Peperomia sagasteguii Pino, Samain & L.E. Alomia, 2023

Pino Infante, Guillermo Eloy, Samain, Marie-Stephanie, Alban Castillo, Joaquina Adelaida & Alomia Collazos, Luis Enrique Aaron, 2023, Species of Peperomia (Piperaceae) from the Sana River Valley, Peru, PhytoKeys 225, pp. 1-40 : 1

14. Peperomia sagasteguii Pino, Samain & L.E. Alomia sp. nov.

Fig. 9A-G

Type.

Peru, dept. Cajamarca, prov. Santa Cruz, dist. Catache: Monteseco , 1 Km above, on the path to Chorro Blanco , 1353 m, [06°51'17.8"S, 79°06'33.2"W], 16 Mar 1986, M.O. Dillon & A. Sagástegui 4315a (holotype: F [1978653]!) .

Diagnosis.

Perennial, semi-succulent, terrestrial, epiphytic, or saxicolous herb similar to P. trinervis , differs in stems more pubescent, dark red to olive green instead of bright red, leaves with a longer and wider petiole (7-17 long × 1.8-2 wide compared to 3-10 long × 1.2-1.5 wide), lamina more succulent, green adaxially and light green-pinkish abaxially instead of olive green with gray nerves adaxially and red-purple abaxially; spadices longer (4-20 cm compared to 10 cm long), but narrower.

Description.

Perennial, semi-succulent, terrestrial, epiphytic, or saxicolous herb, living in the shade of other plants, 10-30 cm tall, up to 45 cm tall when flowering. Roots fibrous, around 1 mm diam., transparent-reddish, 2-6 cm long, emerging from basal nodes and stolons. Stem stoloniferous at the base, then assurgent, thicker below, straight erect, terete, dark red to olive green, 0.4-0.6 cm diam. at the base, gradually tapering to 1.4-1.6 mm at the apex, readily branched alternately, internodes 2.5-3 cm at the base gradually descending to 0.8-1 cm towards the apex, surface crisp-pubescent, trichomes whitish, around 0.5 mm long at base, slightly shorter upwards. Branches 5-9, irregularly alternate, sometimes pseudo-opposite below, emerging almost horizontally mainly from the distal half, 7-15 cm long in the vegetative state. Leaves alternate, elliptic, elliptic obovate to subrotundate; petiole terete, same surface and color as stem, 0.7-1.7 cm long, 1.8-2 mm wide, slightly channeled above; lamina slightly convex to flat, 2.5-4 cm long, 1-2 mm thick, 1.6-2.8 cm wide, apex acute to attenuately subacuminate, base cuneate to sub truncate; adaxially bright glossy green, convex, 3-palmatinerved, nerves depressed; margin entire; abaxially pale green to pinkish, 3-palmatinerved, nerves elevated. Young leaves can be pinkish adaxially. Both sides are puberulous. Inflorescence terminal in an umbel of 1-3 spadices and sometimes 1-2 individual spadices from upper leaf nodes, umbel with 1-3 basal bracts at the base and lateral spadices with opposite bracts at base similar to leaves but much smaller; peduncle terete, light green, 4-6 mm long, 1.2-1.8 mm diam.; rachis 4-15 (-20) cm long, 1.5-1.7 mm diam., light green. Floral bracts broadly oval to round, light green, flat, almost inconspicuous, 0.35-0.45 × 0.30-0.40 mm. Stamens, filaments short, anthers white ovoid, 0.3 × 0.4 mm. Fruita globose berry, borne on a 1-1.5 mm long, 0.25-0.3 mm diam. narrow-conical transparent pedicel; 0.7-0.8 mm long, 0.6-0.7 mm diam., brown, covered in white 0.05 mm long whitish papillae up to distal third of fruit, style conical, light brown, 0.15-0.2 mm long, 0.20-0.25 mm diam.

Distribution and habitat.

Plants have only been found from 1200 to 1500 m of the middle course of the Saña River valley, in the remnants of montane forest, epiphytic or on rocks, always in shaded places. Peperomia sagasteguii is endemic to the Saña River valley.

Phenology.

Inflorescences appear from October to November; fruits ripen from January to March.

Etymology.

This species is dedicated to Abundio Sagástegui (1932-2012), collector of the type, a notable botanist, who worked at both Universidad Nacional de Trujillo and Universidad Privada Antonio Orrego, author of many books and articles, director of the journals "Bulletin of the Society of Botany of the UNT" and Arnaldoa , author of four genera and 97 species ( Rodríguez and León 2012).

Notes.

Most collections were determined initially as P. trinervis Ruiz & Pav., a species that seems to be very close, (see Table 4 ). The main differences are stem color, which is dull dark red and greenish in P. sagasteguii compared to the bright red of P. trinervis . The indumentum of P. sagasteguii seems to be denser and longer, like that of P. rotundata . Leaf petioles of P. trinervis are shorter and of similar color to its stems. The leaf color of P. sagasteguii is bright green adaxially with depressed nerves, while P. trinervis has a high color contrast between the dark olive green and the bright silver gray of the nerves. Abaxially leaf color of P. sagasteguii is light green, while P. trinervis is dark red with light green nerves. Peperomia sagasteguii has thicker, more succulent leaves. Finally, spadices of P. sagasteguii are much longer. The type collection was determined initially as P. blanda (Jacq.) Kunth, which bears no similarity and later it was determined as P. rotundata Kunth by R. Callejas, but this sample lacks the constant decussate leaves and inflorescences characteristic of that species. Some branches and leaves can be pseudo-opposite by shortening of the stem, leading to this confusion.

This species belongs to Peperomia subg. Micropiper (Miq.) Miq. ( Frenzke et al. 2015).

Additional specimens examined.

Peru, dept. Cajamarca, prov. Santa Cruz, dist. Catache: Alrededor de campamento, Bosque Monteseco , borde de trocha sobre troncos secos [Around the campsite, Monteseco Forest, border of track, on dry logs] 1500 m, [06°50'58.6"S, 79°05'53.7"W], 20 Jan 1989, S. Leyva G. 015 (F 2016269, USM 90066 ) Prov. San Miguel, dist. La Florida: Buenos Aires, La Florida, sobre troncos de Guaba [on trunks of Inga sp.] 1000 m, [06°52'27.3"S, 79°07'10"W], 22 Mar 1986, S. Llatas Quiroz & R. Palacios 1822 (F 1963941). Road from La Florida to Monteseco, just before entering the reserved zone, 1531 m, 6°51'00.7"S, 79°05'58.2"W, 10 Feb 2023, G. Pino & L.E. Alomía 3831 (USM 333270). dist. Niepos: Road from La Florida to Monte Seco (Naranjo), 5.8 km from La Florida, 1395 m, 06°53'25.5"S, 79°06'57.3"W, 1 Mar 2009, G. Mathieu & L. Symmank 163 (USM); Road from La Florida to Niepos, 1297 m, 06°53'06.9"S, 79°06'47.6"W, 28 Aug 2022, G. Pino et al. 3641 (USM 333268); Same road, 1393 m, 06°53'25"S, 79°06'57"W, 28 Aug 2022, G. Pino et al. 3644 (USM 333269) .

Figures

Figure 9. Peperomia sagasteguii Pino, Samain & L. E. Alomia, sp. nov. A plant in habitat in the dry period B plant ex situ in anthesis C plant in habitat with inflorescences D detail of the leaves E comparison of P. sagasteguii and P. trinervis at the beginning of anthesis F detail of immature spadix G mature spadix showing long pedicels and fruits. (Details: Above, mature fruit; Below, fruit standing on long pedicel).