Eugenia florida De Candolle (1828: 283)

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 : 34

19. Eugenia florida De Candolle (1828: 283) . ( Fig. 13A .)

Trees 4– m tall. Twigs glabrous when young. Young leaves glabrous. Leaves with petioles 5–12 mm long, slightly canaliculate adaxially, glabrous; blades 60–126 × 28–55 mm, oblong, narrow-oblanceolate, rare narrow-ovate, concolorous when dry, not glaucous and glabrous on both surfaces; bases obtuse or attenuate; apices acute or acuminate; midvein sulcate adaxially and raised abaxially, glabrous on both surfaces; secondary veins 11–14 at each side, raised on both surfaces, the first pair not confluent with the innermost marginal vein; marginal veins two or three, the innermost 3.5–6.5 mm from the plane and without thickening margin; oil glands raised on both surfaces. Inflorescences axillary, raceme, peduncle 7.5–43 mm long, rachis 5–65 mm long, glabrous; bracts 0.5–1 mm long, ovate, puberulent, persistent in the fruit; 2–12 flowers; pedicels 2.5–10 mm long, glabrate; bracteoles 1–1.5 mm long, free, ovate, apices obtuse, glabrate, not reflexed, persistent in the fruit. Flower buds 2–3 mm in diameter. Flowers with smooth or slightly glandular, glabrous hypanthia; calyx lobes 4, free, 1.5–2.5 × 1.5–3 mm, ovate or suborbiculate, apices obtuse or rounded, glabrous; petals 4, obovate, oil glands inconspicuous; staminal ring glabrate or glabrous; stamens with filaments 3–5.5 mm, anthers oblong; style ca. 4.5 mm long, glabrous, papillose; ovary 2–locular, ovules 6–10 per locule, locule internally glabrous. Fruits 6–9 × 4.5–6 mm, ellipsoid or globose, smooth, sometimes slightly glandular, glabrous, dark purple when ripe; seeds 1–2 per fruit, 3–4.5 × 3–4.5 mm, globose, testa smooth or fibrose.

Specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: Linhares, Reserva Natural Vale – Antiga estrada do Flamengo , Gavião real, 06 December 2017, fr., G.S. Siqueira 1215 (CVRD!, RB!); ibid., 30 November 2017, fl., G.S. Siqueira 1214 (CVRD!, RBR!) .

Distribution and habitat: — Eugenia florida is a widespread species known from collections in the whole Brazilian territory and surrounding countries. In the RNV, the species is found in the Mata Alta vegetation, where it grows in the understory.

Phenology: —Flowering in November; fruiting in November ( Fig. 4 ).

Taxonomic comments: —The species is assigned to Eugenia sect. Racemosae . Eugenia florida is easily distinguished from all other species of the genus by the lack of indumentum in almost the entire plant (except sometimes by the staminal ring), leaf blades with the first pair of secondary veins not confluent with the innermost marginal vein, two or three marginal veins, and raceme inflorescence with pedicels up to twice as long as flowers internodes, and with more than 12.5 mm long including the inflorescence’s peduncle and rachis.

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 13. A. Flowering branch of Eugenia florida (K.S. Valdemarin s.n.), B. Flowering branch of Eugenia guanabarina (A. Giaretta s.n.), C. Flowering branch of Eugenia hispidiflora (K.S. Valdemarin 747), D. Fruiting branch of Eugenia infuscata (K.S. Valdemarin 1226).