Lymania involucrata Leme & E.H. Souza, 2021

Souza, Everton Hilo De, Aona, Lidyanne Y. S., Souza, Fernanda V. D. & Leme, Elton M. C., 2021, Lymania involucrata (Bromeliaceae: Bromelioideae), a new ornamental species from Bahia, Brazil, Phytotaxa 489 (2), pp. 209-215 : 210-213

Lymania involucrata Leme & E.H. Souza , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1–2 , 4 ).

Diagnosis: — Lymania involucrata is morphologically similar to L. brachycaulis , but can be differentiated by its longer peduncle (8.5–11 cm vs. 6–8 cm), larger inflorescence (6.8–7.8 × 7.5–9 cm vs. 4–4.6 × 4.2–5 cm), larger primary bracts (4.2–7 × 1.8–2.8 cm vs. 3.8–4.2 × 1.2–1.7 cm), longer flowers (34–41 mm vs. 23–26 mm), and longer sepals (12–15 mm vs. 9–11 mm) with an acuminate apex (vs. acute and apiculate).

Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Igrapiúna , RPPN Ouro verde, Reserva da Michelin, Mata da Vila 5, 13˚49’20.3” S, 39˚12’13.4” W, 35 m. elev., 28 December 2019, E. H . Souza 214 (holotype HURB 25815 !) .

Plant epiphytic, propagating by stolons 12–17 cm long, flowering ca. 25 cm high. Leaves 16–20 in number, chartaceous, arcuate, forming a funnelform rosette, green or purple-green adaxially and the abaxial surface purple; sheath elliptic, 8.3–11 × 3.8–5 cm, minutely brown-lepidote on both sides; blade linear, narrowed and canaliculate toward the base, 19–25 × 1.7–2.8 cm, inconspicuously white lepidote on both sides, apex attenuate then apiculate, margins densely to subdensely spinulose; spines ca. 0.5 mm long, green, antrorsely uncinate, 3–7 mm apart. Inflorescence (fertile part) corymbose, compound, once-branched, 6.8–7.8 × 7.5–9 cm, distinctly visible above leaf tank but not distinctly separated from it; peduncle erect, 8.5–11 × 0.4–0.6 cm, pale-green, glabrous, about equaling the leaf sheaths; peduncle bracts longer than the internodes, ovate, apex acuminate, whitish, inconspicuously and sparsely spinulose, 2–2.8 × 1.4– 1.6 cm, the upper ones involucral, resembling the primary bracts; primary bract ovate to lanceolate, apex acuminate, slightly recurved, 4.2–7 × 1.8–2.8 cm, the basal ones distinctly exceeding the branches, involucral, divergent with the branches, membranaceous, finely nerved, coral-red, inconspicuously and sparsely white lepidote to glabrous, margins inconspicuously and sparsely spinulose, spines less than 0.5 mm long; primary branches 10–16 in number, suberect to slightly divergent, 3–4 cm long, 2–3-flowered. Flowers 34–41 mm long, densely distichously arranged; floral bracts linear, 5 mm long, membranaceous, entire, sparsely covered by branching trichome; sepals slightly asymmetrical with an inconspicuous membranaceous wing distinctly shorter than the midnerve, 12–15 × 4–4.4 mm, coral-red toward the apex, connate at the base for 6–7 mm, alate-bicarinate toward the base with keels decurrent on the ovary, sparsely lepidote with long fimbriate trichomes, lobes triangular, apex acuminate, slightly incurved; petals subspathulate, narrowly obtuse-cucullate, 26–30 × 5–5.4 mm, free, erect at anthesis, white, exappendiculate, bearing well developed acicular callosities near acuminate the free portion of the filaments. Stamens included; filament flattened, erect, whitish, 16–17 mm long, the antepetalous ones adnate to the petals for ca. 12 mm, distinctly dilated toward distally, the antesepalous ones free, inconspicuously dilated distally; anther narrowly oblong, ca. 6 mm long, base bilobed, apex apiculate, dorsifixed near the middle. Pistil exceeding the stamens; ovary broadly obovoid, whitish, 8–9.2 × 7–8 mm, bearing 7 to 8 sharply pronounced alate keels, sparsely and inconspicuously lepidote with filamentous trichomes; epigynous tube ca. 1 mm long, crateriform; placentation apical; ovules many, apiculate; style erect, whitish, 1.8– 2.2 cm long; stigma conduplicate-spiral, subcapitate, stigmatic blades shortly lacerate, sparsely and inconspicuously papillose. Fruit subglobose, pronouncedly winged, 18–22 × 12–14 mm. Seeds not seen.

Paratype: — BRAZIL. Bahia: Igrapiúna, Michelin, Vila 5, 13 o 49’15” S, 39 o 12’14” W, 10 June 2011, A. G. Coelho 69 ( RB 565888!). Photo available at http://jabot.jbrj.gov.br/v3/visualizadorimagem.php?siglacolbotorigem= RB &codi gobarras=00754117 .

