Paypayrola pubiflora J.F.C. Oliveira & L.P. Queiroz, 2024

Oliveira, José Florencio Cerqueira, Santos, Felipe Da Silva, Moreira, Ariane Dos Santos & Queiroz, Luciano Paganucci De, 2024, Two New Species Of Paypayrola (Violaceae) From The Campinaranas Of The Brazilian Amazon, Phytotaxa 665 (1), pp. 36-44 : 41-42

Paypayrola pubiflora J.F.C. Oliveira & L.P. Queiroz sp. nov. ( Fig. 2 , 3 )

Type: — BRAZIL. Amazonas: São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Rio Negro, Rio Içana, 10 minutes by motorboat upstream mouth of Rio Cubate. Hill at left bank, alt to 150 m. Disturbed forest. 0°33’N, 67°38’W, 4 November 1987, P. J. M. Maas et al 6915 (holotype INPA [158340]!, isotypes MO [3163721]!, NY [02149176]!).

Diagnosis:— Paypayrola pubiflora is similar to P. arenacea Aymard & G.A.Romero and P. longifolia Tul. , sharing lanceolate to oblanceolate leaves with a long-attenuate base. However, Paypayrola pubiflora differs from P. arenacea by its tree to shrub habit, 3–7 m tall (vs. shrub, 1–2 m tall), petiolate leaves (vs. subsessile leaves), leaves larger than 15 cm long (vs. smaller than 8 cm long). It also differs from P. longifolia by having a pubescent floral rachis (vs. glabrous to glabrescent), smaller and pubescent sepals 1.7–2 mm long (vs. sepals 2–2.5 mm long and glabrous), and white petals with pubescence at the base or on the entire outer surface (vs. yellow petals and entirely glabrous on the outer surface). Additionally, P. pubiflora distinguishes itself from both P. arenacea and P. longifolia by having a pubescent ovary (vs. glabrous in both species).

Treelet to shrub, 3–7 m tall; branches glabrous, bark grayish-brown, thin, smooth to undulating, vertically striated, scale scars present, straight or curved; apical buds usually deciduous, scales 3–10 × 3 mm, glabrous, deltoid to lanceolate, entire margin, glabrous to glabrescent, base truncated, apex acute; lenticels present, elongated, grayish. Stipules not seen, probably deciduous. Leaves alternate, rarely subopposite; petiole 15–40 × 2–3 mm, inflated at the base, rough to sulcate, blackened in young leaves, woody when old, glabrous; blade 18–34 × 5–11 cm, glabrous on both surfaces, elliptic to lanceolate, apex acuminate to attenuate, entire margin, rarely repand to sinuate, base long-attenuate, brochidodromous to camptodromous venation, lateral veins 9–14 pairs, scalariform. Inflorescences pseudoracemes, terminal or ramiflorous and then born below the coeval leaves, rachis 4–11 cm long, pubescent, peduncle (8) 15–20 mm long, pubescent, brachyblasts usually 3-flowered, central flower older than the two laterals, flowers lax on the rachis; bract (at the base of the peduncle) 1–2 mm long, deltoid, glabrous or rarely puberulous; bracteole (at the base of the pedicel) ca. 1 mm long, orbicular, pubescent, ciliate; pedicel ca. 1 mm long, pubescent. Flowers 8–20 mm long; sepals 1.7–2 × 1.5–2 mm, subequal, imbricate, deltoid, elliptic, or ovate, pubescent, base truncated to rounded, entire margin, ciliate, apex acute to obtuse, one or none visible veins when rehydrated, appendix over midvein usually present, globose to fusiform; petals 10–19 × 1.6–2 mm, white, turning color when dry, lanceolate to linear, pubescent at the base becoming glabrous at the apex or rarely entirely pubescent externally, base truncated, margin entirely glabrous to sparsely ciliate, apex obtuse to rounded; stamens 1.5–2 mm long, filaments fused into a tube ca. 1 mm long, glabrous, sometimes pubescent near the apex of the tube, anthers glabrous, appendix of the connective barely visible <0.3 mm long, orange-brown, glabrous; ovary 1.2–1.6 × 0.3–0.5 mm, pear-shaped, pubescent, style 1.8–2.2 mm long, straight, glabrous, stigma three-lobed. Fruits capsules, each valve 20–25 × 5–7 mm, puberulous. Seeds 1 per valve, 5–6 × 2–3 mm, oblong to ellipsoid, glabrous, deltoid caruncle, ca. 2 mm long.

