Anthurium mayoanum Camelo, Croat & Nadruz, 2021

Camelo, Mel De Castro, Croat, Thomas B., Coelho, Marcus A. N. & Aylward, Steve, 2021, A new species of ‘ Bird’s Nest’Anthurium sect. Pachyneurium (Araceae) from Brazil, Phytotaxa 523 (3), pp. 229-238 : 230-234

Anthurium mayoanum Camelo, Croat & Nadruz , sp. nov. ( Figs. 3–5 )

Anthurium mayoanum has truncate base leaf blades and coral-colored spadices. Owing to its slightly quadrangular heavily ribbed petioles Anthurium mayoanum is compared with five species. The species is morphologically similar to A. salvinii Hemsley (1879: 36) but the latter species differs by cucullate cataphylls and a pendent inflorescence with dull violet-purple and glaucous spadix; A. mayoanum is also similar to A. affine Schott (1855: 82) which has yellowish and shorter spadix that is thicker toward the apex, infructescences with berries red at the base, purple at the apex; A. mayoanum is also similar to A. macrospadix Lemaire (1862: 20) , but the latter species has the blades being undulate-crispate on margins and much smaller reflexed spathe (3 cm long); A. mayoanum may also be confused to A. paraguayense Engler (1898: 361) but the latter species has the leaf blades lanceolate to oblong and narrowly acute at the base, a recurved spathe and the spadix green tinged with purple or gray-brown and the infructescences with purple berry; it is also similar to A. plowmanii Croat (1987: 42) but the later species differs by the inflorescence being short pedunculate, the spadix longer than peduncle and green to brown, tinged with violet and violet-purple as well at the red infructescences.

Type:— BRAZIL. Pará : Aveiro FLONA do Tapajós , collected along the Rio Cupari just upstream of the community of São Francisco do Godinho, 3°47’18”S, 55°22’17”W, 17 m, 16 Jan 2020, Benjamin M . Torkeet al. 2242 (holotype RB 806923!, isotypes NY!, HSTM!) .

Epiphyte. internodes short, to 4 cm diam.; roots very dense, the uppermost directed upwards, short, pointed; cataphylls and prophylls lanceolate, straight, or weakly curved, briefly intact then pale-fibrous, brownish, mostly eventually deciduous. Leaves rosulate; petioles 6–10 cm long, erect-spreading, short, slightly trapezoidal, the adaxial surface broadly flattened with a bluntly acute lateral margin and a prominent medial rib, abaxially weakly 3-ribbed; geniculum 1.0– 1.5 cm long, shaped like the petiole, much paler; leaf blade (45–)60–100 × (13) 17–30 cm, obovate, slightly oblong to lanceolate, acute, weakly short-acuminate at apex, truncate to weakly cordate at base, moderately coriaceous, dark green and semiglossy above, medium green and semiglossy below; midrib narrowly and bluntly acute adaxially, more thickly raised and slightly paler, weakly 3-ribbed toward base, merely rounded otherwise toward apex abaxially; primary lateral veins 10–18 pairs, arising at 45° angle in the upper 2/3, to 90° or even somewhat recurved at very base, weakly raised and concolorous above, more prominently raised and slightly paler below; collective veins arising from the uppermost primary lateral veins; tertiary veins scarcely apparent above. Inflorescence spreading-pendent at anthesis; peduncle 30 cm long, greenish tinged weakly purplish; spathe 5–10 × 2.5–3.0 cm, lanceolate, spreading, acuminate at apex, rounded at base, green outside, coral or heavily tinged violet-purple inside; spadix 7–9 × 1 cm, cylindrical, tapering at the apex, coral color in pre-anthesis, brownish violet-purple at anthesis, coral-colored postanthesis, matte; flowers 9–10 visible per spiral; anthers cream to coral. Infructescence 10–15 × 2–5 cm, spreadingpendent, coral-colored. Berries 8–10 × 3.5–4.5 mm, reddish violet, oblong to elliptic.

Phenology: —The species was found in post-anthesis condition and in fruit during January, 2020.

Eponymy: —The specific epithet “mayoanum” is given in honor of Simon Joseph Mayo of Kew Gardens in England whose primary interest has always been Brazil. Simon has mentored many Brazilian students throughout his long career. One of his earliest accomplishments was the revision of Philodendron subgen. Meconostigma , a chiefly Brazilian group but his signature accomplishment was his book The Genera of Araceae written with the late Josef Bogner and Peter Boyce. Now retired Simon lives with his Brazilian wife Lucia south of London.

Distribution:— Anthurium mayoanum is endemic to Brazil, known only from the Pará State,at the Cupari river, at about 16 m elevation and found in municipality of Uruará and Novo Progresso ( Fig. 1 ).

Habitat and ecology: —It’s epiphytic and can be found in Igapó Forest, Amazon. The flooded forests are known as Alluvial Dense Rainforest ( Veloso et al. 1991). In the Amazon region, the Ombrophilous Dense Alluvial Forest receives the popular name of floodplain or igapó depending on the color of the river water, designations adapted to the scientific literature as being forests flooded by water muddy (floodplain) or black/transparent waters (igapó) ( Pires 1974).

Myster (2018) characterizes as the Igapó (black-colored water flooded forests), the action of aqueous solutions such as rain, dew, mist, and fog easily leaches various compounds out of plant biomass and necromass (mainly fallen leaves) creating “blackcoral-coloredwater.” The leached “blackcoral-coloredwater” is so common that it can lead to specific plant species adaptations and plant species associations ( Myster 2018). The marked periodicity of rainfall and fluctuation of the river levels, many areas undergo periodic flooding cycles in the Amazon, which results in the creation of habitats for a high diversity of plant and animal species, including endemic and endangered species ( de Lourdes et al. 2018).

