Euploca paradoxa (Martius) J.I.M. Melo & Semir (2009: 289)

Melo, José Iranildo Miranda De, Paulino, Renan Da Cruz, Oliveira, Regina Célia De & Vieira, Diego Daltro, 2018, Flora of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil: Boraginales, Phytotaxa 357 (4), pp. 235-260 : 249-250

1.3. Euploca paradoxa (Martius) J.I.M. Melo & Semir (2009: 289) .

≡ Preslaea paradoxa Martius (1827: 76) .

Herb or subshrub, prostrate, stoloniferous or rarely cespitose; xylopodium present. Stems cylindrical, with rhytidome detaching longitudinally, scabrous, less frequently with ferrugineous trichomes at the apical region. Leaves alternate, petiolate; petiole 1–3 mm long; blade 0.5–2.2 × 0.1–0.5 cm, patent, chartaceous to subcarnose, lanceolate to widely lanceolate, apex acute, margin entire, ciliate, base attenuate, puberulous to villous on both surfaces; venation hyphodromous. Flowers 0.6–1.2 cm long, solitary, axillary, long-pedicellate; pedicel 4–9 mm long, villous; bracts 3.4–4 × 1–2 mm, foliaceous, elliptic to lanceolate, villous externally and internally; calyx 1.7–3.2 mm long, lobes 1.7–4 × 0.4–0.6 mm, narrowly lanceolate, villous externally, margin ciliate, glabrous internally; corolla ca. 1 cm long, entirely yellow, campanulate, tube 3.5–6.8 mm long, lobes 2.2–3.8 × 2–2.2 mm, undulate, orbicular, sulcate, alternating with sinuses, sinuses ca. 1 mm long, involute, falcate, widely lanceolate; stamens subsessile, filaments inserted at ca. 1.5–2 mm from the tube base; anthers ca. 1 mm long, ovoid, cordate at base; ovary ca. 0.5 mm long, depressed-globose; style 0.8–1 mm long, cylindrical; stigma 0.6–0.8 mm long, conical, thickened at base, rounded at apex, puberulous. Schizocarp 1.5–1.8 mm diam., depressed piriform, lobed, rostrate; nutlets ca. 1.5 mm diam., scar crateriform, puberulous, trichomes falcate, hyaline, white or ferrugineous; seeds ca. 1 mm long, elliptic.

Notes:— Euploca paradoxa is morphologically related to E. lagoensis , by sharing with it solitary long-pedicellate flowers. It may be recognized by the entirely yellow corolla of ca. 1 cm long and unlobed fruit. Illustrations of this species can be found in Melo & Semir (2010) and Vieira et al. (2015).

Geographic distribution:— According to Melo & Semir (2010), endemic to Brazil in the Northeast (BA, PB, PE, PI) and Midwest (GO, MT) regions: caatinga, rarely on the edge of bogs; Cerrado and Cerrado rupestrian, on sandy and clay-sandy soils. This species represents a new occurrence record for the flora of Rio Grande do Norte and for the littoraneous vegetation. C7.

Habitat:— Littoral in the studied area.

Phenology:— Collected in flower and fruit in February.

Selected material examined:— BRAZIL. Rio Grande do Norte: Ceará-Mirim, Fazenda Diamante, Estrada para o Distrito de Capela, 05º35’23”S, 35º25’31”W, February 2014, fl. fr., J. Jardim et al. 6521 (RB, UFRN).