Passionflower trees of Ecuador: revising the presence of Passiflora subg. Astrophea (Passifloraceae) and including resolution to the P. putumayensis and P. macrophylla taxonomic complexes Author Kuethe, J. R. School of Environment, Faculty of Sciences, University of Auckland, City Campus for science and engineering, Symonds Street, Auckland, New Zealand Author Cornejo, Xavier Herbario GUAY, Departamento de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad de Guayaquil, Av. Raúl Gómez Lince s. n. y Av. Juan Tanca Marengo (campus Mapasingue), Guayaquil, Ecuador Author Garzón-Suárez, Henry X. Herbario HUTPL, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano Alto s / n 11 - 01 - 608, Loja, Ecuador; Jungle Dave’s Science Foundation, San Juan Bosco, Ecuador; Grupo Científico Calaway Dodson: Investigación y Conservación de Orquídeas del Ecuador, Quito, 170510, Pichincha, Ecuador Author Jiménez, Marco M. Grupo de Investigación en Medio Ambiente y Salud (BIOMAS), Ingeniería en Agroindustria, Facultad de Ingenierías y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad de Las Américas, Vía a Nayón, Quito 170124, Ecuador Author Wettges, Martin University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Basel, Northwestern Switzerland Author Magdalena, Carlos Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Science & Horticultre Researchers, London, United Kingdom Author Mejía-Pazos, Nicanor Provincia del Carchi, Cantón Espejo, Parroquia San Isidro, calle Espejo y Gustavo Almeida, Ecuador Author Flores, Juan Carlos Espín Independent researcher, Pedro Vicente Maldonado, Pichincha Ecuador Author Decoux, Jose Estación Científica Los Cedros, Chalguayacu Alto, via Gualimán - Imbabura, Ecuador text Phytotaxa 2025 2025-04-15 697 2 147 165 https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.697.2.1 journal article 10.11646/phytotaxa.697.2.1 1179-3163 16702496 4. Passiflora putumayensis Killip (1938: 532) ( Figure 4 ) Type :— COLOMBIA . Putumayo : Comisario del Putumayo , collected at La Tortuga , 01°47’47”N 74°46’25”W , May 1935 (fl.), H . García Barriga 4630 ( holotype : US 1594215!; isotype : COL 0002969 !) . Notes :— Passiflora putumayensis is among the smaller of the Astropheas with heights generally limited to 1 m to 1.5 m tall. Ellsworth Killip (1938) described the species based on a single specimen ( García Barriga 4630 ) from the La Tortuga region in Putumayo Department , Colombia , and specifically noted on the lustrous, thin leaves with flattened nervation and narrowing near to the apex. He also noted the denticulate opercular structure, although compared this species only to other Colombian highland species such as P. schultzei Harms (1929: 808) or P. engleriana . In the Flora of Ecuador ( Holm-Nielsen et al ., 1988 ), erroneously included collections of P. putumayensis in their treatment for “ Passiflora arborea ”, here designated P. dendroidea sp.nov. Recent living collections ( i.e. Olander 1999, Kuethe 2009, 2022, Rome 2014, Clark 2024), including the first of which introducing the species in cultivation, helped widen the understanding of this species in relation to other arborescent P . supersect. Astrophea . Visualizing accessions from various collections across Ecuador and into Perú , notable differences are apparent between the (type-specific) Putumayan & north Ecuadorean accessions, and those from said far-flung collections, two of which here now described as their own taxonomic entities (next two entries). Unlike many of the other free-standing Passiflora subg. Astrophea , this species exhibits excessive inflorescences that can be intricately bifurcated, carrying 4–9 flowers per peduncle.The outer corona is slightly wavy (not dolabriform), white basally and deep yellow apically. This species stands out for its relatively long and filamentose inner series, being distinctly deep yellow throughout and 3–5 mm long. The operculum, which is represented by a thick, filamentous to fleshy (denticulate) barrier around the base of the androgynophore, is similarly coloured with a clear, yellowish tip, making it stand out among the P . subg. Astrophea of this alliance. Within Ecuador , P. putumayensis is restricted to the north-eastern Andean-Amazonian transitional forests of Sucumbíos and Napo provinces where it grows in the understory of dense tropical wet forest at elevations between 1200 and 1900 m above sea level.