Distribution, habitat, and phenology: Paypayrola pubiflora is known only from the state of Amazonas, Brazil, restricted to the municipalities of São Gabriel da Cachoeira and São Paulo de Olivença ( Fig. 3 ). Similar to the preceding species, it occurs in campinarana ( Table 1) in the Negro River basin. It was collected with flowers from October to April and with fruits in April ( Fig 3 ).

Conservation status: We assessed the conservation status of Paypayrola pubiflora as Endangered (EN) according to IUCN (2022) criteria B1ab(iii) + B2ab(iii), as it presents an EOO 33.7 km ² and an AOO 16 km ². The newly described species has a restricted occurrence to campinaranas regions on sandy soil, with records only for the state of Amazonas in areas near rivers.

Etimologia: The epithet “pubiflora ” refers to the surfaces with pubescent indumentum on the rachis, sepals, petals, and ovary. These morphological characteristics assist in the identification of the new species described here.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes): Brazil: Amazonas : São Gabriel da Cachoeira , Uaupés, 68°W, 1°28’N, 12 April 1975 [fl.], O. C. Nascimento et al. 105 ( IAN [148216]!, INPA [53713]!, NY [2149182]!) ; Foz do Caiary , Rio Negro, 9 october 1945 [fl.], R. L. Fróes 21148 ( IAN [16580]!, NY [2148187]!) ; Rio Cubati , afluente do Içana , Caatinga alta, 4 November 1987 [fl.], C. Farney et al. 1884 ( INPA [170927]!, NY [2149184]!, U [1757549]!) ; Rio Negro , Ilha das Flores, Foz do Vaupés, mata virgem, 18 April 1947 [fl.], J. Murça-Pires 390 ( IAC [9657]!, IAN [28347]!, NY [02149179]!) ; Rio Negro , Foz do Caiary , T.f., high forest, transition to Caatinga. , 18 April 1947 [fl., fr], R. L. Fróes 22165 ( IAC [13540]!, IAN [28723]!). São Paulo de Olivença, 8 km S of main square, 03°30’S, 68°57’W, 5 December 1986 [fl.], D. C. Daly et al. 4404 ( NY [2149188]!, NY [2149185]!) .

Notes: Paypayrola pubiflora shares the white corolla with P. arenacea , P. blanchetiana , P. confertiflora , and P. oppositifolia , of which only P. blanchetiana has occurrences in the Mata Atlântica domain, with the others being restricted to the Amazon domain. Within this group with a white corolla, P. pubiflora can be distinguished from the other species by having a long petiole of 15–40 mm in length (vs. short to intermediate petiole <15 mm in length), flowers (loose) scattered on the floral rachis (vs. congested flowers on the floral rachis), petals externally pubescent at the base becoming glabrous at the apex or rarely entirely pubescent (vs. glabrous petals), and pubescent fruits (vs. entirely glabrous fruits in P. blanchetiana , P. confertiflora , and P. oppositifolia , not observed in P. arenacea ).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Paypayrola pubiflora. A. Flowering branch. B. Inflorescence. C. Flower bud. D–E. Flower in anthesis. F. Stamens, adaxial views. G. Gynoecium. H. Fruit. I. Seed. A–G from P.J.M. Maas et al 6915; H–I from R.L. Fróes 22165. Drawn by Pétala Ribeiro Gomes.

FIGURE 3. Geographic distribution of Paypayrola oppositifolia and Paypayrola pubiflora.