Etymology: — The specific epithet is a reference to the well-developed involucral bracts of the inflorescence, which are an unusual characteristic in the genus and easily allow the identification of the species.

Phenology:—This new species was found flowering in its habitat from August to October. It bloomed in cultivation in September in Embrapa (BGB Bromélias collection). Flowers were observed opening at 5 am and closing at 5 pm.

Distribution and habit: — Lymania involucrata is known only from the municipality of Igrapiúna, Bahia State, where it grows in a typical Atlantic Rain Forest fragment of southern Bahia. The area was deeply affected by selective timber exploration in 1960 to 1970. However, it was then transformed in a private protected area (Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural – RPPN ‘Ouro Verde’), where the small population of L. involucrata is constituted of few individuals growing as an epiphyte about 1 m above the ground on slim tree trunks, in a shady and humid forest environment.

Sympatry of L. involucrata in relation to their morphological relatives was not observed. While this new species is known only from the region of Igrapiúna, L. brachycaulis is restricted to the county of Camamu and L. corallina ( Beer, 1856: 272) Read (1984: 213) occurs southward, in forests (‘Mata de Restinga’) associated to the sandy coastal plains ( Fig. 1 ).

Conservation status: — This new species is only known from its type locality which is situated inside a private protected area (RPPN ‘Ouro Verde’) owned and maintained by the company Michelin. The GeoCAT (geocat.kew.org) estimated the extent of the occurrence of L. involucrata as about 0.993 km 2, while its area of occupancy is 0.310 Km² (AOO), so classifying the species as critically endangered (CR) according to the criteria adopted by IUNC (2020).

Observations: — Lymania involucrata is morphologically related to L. brachycaulis ( Fig. 3A–D ) and L. corallina ( Fig. 3 E-J), but can be distinguished from them by the much larger involucral (upper peduncle bracts) and primary bracts (4.2–7 × 1.8–2.8 cm vs. 3.8–4.2 × 1.2–1.7 cm in L. brachycaulis and 3.8–4 × 1.0– 1.5 cm in L. corallina . The inflorescence of L. involucrata has a higher number of flowers (48–60 vs. 28–35 in L. brachycaulis and 18–26 in L. corallina ), which are longer (3.4–4.1 cm vs. 2.3–2.6 cm in both species). Sepals are also longer in L. involucrata (1.2–1.5 cm) and have acuminate apex, while in L. brachycaulis sepals are 0.9–1.1 cm in length with attenuate then apiculate apex, and in L. corallina they are 0.6–0.8 cm in length with acute apex.

Other characteristics that distinguish the new species from the close relatives are its more numerous leaves (12–20 vs. 5–8 in L. brachycaulis and 6–10 in L. corallina ), as well as its ca. 8 cm long peduncle, which is longer than that of L. brachycaulis (ca. 6 cm long) and shorter than that of L. corallina (ca. 12 cm long).

Figures

FIGURE 1. A–B. Geographic distribution of Lymania involucrata, L. brachycaulis and L. corallina. C. Lymania involucrata in bloom, showing its habit. Photos: A. Qgis software and Google Earth. B. Google Earth. C. by Kevin Flesher.

FIGURE 2. Lymania involucrata Leme & E.H. Souza. A. Detail of leaf rosette and the inflorescence. B. Habit. C. Leaf in abaxial view. D. Inflorescence.E. Floral bracts (arrows). F. Abaxial view of the bracts (bb. upper peduncle bract. db. basal primary bract.sb. upper primary bract. pb. basal peduncle bract). G. Basal branch (arrows). H. Flower and floral parts.(fl. flowers. ov. ovary in cross section. se. sepals. pe. petals. an. androecium. st. style and stigma). I. Stigma detail. Photo: E.H. Souza. Bars: B–D = 5 cm; C, E–H = 2 cm; I = 1 mm.

FIGURE 3. A–D. Lymania bracycaulis. A. Plant habit. B. Inflorescence. C. Abaxial view of the bracts (pb. basal peduncle bracts. bb. upper peduncle bract. db. basal primary bract. sb. upper primary bract). D. Flower and floral parts. (fl. flowers. ov. ovary in cross section. se. sepals. pe. petals. st. style and stigma. an. androecium). E-J) Lymania corallina. E-F. Plant habit. G-H. Inflorescence. I) Bracts (pb. basal peduncle bract. db. basal primary bract. sb. upper primary bract.) J. Flower and floral parts (fl. flowers. ov. ovary in cross section. se. sepals. pe. petals. st. style and stigma. an. androecium). Photo: E.H. Souza. Bars: 2 cm.

FIGURE 4. Holotype of Lymania involucrata Leme & E.H. Souza (HURB 25815).