Eugenia buenaventurensis

Parra-O, Carlos, 2021, Thirteen new species, new records, and a new combination on Colombian Myrtaceae, Phytotaxa 497 (3), pp. 175-210 : 176

1. Eugenia buenaventurensis C. Parra-O., sp. nov.

Type :— COLOMBIA. Valle del Cauca: “Bajo Calima, ca. 10 km due N of Buenaventura, Carton de Colombia concession”, 3°56’N, 77°08’W, ca. 50 m, 7 December 1981 (fr.), A. Gentry 35441 (holotype COL!, isotype MO!). Figure 1 .

Diagnosis:—This species is most similar to Eugenia zuchowskiae Barrie (2005: 47) , from which it is distinguished by having simple hairs when present (versus dibrachiate hairs in E. zuchowskiae ), 18–24 lateral veins on leaf blade (vs. 5–7 lateral veins), petioles 2.5–4 mm (vs. 10–20 mm), and fruit without ribs (vs. partially or wholly 8-ribbed).

Description:—Treelet, 4 m tall; hairs when present 0.1–0.2 mm, simple, translucent; young branches compressed, cream or light gray, glabrous; old branches not seen. Leaf blades elliptic or obovate, 4.5–7.5 × 2–3.5 cm, chartaceous or coriaceous, discolorous, the upper surface glabrous, with immersed glandular dots not perceptible, the lower surface glabrous, with slightly raised and darkish glandular dots; apex caudate, the cauda 5–12 mm with the tip obtuse; base cuneate; margin entire and slightly revolute; midvein slightly sulcate to sulcate and glabrous above, convex and usually glabrous below, sometimes scarcely pubescent in the proximal 1/5; lateral veins 18–24 pairs, slightly convex and glabrous above, convex and glabrous below, marginal veins 2, the innermost 0.5–1.8 mm from the margin, the outermost 0.2–0.4 mm from the margin; petioles 2.5–4 mm long, dark brown, moderately rugose, usually glabrous, sometimes scarcely pubescent, slightly canaliculate adaxially. Flowers solitary or inflorescences apparently abbreviate racemes, axillary; bracts and bracteoles not seen, probably deciduous before anthesis; flower buds and open flowers not seen. Fruits elliptic, 3–3.2 × 1.9–2.1 cm, glabrous, orange and turning black when mature (in scheda), shortly pedicellate, the pedicel terete, 1.6–2.3 × 3.5–4 mm, glabrous, calyx lobes in fruit 4, ovate, depressed ovate to broadly ovate, 1–1.2 × 0.7–1.2 mm, coriaceous, glabrous outside, glabrous inside, apex obtuse or acute, remnant staminal ring on fruit circular, 2–2.8 mm diameter, scarcely pubescent; seed 1, ellipsoid, 2.8 × 1.5 cm, seed coat smooth and somewhat lustrous; embryo eugenioid with fused cotyledons and partially visible hypocotyl, with minute glands.

Distribution, habitat and phenology:— Eugenia buenaventurensis is apparently endemic to Colombia and it grows in western tropical humid forests (Chocó Biogeographic Region) of Valle del Cauca Department at ca. 50 m elev. This species has been collected with fruits in December.

Conservation:— This species is only known by the type and from just one locality; then, the conservation status of E. buenaventurensis is assessed here as Data Deficient, or DD, following IUCN Red List criteria ( IUCN 2019) .

Etymology:—The specific epithet of the new species refers to the municipality of Buenaventura in the Valle del Cauca Department, Colombia, where the type was collected.

Affinities:— Eugenia buenaventurensis is very distinctive from the other Colombian Eugenia species known so far, and seems to be related to some Mesoamerican Eugenia like E. zuchowskiae from Costa Rica; both species are compared in the diagnosis.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Eugenia buenaventurensis. (A) fruiting branch, (B) fruit, (C) upper view of fruit with remnants of the calyx lobes, (D) seed. A–D from the holotype. Scale bar for B and D = 1 cm, scale bar for C = 1 mm.