, not obtuse, forming a longer basal tube.

The long petiolate leaves of C. santosii make it also morphologically close to C. teretifolius Leme (2002b: 15) , which grows in the coastal sector of Espírito Santo state, near the city of Vitória. The most important differences to this species are the leaf blades with longer petioles (32–57 cm vs. 8–22 cm), which are strongly “U”-channeled (vs. involute-subulate and terete in cross section), one of its striking differences, as well as the longer sepals (19–20 mm vs. ca. 16 mm), and petals with acute apex (vs. rounded to slightly cucullate).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Geographic distribution of four new species of the Cryptanthus (C. flesherii, C. lutandensis, C. santosii and C. solidadeanus).

FIGURE 2. A. General view of Atlantic Forest at the type locality of Cryptanthus flesherii from Igrapiuna, Bahia, Brazil. B. General view of rocky outcrop vegetation of an inselberg at the type locality of Cryptanthus lutandensis from Serra da Fumaça, Pindobaçu, Bahia, Brazil. C. General view of Restinga at the type locality of Cryptanthus santosii from Belmonte, Bahia, Brazil. D. General view of Semideciduous Forest fragment at the type locality of Cryptanthus solidadeanus from Serrana District, Brejões, Bahia, Brazil. Photos = A. L.Y.S.Aona; B, D. E.H. Souza; C. J.E. Santos

FIGURE 5. Cryptanthus santosii from Belmonte, Bahia, Brazil: A. Small group of plants at the type locality. B. Plant showing the long petiolate leaves. C. Inflorescence with staminate and perfect flowers. D. Details of perfect flower. E. Petiole. F. Conduplicate-patent stigma type. Bars = C. 3 cm; D. 1 cm; E. 8 mm; F. 1 mm. Photos = A. J.E. Santos; B-F. E.M.C. Leme