Utricularia amethystina Salzm. ex Saint-Hilaire & Girard (1838: 870)

Costa, Suzana M., Bittrich, Volker & Do Amaral, Maria Do Carmo E., 2016, Lentibulariaceae from the Viruá National Park in the northern Amazon, Roraima, Brazil, Phytotaxa 258 (1), pp. 1-25 : 8-9

1. Utricularia amethystina Salzm. ex Saint-Hilaire & Girard (1838: 870) ( Fig. 2 : G–I)

Marsh herbs, up to 25 cm tall. Stolons and vegetative parts glabrous. Leaves rosulate, obovate to trullate, ca. 6 mm wide. Traps lateral; pair of dorsal appendages deltoid, apex acute; pair of ventral appendages truncate, appearing to be plates in the ventral portion of traps, glandular hairs present. Inflorescence erect, up to 6-flowered, flowers up to 2 cm distant from each other. Peduncle greenish or reddish; lateral spongy floats absent; sterile bracts up to 1 mm long, basifixed, lanceolate, apex acute, margin entire, equally distributed. Bract ca. 1 × ca. 2 mm, basifixed, broadly ovate, apex acute, margin entire. Bracteoles> 0–1 × ca. 1 mm, lanceolate, fused at the base to the bract. Pedicels up to 1.5 cm long, longer than the calyx lobes. Calyx lobes slightly distinct, margin entire, without prominent nerves; upper lobe 3 × 2 mm, ovate, cuneiform (wedge-shaped); lower lobe 2 × 2 mm, cuneiform (wedge-shaped). Corolla purple, lilac or white, with a white and yellow/orange mark on the lower lip and spur; upper lip 3 × 5 mm, ovate; lower lip 4 × 5 mm, trilobed or obscurely trilobed; spur 6 × ca. 1 mm, cylindrical, apex acute, generally longer than the lower corolla lip and not forming an angle of 90º with the latter, in lateral view. Style and filaments short. Capsule globose, dehiscing by dorsi-ventral slit. Seeds ovoid, testa cells reticulate, oblong.

Distribution:— Utricularia amethystina is distributed in the southern region of North America ( Mexico and USA —in Florida only), and Central and South America ( Taylor 1989). In Brazil this species occurs in the northern, northeastern, central-western and southeastern regions ( Miranda et al. 2016), in sandy savannas, peaty swamps and damp soils among rocks; and is shade-tolerant ( Taylor 1989). In the VNP it occurs in areas of grassy white-sand savanna.

Taxonomic notes:— Taylor (1989) mentions the different corolla colors of U. amethystina . We found only the purple-flowered and white-flowered variants at VNP; the yellow-flowered variant is absent. This species is distinct from the others by the fusion of the bracteole and bract bases and the dehiscence of the capsule by dorsi-ventral slits. Specimens of U. costata may appear similar to smaller specimens of U. amethystina , but U. costata presents also prominent nerves on the calyx lobes and floral bracts that are not fused to the bracteoles.

Specimens:— BRAZIL. Roraima, Caracaraí, Viruá National Park : PPBio grid L1 / N6, 12 September 2010, S. M. Costa 695, T.D. M. Barbosa ( INPA!, UEC!) ; PPBio grid L3 / N2, 13 September 2010, S. M. Costa 710, T.D. M. Barbosa ( INPA!, UEC!) ; PPBio grid L3 / N2, 13 September 2010, S. M. Costa 717, T.D. M. Barbosa ( INPA!, UEC!) ; “Estrada Perdida”, 21 September 2010, S. M. Costa 794, T.D. M. Barbosa, K. G. Cangani ( INPA!, UEC!) ; “Estrada Perdida”, 21 September 2010, S. M. Costa 795, T.D. M. Barbosa, K. G. Cangani ( INPA!, UEC!) ; PPBio grid, 24 July 2010, T.D. M. Barbosa 1304, S. M. Costa ( INPA!, UEC!) ; “ Estrada Perdida ”, 25 July 2010, T.D. M. Barbosa 1341, S. M. Costa ( INPA!, UEC!) .

Figures

FIGURE 2. Genlisea filiformis A.St.-Hil. A. leaves in rosette. B. flower (front view). Genlisea oxycentron P.Taylor—C. leaves. D. flower (lateral view). Genlisea pygmea A.St.-Hil.—E. leaves in rosette. F. flower (front view). Utricularia amethystina Salzm. ex A.St.-Hil. & Girard—G. leaves. H. the white-flowered variant (lateral view). I. the blue-flowered variant (front view); Utricularia benjaminiana Oliv. J. spongy floats. K. habit. L. inflorescence (detail, note the botuliform spur).