Eugenia brejoensis Mazine

Valdemarin, Karinne Sampaio, Mazine, Fiorella F. & Souza, Vinicius Castro, 2024, Eugenia (Myrtaceae) from Reserva Natural Vale, Espírito Santo, a center of plant endemism in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, Phytotaxa 651 (1), pp. 1-79 : 25

11. Eugenia brejoensis Mazine (in Mazine & Souza 2008: 776). ( Fig. 9C .)

Trees 12–20 m tall. Twigs puberulent when young, glabrescent; trichomes whitish. Young leaves puberulent, glabrescent; trichomes whitish. Leaves with petioles 5–9 mm long, canaliculate adaxially, puberulent to glabrous; blades 70–110 × 30–55 mm, elliptic or narrow-ovate, discolorous when dry, lighter abaxially, glaucous or not glaucous and glabrate adaxially and puberulent abaxially; bases obtuse or attenuate; apices acuminate or caudate; midvein sulcate adaxially and raised abaxially, puberulent on both surfaces; secondary veins 8–14 at each side, slightly raised on both surfaces, the first pair confluent with the marginal innermost vein; marginal veins two, the innermost 4–6 mm from the revolute and undulate without thickening margin; oil glands inconspicuous adaxially and slightly raised abaxially. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, raceme, peduncle 4–10 mm long, rachis 8–20 mm long, puberulent; bracts 1–1.5 mm long, ovate, puberulent, persistent; 4–8 flowers; pedicels 2.5–5 mm long, puberulent; bracteoles 1–1.5 mm long, connate at bases, suborbicular, apices obtuse, puberulent, not reflexed, persistent in the fruit; trichomes whitish. Flower buds not seen. Flowers with smooth, pubescent hypanthia; calyx lobes 4, free in the flower, 2.5–3 × 3–4 mm, ovate, apices obtuse or rounded, puberulent; petals not seen; staminal ring pubescent; stamens with filaments 4–5.5 mm, anthers oblong; style 4–10 mm, glabrous, stigma punctiform; ovary 2–locular, ovules not counted, locule internally glabrous. Fruits 12–16 × 11–14 mm, ellipsoid, smooth, puberulent, red when ripe; seed 1–2 per fruit, 8–14 × 6–10 mm, ellipsoid, testa smooth.

Specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: Mun. Linhares, Reserva Natural Vale – Estrada Caingá , 11 April 2013, fr., D.A. Folli 7049 (CVRD!, SORO!); Estrada Cinco Folhas, 15 May 2002, fr., D.A. Folli 4260 (CVRD!, SORO!); without locality, 30 January 1972, fr., D. Sucre 8282 (RB!, SP!) .

Distribution and habitat: — Eugenia brejoensis is known from collections from the state of Paraíba, Pernambuco and Espírito Santo in the Atlantic rainforest of southeastern Brazil. In the RNV, the species is found in the Mata Alta vegetation.

Phenology: —Flowering in January; fruiting in April through May ( Fig. 4 ).

Taxonomic comments: —The species can be assigned to Eugenia sect. Racemosae due to its raceme inflorescence with pedicels up to twice as long as flowers internodes. Eugenia brejoensis is morphologically similar to E. disperma and E. macrosperma due to its size, shape and margin of leaves, and by the raceme inflorescence with persistent bracts. However, Eugenia brejoensis can be distinguished from E. macrosperma by its canaliculate petiole (vs. terete) and adaxially glaucous or glabrate leaves with whitish trichomes (vs. puberulent or glabrous with ferruginous trichomes). Also, E. brejoensis has bracteoles connate at bases (vs. completely connate or at least along two-thirds of the length in E. macrosperma ), pedicels 2.5–5 mm long with brownish trichomes (vs. flowers sessile or with pedicels up to 2 mm long with ferruginous trichomes). The species differs from E. disperma by its leaves glaucous and glabrate adaxially and puberulent abaxially with whitish trichomes (vs. puberulent adaxially and pubescent abaxially with ferruginous trichomes), inflorescences with peduncle 5–10 mm long and 4–8 flowers (vs. peduncle 2–2.5 mm long and often 2, rare 4, flowers). Eugenia brejoensis is easily distinguished from all other species of the genus in RNV by its glaucous indumentum on the adaxial surface of leaves.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Phenological diagram of Eugenia species from Reserva Natural Vale, Espírito Santo, Brazil. Flowering periods are represented by dark red border triangles, fruiting in grey filled triangles, and “n” is the number of observations.

FIGURE 9. A. Fruiting branch of Eugenia beaurepairiana (G. Siqueira, Vale S.A.), B. Fruiting branch of Eugenia brasiliensis (K. S. Valdemarin s.n.), C. Fruiting branch of Eugenia brejoensis (G. Siqueira, Vale S.A.), D. Eugenia bunchosiifolia (K.S. Valdemarin 761).