Four new species of the genus Racinaea (Bromeliaceae) from Ecuador Manzanares, José M. Gouda, Eric J. Phytotaxa 2010 2010-04-30 3 1 18 4R8HB Manzan. & Gouda Manzan. & Gouda. A. Spike. B. Flower 2010 [151,651,227,254] Liliopsida Bromeliaceae Racinaea CoL Plantae Poales 1 2 Tracheophyta species condorensis sp. nov.   Type: —  ECUADOR: Zamora-Chinchipe: Cordillera del Condor, km 47 on the road LosEncuentros-El Destacamento, 03º 41´S, 78º 31´W,  1450 m,  11 April 1997,  J. M .  Manzanares, E.  Girko, J.  Raack, E.  Doherty& M.   Navarro6358( holotype QCNE).   FIGURE 1. Type of  Racinaea condorensisManzan. & Goudain habitat. Plant epiphytic, flowering ca. 31 cmtall. Leaves forming a rosette, erect, numerous, green and red maculate; sheaths ca. 5.5 cmlong, 5.5 cmwide, orbicular, adaxially densely lepidote, lower part brown and the center browncastaneous, upper part with violet spots. Blades ca. 8.5 cmlong, 2.4 cmwide, narrowly triangular, attenuate and recurved at apex, sparsely lepidote, green, with red-violet circular spots. Inflorescence ca. 13 cmlong, 6 cmwide, once branched with about 11 branches; branches 0.4–1.5 cmapart, lax, glabrous, erect; axis green or red. Peduncle exceeding the leaves, ca. 16 cmlong, 2 mmin diameter, erect, red, glabrous; peduncle bracts remote, the lower ones not foliaceous (all bractiform), 1–1.5 cmlong, 0.6 cmwide, elliptic, apiculate, reddish, adaxially glabrous and abaxially sparsely lepidote, distinctly nerved. Primary bracts ovate, 0.4–1.2 cmlong, ca. 0.3 cmwide, the lower ones shorter than and the upper ones equaling the stipe, tubular-involute, distinctly nerved, apiculate, sparsely lepidote, green to pink. Spikes with a stipe of 0.3–2.5 cmlong bearing several sterile bracts, upper part dense and lower part sub-dense, ca. 2 cmlong, 0.5 cmwide, 8–11-flowered; rachis geniculate, strongly angled, flowers 0.2 cmapart. Floral bracts ca. 3 mmlong, 3 mmwide, ovate, rounded and acuminate, carinate, glabrous or lepidote, shorter than the sepals, incurved, green. Flowers distichous, not secund, sessile, spreading. Sepals ca. 4 mmlong, 2 mmwide, asymmetrical, oblong, coriaceous, free, obtuse, ecarinate, glabrous. Petals ca. 5 mmlong, white, the blade erect. Filaments ca. 1 mmlong, flat; anthers 1 mmlong, arranged around the stigma. Pistil reaching the middle of the anthers; ovary 1 mmlong, globose; stigma and style 1 mmlong.   Distribution:— Ecuador, province of Zamora-Chinchipe.   Etymology:—Referring to the Cordillera del Condor, where the typespecimen was collected.  Observations:—  Racinaea condorensisis related to  R. contorta(Mez) Spencer & Smith (1993: 153), but it can be distinguished by: a cyathiform rosette (vs. forming an ellipsoid pseudobulb), leaf-sheaths orbicular (vs. ovate); leaf-blades narrowly triangular with an attenuate recurved apex (vs. very narrowly triangular, involute, subulate with a long attenuate apex); a peduncle much exceeding the leaves (vs. shorter than the leaves); the inflorescence is erect (vs. a pendulous inflorescence), always once branched (vs. twice branched in most cases); spikes ca. 2 cmlong (vs. 3–6 cmlong) and rachis strongly angled (vs. rachis terete); the floral bracts 3 mmlong (vs. 4 mmlong) and the margins in the upper part slightly undulate (vs. strait) and the sepals 4 mmlong (vs. 5–6 mmlong).It can sometimes be confused with the once branched  Racinaea euryelytra Grant (1994: 284)that forms a bulbous rosette with narrower leaf-blades and has only 15–20 leaves in a rosette (vs. about 25 in  R. condorensis). The blades are relatively longer in  R. euryelytra(vs. about as long as the sheaths), with acute floral bracts (vs. rounded and acuminate) and the sepals are ca. 3 mmwide (vs. ca. 2 mmin  Racinaea condorensis). In general  Racinaea condorensiscan be distinguished from all other species of  Racinaeaby the following combination of characteristics: plant forming a cyathiform rosette; leaf blades narrowly triangular ca. 2.4 cmwide near the base, with an attenuate apex; inflorescence laxly once branched on a peduncle much exceeding the leaves; spikes dense, only the lower ones long stipitate; floral bracts 3 mmlong, exceeded by the 4 mmlong sepals, carinate, rounded, and acuminate.   Comment:—In 1997 an expedition to southern Ecuadorto study Bromeliaceaein the wild was organized. The participants of the expedition were: Elizabeth Patterson (vice-president of the Bromeliad Society of Dallas), Jerry Raack (president of the Bromeliad Society International), Ed Doherty (president of the Bromeliad Society of Dallas), Monica de Navarro (president of the Orchid Society of Quito) and the first author (curator of the Bromeliaceaeat QCNE). During this trip we had the opportunity to study many species, especially  Puyaand  Racinaea. Many of them were flowering at the time, which is unusual especially for  Puya, which stays in a vegetative state for most of its life. During the 7 thday of the expedition in the Cordillera del Condor, we studied the bromeliads in an area from Los Ecuentros to El Destacamento. This road starts at the main road Zamora-Gualaquiza and enters into the most beautiful area that exists in Ecuador, the Cordillera del Condor. It terminates at a military camp that prevents visitors from going any further, which is just as well, because this area is loaded with land mines. In this area we found specimens of  Racinaea undulifolia(Mez) H.Luther,  R. schumanniana(Wittm.) J.R.Grant,  R. penladiivar. pedunculata(L.B.Sm.) M.A.Spencer & L.B.Sm., and  R. spiculosa(Griseb.) M.A.Spencer & L.B.Sm., among several species of  Aechmea,  Guzmania,  Mezobromelia,  Tillandsia, and  Vriesea. 1997-04-11 J, M Ecuador Cordillera del Condor 1450 -3.6833334 Destacamento 1307 -78.51667 Los 1 2 1 Zamora-Chinchipe [876,1048,504,529] E Ecuador Manzanares 1 2 1 Zamora-Chinchipe [1058,1153,504,529] J Ecuador Girko 1 2 1 Zamora-Chinchipe [1163,1268,504,529] E Ecuador Raack 1 2 1 Zamora-Chinchipe [1278,1433,504,529] M Ecuador Doherty 1 2 1 Zamora-Chinchipe [151,514,542,568] QCNE Ecuador Navarro 1 2 1 Zamora-Chinchipe holotype