Minuartia altoandina Nicola & Pozner, 2013

Nicola, Marcela V. & Pozner, Raúl, 2013, A new species of Minuartia (Caryophyllaceae) restricted to the high Andes of South America, Phytotaxa 111 (1), pp. 53-56 : 53-55

Minuartia altoandina Nicola & Pozner , sp. nov. ( Fig. 1 )

Type:— ARGENTINA. Jujuy: Dpto. Dr. Manuel Belgrano, del Refugio Militar al Chañi Chico, 4,740 m, 24º 02’ 13’’ S, 65º 42’ 58’’ W, 27 January 2012, C. A . Zanotti & M. A. Suescún 269 (holotype SI!) .

Minute, moss-like herbs with slender, trailing stems with elongated internodes, rooting at nodes, and producing erect branches with short, reduced internodes. Trailing stems 40–50 × 0.6–0.8 mm with internodes 2–7 mm long and erect branches 10–15 mm long, densely covered by leaves. Leaves of the trailing stems opposite, sessile, shortly connated at base, lanceolate, 1.5–1.8 × 1 mm, recurved, acute-acuminate, 1-nerved; leaves of the erect branches opposite, sessile, shortly connated at base, ovate-lanceolate, 3–3.5 × 1–1.2 mm, erect, apex acute to rounded, 1-nerved, margin minutely pilose (2-5-celled, uniseriate trichomes) at base to papillose at apex. Flowers solitary, terminal. Pedicel reduced. Hypanthium short, dish-like, 0.25 × 1.5 mm; sepals 5, quincuncial, green, very much like the leaves, shortly lanceolate, 1.5–2 × 1–1.2 mm, apex acute to obtuse, 1-nerved, margin smooth or pilose-papillose; petals 0; stamens 10, white, 5 opposite to the sepals with a tiny pair of glands (nectaries) at filament base, and 5 alternate stamens without glands, anthers globose, dorsifixed, 0.25 × 0.25 mm, filaments 1 mm long; gynoecium 3-carpellate, ovary 0.5 × 0.7 mm, 1-locular with 3 campylotropous ovules arising from a central, short axis, styles 3, free, 1 mm long, stigmatic surface tiny, papillose, running along the inner side of the styles. Fruit and seeds unknown.

Distribution and habitat: —High Andes of northwestern Argentina at 4,740 m elevation. Among the most frequent species of the surrounding vegetation are: Senecio algens Wedd. , Caiophora nivalis Lillo , Calceolaria glacialis Wedd. , Frankenia triandra J. Remy , Oxalis sp. , Valeriana altoandina Cabrera , Valeriana nivalis Wedd. , and Xenophyllum pseudodigitatum (Rockh.) V.A. Funk.

Etymology: —Named because of its geographical distribution, in the high Andes of northwestern Argentina.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Minuartia altoandina. A. Plant, general aspect. B. Detail of decussate phyllotaxy. C. Detail of pilose leaf margin. D. Young flower. E. Open, semi-dissected flower. F. Gynoecium. Drawn by Francisco Rojas from C.A. Zanotti & M.A. Suescún 269 (holotype SI).