Hohenbergia ituberaensis B.P. Cavalcante, E.H. Souza & Versieux, 2020

Cavalcante, Brayan Paiva, Souza, Everton Hilo De, Versieux, Leonardo M. & Martinelli, Adriana Pinheiro, 2020, Hohenbergia ituberaensis (Bromeliaceae): a new white-flowered species from Bahia, Brazil, Phytotaxa 439 (2), pp. 119-126 : 120-124

Hohenbergia ituberaensis B.P. Cavalcante, E.H. Souza & Versieux , spec. nov. ( Figs. 1–3 )

Diagnose: — Hohenbergia ituberaensis is closely related to H. stellata but it can be distinguished by its smaller size (ca. 90 cm tall when flowering vs. to 200 cm when flowering), leaves with shorter concolorous prickles (3-4 mm long, vs. 8-10 mm long, conspicuous black prickles), compact inflorescence, with short-pedunculate and short branches (vs. inflorescence lax, with long-pedunculate branches), shorter and glabrous flowers (less than 2.5 cm vs. over 3 cm long, and dense white-lanate flowers), floral bracts nearly equaling to the sepals (vs. always exceeding than the sepals), sepals with a different color than the floral bracts (white and pinkish respectively vs. concolorous, pink, red, or white) and white petals (vs. lilac).

Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Ituberá, Rodovia BA-250, Estrada da praia de Pratiji, 13º40’23,2”S, 39º07’02.2”W, 29 m. s.m., 31 July 2018, B. Cavalcante & E. H. Souza 15. (holotype HURB 22226, isotype UFRN 25726) ( Fig.3 ).

Plants mesophytic, terrestrial or more rarely epiphytic on the lower three branches (below 2 m), reproducing by short and robust basal shoots, small to medium size, ca. 60 cm tall when sterile and 90 cm tall when flowering; rosette with a small tank, impounding water only in the central portion of ca. 20 cm in diameter x 15 cm tall. Leaves more than 20 in number, 50–110 cm long, greenish, sometimes bearing red-wine tones on the adaxial face when close to the flowering period; sheath 10–20 × 4–7 cm, brownish on both sides, elliptic, slightly dilated, margins even; blade 40–90 x 2–3.5 cm, linear-lanceolate, canaliculate with a central vein creating a marked depression in the leaf surface, with inconspicuously serrulate margins, prickles 0.3–0.4 mm long, retrorse, with a conspicuous apical mucro of 5– 15 mm long. Inflorescence twice-branched, fertile portion 15–25 cm long, narrowly pyramidal (rarely cylindrical), paniculate, branches 12–20 in number and more densely arranged at the apex; peduncle 35–50 cm long, 1–1.2 cm in diameter, hidden by the bracts; peduncle bracts 8–11 x 2–3 cm, densely imbricate, lanceolate, greenish but lighter than the leaves, smooth, similar in shape and color all along the peduncle, longer than the internodes, green at anthesis and stramineous to brown when in fruitification, with a spiny and blackened apex; primary bracts the basal ones like the peduncle bracts in shape, 7–15 cm long,, smooth, pinkish or brownish, longer than the stipe, slightly channeled; the upper ones 1.5 – 3 cm long, similar to the floral bracts, shorter than the apical spike, reddish or rose, triangular or elliptic, apex acute; branches the basal ones 5–12 cm long, subsessile or stipitate (stipe shorter than 2 cm), dense; the apical ones 5–9 cm long, sessile. floral bracts ca. 1.2 x 1.4 cm, pink or reddish, triangular, margins entire, with an acute apex, shorter or equaling the sepals. Flowers 1.8–2.5 cm long, sessile, variable number in a spike; sepals asymmetrical, triangular, with an extended marginal wing slightly exceeding the apex, forming a tubular calyx, easily separated from each other, ca. 1.5 x 1.2 cm, white; petals 1.6–2.2 cm long, spatulate to oval with an obtuse apex, white, distinctly veined shining through, free from each other, forming a tubular corolla; petal appendages ornamented (fringed), with 2 rows of free fimbriae; stamens 1.3–1.5 cm long, white, included; filament complanate; ovary 2–3 mm long, triangularovoidal, not more than 20% of the flower length; style 1.2–1.7 cm long, white, erect, longer than the stamens; stigma conduplicate-spiral with the stigmatic line of each lobe slightly free; ovules less than 30 in number, anatropous, with a prominent chalazal appendage. Berry 2.5–3 cm long, white, bluish when ripe; seeds 0.7–3 mm long, nearly ellipsoid and brownish.

