Dyckia splendida Esteves & Gouda, 2018

Pereira, Eddie Esteves & Gouda, Eric John, 2018, A new Dyckia species (Bromeliaceae, Pitcairnioideae) from Brazilian Central-West region, Pantanal Mato-Grossense, Phytotaxa 333 (1), pp. 137-142 : 137-142

Dyckia splendida Esteves & Gouda , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1–4 )

Type:— BRAZIL. Mato Grosso do Sul. Municipality of Porto Murtinho, 85 m., 21º45’ 05.70’’ S, 57º47’ 21.50’’ W, July 2007. Ex cult. fl. April 2011, E. Esteves Pereira E-626 (holotype: UFG 47-925).

Diagnosis:—t his new species is closely related to Dyckia excelsa Leme , but can be distinguished from it by the following characteristics: flowers in all parts smaller, ca. 38 mm long with ca. 4 mm long pedicel (vs. ca. 50 mm, pedicel ca. 6–10 mm); sepals ovate, ca. 10 mm wide, base green, pale-yellow toward apex (vs. sub-orbicular, 13 mm wide, orange-red); petals ovate to elliptic, 22–25 mm long, apex obtuse, adaxially pale to greenish-yellow, adaxially glabrous, divergent to spreading at anthesis (vs. narrowly ovate, ca. 32 mm long, orange-red, adaxially brown lepidote, erect at anthesis).

Description:— Plant terrestrial, flowering 135–170 cm tall (to 210 cm in cultivation). Leaves 25–50 in number, laxly arranged in an open rosette of 90–135 cm diameter, slightly secund; sheaths imbricate, ca. 5.5 cm long, 12 cm wide, succulent, margins spinose serrate; blades very rigid, succulent, abaxially with a heavy imprint of the serrate margins of the lower blades on the surface, at the base ca. 9 mm thick, narrowly triangular, long attenuately acute, the inner ones sub-erect, the outer ones divergent, strongly channeled, cinereous-green, on both sides finely striate obscured by a dense coat of appressed trichomes, at age becoming glabrous, up to 81 cm long, up to 11.4 cm wide near the base, margins laxly and coarsely predominantly antrorse serrate, but some spines retrorse; spines uncinate, sharp, the basal and apical ones ca. 1 mm long, up to 13 mm long in center part, ca. 11 mm wide, 1–29 mm apart, dark green to glossy dark-brown, but the color obscured by a dense coat of appressed cinereous trichomes,. Peduncle lateral, ascending at base to upright, then erect, stout, woody, ca. 80 cm long, to 2.3 cm in diameter at the base, exceeding the leaves, nearly wholly exposed, pale green to brown, densely cinereous lepidote, becoming glabrous at age; peduncle bracts rigid, the lower ones sub-foliaceous, very narrowly triangular, divergent, to 23 cm long, to 1.8 cm wide, carinate, longitudinally striate, distal ones remote, much spaced, hemi-amplexicaul, ca. 15 mm long, 7 mm wide, serrulate of minute predominately retrorse spines, olive-green to ochraceous at age, densely and cinereously lepidote. Inflorescence erect, simple or rarely once branched at the base (occasionally with 1–7, small, slender, slightly flexuous branches, with up to 12 smaller flowers each), interrupted sub-densely flowered, sub-verticillate (sub-verticils of about 8 spirally arranged flowers), occasionally with more spaced flowers at the base of the main axis; main axis stout, woody, 62–87 cm long, near its base 0.7–1.7(–2.2) cm in diameter, tapering to 0.3–0.5 cm distally, dark- to olive-green or brownish distally, densely covered by cinereous or ferrugineous trichomes. Floral bracts of the lower flowers 14–31 mm long, 7–11 mm wide, the upper ones 2–3 mm long, carinate, concave, triangular-lanceolate, finely serrulate, densely covered by ferrugineous trichomes, ochraceous at age. Flowers 29–36 mm long, the calyx ca. 13 mm in diameter, the corolla spreading to 25–30 mm in diameter, short pedicellate; pedicel ca. 4 mm long, 4 mm in diameter, covered by a coat of ferruginous trichomes; sepals slightly overlapping at anthesis, rigid, fleshy, ovate, ca. 14 mm long, 10 mm wide, greenish to brown near the base, pale-yellow at the margins, concave, ecarinate, densely ferruginously lepidote, the margins finely serrulate or ciliate; petals fleshy and slightly canaliculate at the base, short connate for ca. 1.5 mm, 22–25 mm long, 14–17 mm wide, ovate to elliptic, with spreading blade, apex obtuse or slightly cucullate and with laxly and obscurely ciliate margins, pale- to greenish-yellow, adaxially glabrous, abaxially densely ferruginous lepidote in upper central section; stamens equal in length, ca 3 cm long, exceeding the petals, long exerted because of the spreading corolla, just exceeding the pistil; filaments free above the short common tube with the petals, slightly flattened, rigid, sub-erect but slightly incurved at the base, pale-yellow, 19–26 mm long, 2.5–3.0 mm wide, distally ca. 1 mm wide; anthers ca. 7 mm long, 1.2 mm wide, sub-linear, with two erect free lobes at the base, recurved at anthesis, yellow; pistil 25 mm long; ovary brilliant green, triangular-subpyramidal, 13–15 mm long, 5–6 mm in diameter; style cream colored to pale-yellow distally; stigma conduplicate-spiraled, approximately 4 mm long, lobes flabellate, yellow. Capsule sub-pyramidal-ovoid, sulcate, finely verrucose, lustrous dark-castaneous 18–22 mm long, 8–14 mm in diameter, acuminate into the persisting style, up to dehiscence the corolla and stamens persisting; seeds broadly and asymmetrical winged, flat almost triangular, the wing cream, to brownish in the center, 6–7 mm long, 4–6 mm wide, excluding the wing ovate-lanceolate.

