Cremastosperma longipes Pirie

Pirie, Michael D., Chatrou, Lars W. & Maas, Paul J. M., 2018, A taxonomic revision of the Neotropical genus Cremastosperma (Annonaceae), including five new species, PhytoKeys 112, pp. 1-141 : 1

16. Cremastosperma longipes Pirie Fig. 25 , Map 2

Cremastosperma longipes Pirie, Blumea 50: 51, f. 5. 2005.

Type.

COLOMBIA, Chocó: San José del Palmar, mouth of Río Torito (tributary of Río Hábita), west slope, 3 Mar 1980, Forero, E. et al. 6576 (holotype: COL! [COL000334460]; isotype: MO! [MO-047638]).

Description.

Tree 4.5-15 m tall; young twigs and petioles black, verrucose, sparsely to rather densely covered with white-golden appressed hairs ca. 0.4 mm long. Leaves: petioles 10-15 mm long, 2.5-7 mm diam.; lamina narrowly elliptic to elliptic, 35-60 by 10-25 cm (leaf index 2.3-3), chartacous to subcoriacous, olive/dark brown above, lighter below, glabrous above, sparsely covered with white-golden appressed hairs ca. 0.4 mm long on veins below (densely so developing leaves), base acute, apex acuminate (acumen 10-15 mm long), primary vein deeply grooved in basal half, 2-6 mm wide at widest point; secondary veins 10-16, intersecondary veins rare, distance between from 10 mm at the base to 80 mm closer to the apex, angles with primary vein 45° at the base to 60-70° closer to the apex, not branching, forming distinct loops in the apical half to third of the leaf, smallest distance between loops and margin 3-4 mm; tertiary veins mainly percurrent. Inflorescences of single, pendulous flowers, produced from leafless branches; peduncles 5-8 by ca. 1 mm (in flower), ca. 4 by 2 mm (in fruit); pedicels 90 (less mature) - 210 by 1 mm at the base, 1.5 at the apex (in flower), ca. 240 by 2 mm at the base, 3 mm at the apex (in fruit); peduncles and pedicels sparsely to rather densely covered with white-golden appressed hairs ca. 0.4 mm long; single lower bract, broadly elliptic, 1-2 by ca. 1 mm, acute, soon falling off, densely covered with white-golden appressed hairs ca. 0.4 mm long; upper bract attached on lower half of pedicel, elliptic, 1.5-3 by ca. 1 mm, acute, densely covered with white-golden appressed hairs ca. 0.4 mm long; closed flower buds not seen; flowers green (immature) in vivo, medium brown in sicco; sepals free, triangular to broadly trullate, appressed, 3-4.5 mm long, acute, soon falling off, rather densely to densely covered with white-golden appressed hairs ca. 0.4 mm long; outer petals elliptic, ca. 22 by 12 mm, inner petals narrowly elliptic, ca. 22 by 6 mm, sparsely to rather densely covered with white-golden appressed hairs ca. 0.4 mm long; stamens ca. 1.2 mm long, connective appendage ca. 1 mm wide. Monocarps ca. 20, black in sicco, ellipsoid, slightly asymmetrical, ca. 20 by 12 mm, without an apicule; stipes ca. 25 by 2 mm; fruiting receptacle ovoid, 8 mm diam.; monocarps and stipes glabrous, receptacle sparsely covered with white-golden appressed hairs ca. 0.4 mm long. Seeds ellipsoid, 18-20 by 8-9 mm, orange/brown, with many shallow pits, raphe slightly raised, encircling seed longitudinally.

Distribution.

Pacific coast of Colombia ( Chocó, Riseralda) and Ecuador (Esmeraldas).

Habitat and ecology.

Humid lowland to premontane forest. At elevations of 280-1400 m. Flowering: January and March; fruiting: September.

Notes.

Cremastosperma longipes can easily be distinguished from most other species of the genus by the exceptional length of the pedicel, after which the species is named. The flowers and fruits of most species of Cremastosperma are borne on pedicels less than 50 mm long, with rare exceptions such as C. pedunculatum and C. bullatum never exceeding 150 mm in length, significantly shorter than those of C. longipes . The only species with pedicels of a comparable length is the newly described C. dolichopodum , which differs from C. longipes in the lack of indument on the flowers and receptacle. In addition, leaves of C. longipes are unusually large, equalling the maximum dimensions observed in C. megalophyllum , a more densely collected species from Amazonian Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Preliminary conservation status.

Cremastosperma longipes is only known from three collections from widely spaced localities outside of protected areas. Vulnerable [VU] (Table 1 ).

Other specimens examined.

COLOMBIA. Riseralda: Geguadas-Puerto de Oro road, 800-1400 m a.s.l., 13 Sep 1991, J.L. Fernández et al. 8872 (COL). ECUADOR. Esmeraldas: Fila de Bilsa, 0°37'N, 79°51'W, 280 m a.s.l., 30 Jan 1991, Gentry et al. 72995 (F, MO).

Figures

Map 2. Distribution of Cremastosperma alticola Pirie & Chatrou, C. antioquense Pirie, C. chococola Pirie, C. dolichopodum Pirie & Maas, C. longipes Pirie, C. novogranatense R. E. Fr., C. osicola Pirie & Chatrou, C. panamense Maas and C. stenophyllum Pirie

Figure 25. Cremastosperma longipes Pirie. a monocarp (with stipe) and seeds b leaf, flower and flower bud (a Fernandez 8872 b Forero et al. 6576).