Paratypes:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Nilo Peçanha, Km 5 da Rodovia Nilo Peçanha para Ituberá, Nilo Peçanha, without collection date, T. S. dos Santos 2666 ( CEPEC 9384). Ituberá, Entrada da Praia de Pratigi, 01 January 2017, E. H. Souza 471 ( HURB 22204).

Etymology:— The specific epithet ituberaensis refers to the type locality, the municipality of Ituberá.

Distribution and habitat: — Hohenbergia ituberaensis was found growing near the edge of the regenerating fragment of Atlantic Forest, along the highway that connects Ituberá to Nilo Peçanha, and in two additional localities: near to Jatimane community and in Ecological Reserve Ouro Verde (RPPN Ouro Verde / Michelin), both in the limits of Nilo Peçanha and Ituberá municipalities, representing the northernmost occurrences of H. ituberaensis ( Fig. 4 ). The climate of the region is quite wet, with a lot of rain fall, with trees of medium to large size, creating a humid and shady environment. All areas of occurrence are fragmented, surrounded by highly transited roads and fields of restinga.

Phenology: —The beginning of the flowering season was not observed, but herbarium material indicates blooming from February to July, during the rainy season.

Conservation status: —The type locality of the species is surrounded by a high-traffic federal road, the other two localities are natural areas of extractivism, which makes the species vulnerable (VU, IUCN 2001). By plotting the known occurrences in Geocat software (geocat.kew.org), it was estimated that the extent of occurrence is about 41.9 km 2 while the area of occupancy is estimated to be 20 km 2. Since these areas are under tread of a rapidly human expansion and surrounded by high-traffic roads, we categorized the specie as Vulnerable, following the IUCN definition (IUCN 2001). We reinforce that it is only known only from three localities in fragmented forests, where the quality of the habit may decrease rapidly, despite of one locality being a private reserve.

Observations: —This new species is very similar to H. stellata , and looks similar to H. belemii and H. capitata (compared in Table 1) due to the pinkish and globose branches, rare in other species of this genus. The main features of H. ituberaensis are the short slightly triangular inflorescence, with once-branched basal primary branches, with cylindrical or globose spikes, contrasting coloration of bracts and sepals (red or pink bract with white sepals and petals), which makes it easy to identify.

morphological measurements are based in the original description of each species and were complemented by observations of living plants.

We emphasize that Hohenbergia ituberaensis is the only species with white petals among morphologically correlated species. Another very conspicuous feature is the size of the flower (shorter than in H. stellata , H. belemii , and H. capitata ) and ovary/flower length ratio, whereas the ovary in H. stellata can comprise up to 50% of the flower length and up to 40% in H. belemii and H. capitata , the ovary of H. ituberaensis comprises only 15–20% of the total length of the flower, with a very reduced number of seeds. Moreover, while blooming, H. ituberaensis is shorter than H. stellata and taller than H. belemii and H. capitata , but H. belemii has wider rosettes compared to H. ituberaensis .

Additional characteristics that can aid the identification of the species are: the lanceolate leaf shape (vs. linear in H. stellata and linear-lanceolate in H. belemii and H. capitata ), with the main veins forming a depression in the center of the leaf surface (channeled) (differing from H. stellata and H. capitata , but similar to H. belemii ), with inconspicuous prickles (vs. conspicuous prickled in the other three species), smaller and wider rosette (when compared to H. stellata ) and predominantly terrestrial habit (vs. predominantly epiphytic for the other three species). In addition, some individuals may show red-wine staining on the adaxial side of the leaves, near the reproductive season. We also emphasize that H. ituberaensis does not present a globose inflorescence like H. capitata and H. belemii , but a short and compact inflorescence (vs. large and lax in H. stellata ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Hohenbergia ituberaensis. A. Habit. B. Part of the fertile portion of the inflorescence (with primary and secondary branches). C. Leaf apex. D. Flower without floral bract in adaxial view. E. Flower with floral bract in lateral view. F. Dissected flower showing the gynoecium and one petal. G. Petal with epipetalous and antipetalous stamens. H. abaxial view of sepal. I. Petal appendages. J. Adaxial and lateral view of anther. K. Stigma. (Drawn from the holotype by Brayan Paiva Cavalcante).

FIGURE 2. Hohenbergia ituberaensis. A. Inflorescence in habitat. B. Inflorescence with flower buds and one open flower. C. Specimen with mature bluish berries in habitat. D. Flower with floral bract. E. Flower with floral bract removed.

FIGURE 3. Isotype of Hohenbergia ituberaensis B.P. Cavalcante, E.H. Souza & Versieux (UFRN 25726).

FIGURE 4. Geographic distribution of Hohenbergia ituberaensis, endemic to Bahia, in a small area between Ituberá and Nilo Peçanha municipalities, only known from forest fragments.