Observations: —This species is closely related to Dyckia excelsa Leme (1993: 6) and Dyckia ferruginea Mez (1896: 533) . Additionally to the differences given in the diagnose, it can be distinguished from D. excelsa in having larger and more succulent leaf blades that are triangular-attenuate, ca. 85 cm long, ca. 11.4 cm wide at the base (vs. caudate ca. 70 cm long, ca. 4 cm wide), with bright dark-castaneous marginal spines (tip), ca. 13 mm long, obscured by a coat of appressed canescent trichomes (vs. pale brown 5–9 mm long spines, not obscured by indument); inflorescence (fertile part) 80–93 cm long (vs. ca. 120 cm long); filaments free, 25 mm long (vs. sub-free, ca. 33 mm long); anthers ca. 7 mm long (vs. ca. 5 mm long); stigma lobes 4 mm long (vs. ca. 3 mm long); ovary 15 mm long (vs. ca. 20 mm long). It can be distinguished from Dyckia ferruginea by the larger sepals (ca. 14 mm long vs. 7–8.5 mm), much larger petals (22–25 mm long vs. 10–14 mm), stamens exceeding the petals (vs. about equaling the petals).

Etymology: —The Latin epithet “ splendida ” refers to a magnificent (splendid), sumptuous, opulent, bright thing.

Habitat: —This new species grows terrestrial in full sun, predominately on stony soil, with individual rosettes or in loose groups ( Fig. 1 ), in areas scattered across the dry regions of the Pantanal Matogrossense at about 85 m elevation, in isolated or scattered rocky outcrops. It grows among short shrub vegetation, along with plants in the Velloziaceae , other bromeliads and cactus species. It is probably endemic to this area but further field surveys are needed to confirm this.

Conservation: —Agriculture in the area of the Pantanal Matogrossense is expanding rapidly and if this continues the cerrado vegetation will soon totally disappear.Action should be taken by the Government to preserve this vulnerable and restricted biome. Species like Dyckia stolonifera Braun & Esteves (2009: 301) and this new Dyckia splendida need protection. Ex situ conservation programs can help to prevent the ongoing loss of endemic species from this Biome.

Figures

FIGURE 1 A–C. Dyckia splendida in habitat at the type locality, Pantanal Mato–Grossense, Brazil.A. A group of separate individuals. B. Inflorescence. C. Part of the inflorescence showing the open flowers. Photos by Eddie Esteves Pereira.

FIGURE 2 A–I. Dyckia splendida in culture. A. open flowers showing how far the petals can spread out. B. an inflorescence with much spaced flowers at the base and some slender branches. C. Detail of the leaf rosette. D. Close-up view of the corolla; E. Capsule with persistent perianth. F. Close-up view of the winged seeds. G. Petal with two stamens, note the brown indumenta on abaxial side (scale bar = 25 mm). H. close-up view of style and stigma (scale bar = 10 mm). I. Part of the inflorescence showing the interrupted spirally arranged flowers in sub-verticils. Photos by Eddie Esteves Pereira.

FIGURE 3. A Swallow–tailed hummingbird, feeding on Dyckia splendida flowers. Photos by Eddie Esteves Pereira.

FIGURE 4. Part of the main axis of the inflorescence with open flowers at anthesis.A. Dyckia splendida. B. Dyckia ferruginea. C. Dyckia excelsa. Photos by Eddie Esteves Pereira.