Peperomia bernhardiana C. DC. (1917: 472)

Marcusso, Gabriel Mendes, Biral, Leonardo, Ribeiro, Henrique Lauand, Peixoto, Tharso Rodrigues, Melo, Pablo Hendrigo Alves De, Mathieu, Guido & Lombardi, Julio Antonio, 2018, Emended description and neotypification of Peperomia bernhardiana C. DC. (Piperaceae), Phytotaxa 344 (2), pp. 177-184 : 179-183

Peperomia bernhardiana C. DC. (1917: 472) .

Type:— BRAZIL. Brasilia Meridionalis, s.d., Herbarium Bernhardi s.n. (holotype B [destroyed]).

Neotype (designated here):— BRAZIL. SÃO PAULO: Iporanga: Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira ( PETAR) Núcleo Ouro Grosso , 24°32’42,67” S, 48°40’52,36” W, 02 July 2016, Peixoto 5 ( HRCB 69524 [ Fig. 2 ]).

Perennial saxicolous herb, 5–14 cm tall. Stem erect, 0.1–0.3 cm diam. at the base, 0.5–2 cm long, glabrous, internodes 0.1–0.4 cm long, reduced at the base, leaf scars distinct. Leaves alternate, spirally arranged in a basal pseudorosette, petioles 1–6.5 cm long, smooth, glabrous, green with reddish small longitudinal stripes, lamina somewhat carnose when fresh, membranous when dry, ovate-lanceolate, symmetrical, (1.5–) 2.5–6.5 (–7.2) × (1–) 1.8–3 cm, apex acute, base cordate, lobes (0.5–) 2.2–2.6 × (5–) 5.5–8.9 mm, slightly asymmetrical, usually not connivent or overlapping, base rarely rounded, usually peltate 0.1–0.5 cm from the basal margin, sometimes subpeltate, margin ciliate, adaxially furfuraceous and sparsely hyaline dotted, abaxially glabrous and densely hyaline dotted, the dots appearing bright when fresh, yellow-orange when dry, (3–) 5 (–7)-palmatinerved, adaxially dark green to purple at and along the nervure, light green in between, rarely with some whitish stains, abaxially red–purple at and along the nervure, light green in between, the colors tending to fade when dry. Inflorescence spadix erect or decumbent, simple or bifurcate, rarely trifurcate or more, terminal and leaf opposed, peduncle (3–) 6.5–9 cm long, glabrous, green with reddish small longitudinal stripes when fresh, rachis 4–10 cm long, loosely flowered, glabrous, green. Floral bract orbicular, peltate, ca. 0.4 mm diam., yellow-orange hyaline dotted. Ovary ellipsoid, style mammiform to conical, stigma apical, fimbriate. Stamens with short filaments in anthesis. Fruit globose to ellipsoid, ca. 0.7 mm long, emerged, sessile, pericarp sticky granulose and blackish green, style fine granulose and green, wilted stigma apical when fresh, pericarp with some longitudinal ridging and reticulation when dry, without pseudocupule.

According to Yuncker (1974), Peperomia bernhardiana ( Figs. 3 and 4 ) is characterized by the cordate leaves and the long spadices and resembles P. lanceolatopeltata C. de Candolle (1866: 136) . The latter differs by the rounded leaf base (versus cordate), shorter peduncle (about 4 cm long versus usually 6.5–9 cm) and subapical stigmas (versus apical). Furthermore, P. bernhardiana resembles P. crypticola C. de Candolle (1917: 472) , P. hydrocotyloides Miquel (1847: 118) , P. lindmaniana Dahlstedt (1900: 44) and P. lyman-smithii Yuncker (1966: 147) , which are distinctive by a combination of characters ( Table 1).

As a poorly known species, Peperomia bernhardiana was given the “incertae sedis” status in the infrageneric classification proposed by Frenzke et al. (2015). Based on the leaf arrangement in a basal pseudorosette, the palmate venation, inflorescences generally simple and longitudinal lacunae in the fruits when mature, we consider it as belonging to subgenus Multipalmata Scheiris & Frenzke ( Frenzke et al. 2015: 434).

Additional material examined: BRAZIL. SÃO PAULO: Apiaí. Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira ( PETAR), Núcleo Caboclos , trilha da pescaria, 24°25’3.38” S, 48°33’55.47” W, 25 October 2016, P. H. A. Melo et al. 5879 ( HRCB 69525 ) ; idem. Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira ( PETAR), Núcleo Caboclos , trilha pescaria, 24º25’3.7” S, 48º33’52.8” W, 27 June 2017, P. H. A. Melo et al. 7069 ( HRCB 70806 ) ; idem. Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira ( PETAR), Núcleo Caboclos , trilha pescaria, 24º25’3.7” S, 48º33’52.8” W, 27 June 2017, P. H. A. Melo et al. 7072 ( HRCB 70807 ) ; idem. Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira ( PETAR), Núcleo Caboclos , trilha da pescaria, 24°25’3.38” S, 48°33’55.47” W, 16 December 2016, T. R. Peixoto 141 ( HRCB 69522 ) ; Iporanga. Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira ( PETAR), Núcleo Ouro Grosso, 24°32’42.6” S, 48°40’52.3” W, 23 October 2016, P. H. A. Melo et al. 5814 ( HRCB 69523 ). Idem. Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira ( PETAR), Núcleo Ouro Grosso, 24°32’41.4” S, 48°40’54.2” W, 25 June 2017, P. H. A. Melo et al. 7033 ( HRCB 70805 ) .

Additional to the samples cited here, another possible record of this taxon is reported for Southern Brazil (Itaiópolis municipality, Santa Catarina State), represented by a single specimen collected in 2011 by A. Korte & A. Kniess 1636 ( FURB 19963) and identified tentatively as Peperomia cf. bernhardiana . Although this specimen probably belongs to the present taxon, we did not include it in the above additional material because the collection was not seen, only the electronic image was examined on SpeciesLink database ( CRIA 2018).

hydrocotyloydes, P. lanceolatopeltata , P. lindmaniana and P. lyman-smithii are according to Yuncker (1974).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Neotype of Peperomia bernhardiana C.DC (T.R. Peixoto 5).

FIGURE 3. Peperomia bernhardiana C.DC. A. Habit. B. Adaxial leaf surface. C. Abaxial leaf surface (A–C from P.H.A. Melo 7033).

FIGURE 4. Peperomia bernhardiana C.DC. A. Inflorescences. B. Flowering rachis. C. Fruiting rachis. D. Fruit. Bar= D (1mm) (A-B from P.H.A. Melo 7069 and C-D from P.H.A. Melo 7072).