Eugenia pachypoda T.Fern. & Sobral, 2022

Fernandes, Thiago, Giaretta, Augusto, Sobral, Marcos, Souza, Marcelo Da Costa & Braga, João Marcelo Alvarenga, 2022, Three new species of Eugenia (Myrtaceae) from the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil, Phytotaxa 552 (1), pp. 51-62 : 57-60

3. Eugenia pachypoda T.Fern. & Sobral , sp. nov.

Type:— BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: 10 km na estrada de Cachoeiro de Itapemirim para Alegre , [20°47’36.3”S 41°20’40.7”W], mais ou menos 90 ms.m., 26 April 1972, D. Sucre & T. Soderstrom 9006 (holotype RB00265900 !; isotype RBR) .

Figures 5 , 6 and 7 .

Diagnosis:—Morphologically similar to Eugenia mestrealvarensis Valdemarin & Mazine (in Valdemarin et al. 2020: 204), differing by absent or up to 2 mm long petioles that, when present are corky and transversely wrinkled (vs. petioles 2.6–4 mm long and smooth in E. mestrealvarensis ), pedicels corky and detaching as thin, longitudinal plates, puberulent, with no conspicuous glands (vs. smooth, pubescent, with conspicuous glands), stamen filaments 6–8 mm long (vs. 2–3 mm long), style 8–9 mm long (vs. ca. 3 mm long), and ovary with 7–8 ovules per locule (vs. 12–14).

Description:—Shrubs to 3 m, diameter unknown. Stem irregularly fissured, greyish, not exfoliating. Young shoots and leaves not seen. Young twigs applanate, glabrous, lustrous, exfoliating, when mature terete to semiterete, greyish; internodes 15–40 × 1.8–3 mm. Mature leaves sessile or subsessile, petioles when present up to 2 × 1.5–2 mm, glabrous, corky and transversely wrinkled; blades 5.3–11 × 2.6–5.2 cm, 1.8–2 times longer than wide, coriaceous, glabrous, concolorous or slightly discolorous, in this case abaxially lighter; elliptic or ovate, base obtuse or cordiform, apex acute; glandular dots 10–20/mm², to 0.1 mm in diameter, visible on both surfaces, a little more so abaxially, darker than the surface; midvein biconvex adaxially, raised and concolorous abaxially; lateral veins 10–18 at each side, leaving the midvein at angles 70–80°, raised and visible on both sides; marginal veins two, the innermost 2–4.5 mm, the outermost 0.8–1 mm from the revolute margin, the margin itself with a yellowish or brown girdle 0.2–0.3 mm wide. Inflorescences cauliflorous, fasciculate, the axis ca. 4 × 1.5 mm, with 2–8 flowers, puberulent, trichomes simple, white, ca. 0.1 mm; bracts not seen; pedicels 2–9 × 1 mm, corky and detaching as thin, longitudinal plates, puberulent, with no conspicuous glands, trichomes simple, white or brown, ca. 0.1 mm; bracteoles ca. 1 × 1–1.2 mm, triangular or ovate, puberulent, with cilia 0.1–0.2 mm, glabrescent, persisting after anthesis. Flower buds ca. 6 × 5–6 mm, globose or obovate, the ovary densely covered with an arachnoid indumentum, trichomes simple, whitish or brown, 0.1–0.2 mm, markedly contrasting with the glabrous or very scarcely puberulent calyx lobes, these free; calyx lobes four, erect, in two slightly unequal pairs, the outer one rounded, 1.5–2 × 3 mm, the inner one ovate, 2–2.5 × 3 mm, visibly covered with glands ca. 0.1 mm in diameter, darker than the surface; petals four, elliptic or rounded, ca. 7 × 6–7 mm, slightly convex and sometimes visibly glandular; staminal ring to 3 mm in diameter, rounded, flattened, glabrous; stamens about 100 (scars counted), filaments 6–8 mm, the anthers oblong, 1.3–2 × 0.2–0.4 mm, with one apical gland; style 8–9 mm, glabrous, the stigma punctiform, papillose; ovary with two internally glabrous locules, each with 7–8 ovules. Fruits not seen.

Paratype:— BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: municipality of Cachoeiro do Itapemirim , 12 May 1993, R . Mello-Silva & J. R . Pirani 832 ( RB!, SPF) .

Etymology:—The specific epithet derives from the Greek ‘pachys’ = ‘thick’ and ‘pous’ = ‘foot’, an allusion to the thick pedicels found in this species.

Distribution, habitat and phenology:—Presently known from two specimens collected in forest ecosystems at about 90 m elevation in the municipality of Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, in the southern portion of the Southeastern Brazilian state of Espírito Santo ( Figure 7 ); flowers were collected in April and May.

Preliminary conservation status: —Data Deficient (DD) due to the lack of accurate data on distribution. The estimated coordinates of the single record indicate that the species was possibly collected in an unprotected area composed by small, sparse forest fragments visible by satellite images taken in August 2020 ( ESRI 2022). Therefore, a reassessment is highly desirable if further data are available in the future.

Affinities:—Beyond the diagnosis, this species can be further compared with Eugenia subglomerata (Kuntze) Sobral (2017: 243 ; basionym: Myrtus subglomerata Kuntze [1898: 92] ), a species from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest occurring from the state of Espírito Santo to Santa Catarina ( Mazine et al. 2020). Eugenia pachypoda differs from this species by its leaves with petioles absent or up to 2 mm long (vs. ≥ 4 mm long in E. subglomerata ), blades with obtuse or cordiform bases (vs. cuneate), flowers with pedicels 2–9 mm long, corky, detaching as thin, longitudinal plates (vs. up to 4 mm long, not corky, smooth), flower buds to 6 mm long (vs. up to 3 mm long), and calyx lobes 1.5–2.5 mm long (vs. up to 1.5 mm long).

Another Atlantic Forest species, Eugenia monosperma Vellozo (1829: 209) , has often long, lanceolate leaves, quite different from E. pachypoda . However, a closer look reveals many shared features between these species, such as the cordate leaf bases, two marginal veins and cauliflorous inflorescences. Eugenia pachypoda differs essentially by its leaf blades concolorous or at most slightly discolorous (vs. markedly discolorous in E. monosperma ), two times longer than wide (vs. 2.4–4 times longer than wide), pedicels corky and detaching as thin, longitudinal plates (vs. smooth), and less ovules per locule (up to 8 vs. 14–18). A morphological description of Eugenia monosperma can be found in Valdemarin (2018: 54), who studied populations occurring in the Reserva Natural Vale, a protected area in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo.

Considering the inflorescence morphology of Eugenia pachypoda , we suggest its sectional placement in E. sect. Umbellatae O. Berg (1855 –1856: 204), according to the sectional classification proposed by Mazine et al. (2016, 2018).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Holotype of Eugenia pachypoda (image provided by and reproduced with the consent of the RB herbarium).

FIGURE 6. Morphology of Eugenia pachypoda. Notice the flattened young branch, the corky and wrinkled petiole, and the cauliflorous inflorescence. Details: corky pedicel detaching in thin, longitudinal plates (above) and the ovary markedly more pilose than the calyx (below).All images from the holotype.

FIGURE 7. Map with the presently known occurrence points of the new taxa. Dark lines represent the limits between the Brazilian States.