At the time of collection, it was in the dry period but later the water covered everything as the rainy season progressed in the region ( Fig. 2 ). The light almost did not reach the ground in that place and is heavily shaded by the canopy. The population size was ca. 20 individuals with the majority being sterile plants. The species is being cultivated by Luiz Otávio Adão in Pará state ( Figs. 4 , 5 ).

Conservation status: —Data available for the new species are still sparse and insufficient to assess its conservation status. According to the IUCN criteria ( IUCN 2021), it is considered as Data Deficient (DD), until more information becomes available. However, we highlight that its natural habitat it is close to community of São Francisco do Godinho and later it can be impacted by anthropic actions, and therefore the attention must be given preserved this population.

Notes:—The species is a member of Anthurium sect. Pachyneurium (Schott)Engl.( Croat 1991) and is characterized by its epiphytic habit, rosulate leaves, short densely rooted stem, lanceolate cataphylls, slightly trapezoidal petioles with a single prominent adaxial rib and three less prominent abaxial ribs, a short geniculum, obovate, slightly oblong to lanceolate, acute, weakly acuminate blades with the base prominently truncate as well as by its spreading inflorescences with a green lanceolate spathe outside, coral or heavily tinged violet-purple inside, a moderately tapered sessile coral to brown violet-purple spadix and oblong-elliptic reddish violet berries.

The combination of leaf blades with truncate bases and the unusual coral color of the spadix (seemingly a mixture brown and violet-purple) is unique among species of Pachyneurium throughout the range of the section.

Owing to its slightly quadrangular heavily ribbed petioles Anthurium mayoanum is compared with five species, A. affine Schott (1855: 82) , A. macrospadix Lemaire (1862: 20) , A. paraguayense Engler (1898: 361) , A. plowmanii Croat (1987: 42) and A. salvinii Hemsley (1879: 36) ( Table 1 ). The species most closely resembling the new species is A. salvinii , though out of range in Central America and Colombia it resembles this new species in habit and the shape of its inflorescence but that species differs in having cucullate cataphylls and a pendent inflorescence with dull violet, purple and glaucous spadix ( GBIF 2021); A. affine differs by yellowish and shorter spadix that is thicker toward the apex, infructescences with the berries reddish at the base, purplish at the apex and it occurs widely distributed in Brazil, occurring in Northeast Region until Midwest ( Coelho et al. 2020); A. macrospadix differing by having the blades being undulate-crispate on margins and by its much smaller reflexed spathe (3 cm long) ( Lemaire 1862) and it’s native range is French Guiana and Suriname ( Govaerts et al. 2021); A. paraguayense differs by having the leaf blades lanceolate to oblong, narrowly acute at the base, a recurved spathe and a spadix green tinged with purple or graybrown, Infructescences with reddishpurplish to magenta and it occurs only in Midwest of Brazil, in Mato Grosso Sul, near to Paraguay ( Croat 1991, Coelho et al. 2020). Anthurium plowmanii differs by the blades being short-petiolate, longer than the peduncle, a spadix green to brown or green tinged with violet and violet-purple, infructescences with red berries and it occurs only in Northern region of Brazil, Acre, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, and Rondônia ( Coelho et al. 2020).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution map of Anthurium mayoanum Camelo, Croat & Nadruz, occurring in Pará State, Brazil.

FIGURE 2. A. Igapó Forest (black water flooded forest), among the river banks of Rio Cupari, upstream of the community of São Francisco do Godinho. B. Anthurium mayoanum Camelo, Croat & Nadruz, Habit. Photos by Edgar A. Lobato.

FIGURE 3. A–J. Anthurium mayoanum Camelo, Croat & Nadruz. A. Habit. B. Detail of cataphylls. C. Detail of leaf blade, midrib and lateral primary veins prominent in adaxial surface.D. Cross-section of petiole. E. Base of leaf blade and petiole in adaxial view with one rib. F. Petiole in abaxial view weakly 3-ribbed. G. Truncate base of leaf blade. H. Inflorescence. I. Detail of long-decurrence of spadix. J. Berries. Illustrations by Karena M. Pimenta.

FIGURE 4. A–H. Anthurium mayoanum Camelo, Croat & Nadruz, Plant in cultivation. A Habit. B. Rosulate leaves. C. Cataphylls and truncate base of leaf blade. D. Detail of cataphylls. E. Petiole in adaxial view with one rib. F. Petiole in abaxial view weakly 3-ribbed. G. Mibrid and lateral primary veins prominent in adaxial view. H. Detail of mibrib on adaxial surface. I. Detail of plant in cultivation. Photos by Luiz Otávio Adão.

FIGURE 5. A–I. Anthurium mayoanum Camelo, Croat & Nadruz. Details of reproductive characteristics. A. Spadix pre-anthesis. B. Detail of spadix pre-anthesis. C. Inflorescence erect, peduncle cylindric, spadix cylindrical and tapering toward apex, spathe lanceolate. D. Spadix at anthesis. E. Spathe forming acute angle in junction of peduncle and with an ant on spadix. F. Infructescence pendent in natural habitat. G. Infructescence pendent in cultivation. H. Spadix post-anthesis. I. Berry. Photos by Luiz Otavio Adão.