Hirtella santosii Prance, Revista, 1979

Asprino, Renata Camargo & Amorim, André Márcio, 2016, A new species of Hirtella (Chrysobalanaceae), and redescription of a closely related taxon, from the Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Phytotaxa 265 (3), pp. 259-266 : 264-265

Hirtella santosii Prance, Revista Brasil. Bot. 2: 34. 1979.

Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Una, Fazenda São Rafael , 10 December 1968, fl., T.S. dos Santos 300 (holotype CEPEC!, isotype NY) . ( Figs. 3 , 4A–G )

Trees or treelets, 4–20 m tall; stems ca. 6 cm diam. at breast height; young branches brownish green in vivo, yellowish brown in sicco, hirsute to densely hirsute, soon becoming glabrescent, lenticels sometimes present. Leaves alternate, distichous; stipules lateral, narrowly triangular to triangular, 2.5–6.5 mm long, late deciduous; petiole thick, 2.5–8.5 mm long, densely hirsute when young, eglandular; leaf blade subchartaceous to chartaceous, discolorous, elliptic to oblong or ovate, base obtuse to rounded or cuneate, apex attenuate to acuminate, 8.5–21.5 × 4.2–9 cm, margins plane to slightly revolute, with 8–14 pairs of secondary veins, intersecondary veins sometimes present; abaxial surface with hirsute to densely hirsute midvein, secondary to quaternary veins sparsely hirsute, small discoid glands present at base and sometimes sparse throughout lamina, primary and secondary veins prominent, tertiary veins slightly prominent; adaxial surface with primary and secondary veins glabrescent, sometimes with small discoid glands at base, primary and secondary veins impressed, tertiary veins plane or slightly impressed, sometimes producing a slightly bullate surface. Inflorescence a single raceme with 12–36 flowers, erect, rachis greenish in vivo, yellowish brown in sicco, densely hirsute to hirsute, 4.5–12.5 × 0.1–0.15 cm; bract 1, narrowly triangular to triangular, sericeous, 1.5–3.5 mm long, persistent, sometimes bearing few glands on margin; pedicel slightly thick, densely hirsute, 6–19 mm long, eglandular; bracteoles 2, ovate to widely ovate or depressed ovate, sericeous, 0.5–2.5 mm long, persistent, bearing numerous sessile or shortly stipitate glands around margins. Flowers 6–9.5 mm long; receptacle campanulate, greenish in vivo, yellowish brown in sicco, exterior densely hirsute, interior glabrous except for deflexed hairs near throat; sepals 5, oblong to ovate, 3.5–6.5 × 2–3 mm, densely hirsute to hirsute abaxially, greenish in vivo, yellowish brown in sicco, margin sometimes bearing small glands; petals 5, oblong to rounded or ovate, 2.5–4 × 1.5–2.5 mm, glabrous, white; stamens 5–7, unilaterally inserted on disc, filaments 11–14 mm long, glabrous, purple with white base; anthers 0.8–1.0 mm long; staminodes opposite stamens; ovary inserted at mouth of receptacle, ca. 1.5 × 1 mm, densely villous, unilocular, biovulate; style gynobasic, filiform, 14–15 mm long, hirsute up to 1/3 of its length, stigma truncate. Fruit not seen.

Comments: —The original description of Hirtella santosii was based on a single specimen from the Atlantic Forest of southern Bahia and, subsequently, many additional collections have been made. The analysis of these specimens made it possible to write a more detailed description, presented here, and make an accurate morphological comparison to similar species (see comments under Hirtella prancei ).

Distribution and habitat:— Hirtella santosii occurs in the Atlantic Forest from Espírito Santo to northern Bahia, Brazil ( Fig. 3 ). It grows in the understory of submontane and montane forests at low to mid elevations.

Conservation status:— Hirtella santosii was treated as Endangered (EN) in the Livro Vermelho da Flora do Brasil ( Amorim et al. 2013). Even with the numerous additional collections presented here, which led to the extension of the distribution of this taxon, the status of H. santosii remains the same. In an analysis that included the additional specimens, based on IUCN (2012) criteria combined with GeoCAT ( Bachman et al. 2011), the extent of occurrence is more than 20,000 km 2 but the area of occupancy is less than 500 km 2, the number of locations is no more than ten and the species is suffering from continuing decline in habitat area and quality (B2ab(iii)).

Additional specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Bahia: Almadina, Serra do Corcovado , 14º42’21’’S, 39º36’12’’W, 06 December 2011, ste., M.M. Coelho et al. 538 ( CEPEC!) . Mun. Almadina, Serra do Corcovado , 03 February 2012, fl., M.M. Coelho et al. 624 ( CEPEC!) . Ibidem, 14º42’44’’S, 39º36’10’’W, 463 m, 23 November 2014, fl., R.C. Asprino et al. 112 ( CEPEC!) . Arataca, RPPN Caminho das Pedras , Serra do Peito de Moça , 15º10’27’’S, 39º20’22’’W, 400– 900 m, 25 November 2006, fl., A.M. Amorim et al. 6562 ( CEPEC!) . Barro Preto, Serra da Pedra Lascada , 14º46’13’’S, 39º32’10’’W, 650 m, 10 December 2015, fl., J.G. Jardim et al. 4791 ( CEPEC!) . Belmonte, Estação Experimental Gregório Bondar , 29 November 1987, fl., T.S. dos Santos 4343 ( CEPEC!) . Camacan, RPPN Serra Bonita , 15º23’30’’S, 39º33’55’’W, 800–1000 m, 17 July 2009, ste., A.M. Amorim et al. 7891 ( CEPEC!) . Entre Rios, Algodões , 12º10’00’’S, 37º58’00’’W, 140 m, 28 October 2014, fl., A.V. Popovkin & J.C. Mendes 1807 ( HUEFS!) . Itanagra, Fazenda Brejo Verde , 17 November 1974, fl., E. Gusmão s/nº ( ALCB!, CEPEC!, HRB!, HUEFS!) . Espírito Santo: Mun. Domingos Martins, Rio Jucu Braço Sul , 17 January 1995, fl., G. Hatschbach & J.M. Silva 61601 ( CEPEC!, MBM!) .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Geographic distribution of Hirtella hebeclada (black triangles), H. prancei (black circles) and H. santosii (white squares).

FIGURE 4. Hirtella santosii. A—Detail of stipules; B—Detail of abaxial leaf surface; C—Detail of adaxial leaf surface; D—Buds and flowers at anthesis; E—Detail of leaf margin; F—Inflorescence; G—Branch with leaves and inflorescences. All photos by A.V. Popovkin.