Burmeistera pennellii Gleason, Bull. Torrey Bot.

González, Favio, 2023, Taxonomic revision of Burmeistera (Campanulaceae-Lobelioideae) in Colombia, Phytotaxa 615 (1), pp. 1-113 : 74

39. Burmeistera pennellii Gleason, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 52: 100. 1925.

Type:— COLOMBIA. Chocó / Risaralda: “Near the Río San Rafael, below Cerro Tatama”, 2500‒2700 m, 7–11 Sep 1922 (fl), F. Pennell 12119 (holotype: NY! [ NY00468000 ]). Figs. 19G–I , 20 .

Burmeistera globosa E.Wimm., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 29: 54. 1931, syn. nov. Type:— COLOMBIA. Cauca / Nariño: “Inter Pasto et Popayan (La Laguna)”, 2 May 1875 –1878 (fl), E. André s.n. (holotype: K! [ K000250865 ]) .

Herbs up to 1 m tall. Stem sparsely puberulous to glabrescent. Petiole 5–25 mm long, puberulous; blade elliptic to oblong, 9–18 × 4.0– 7.5 cm, puberulous especially along the midvein above, puberulous along veins beneath, base acute, apex abruptly acuminate to shortly cuspidate, margin regularly minutely toothed throughout, teeth acute, 4–6 per cm, hydathodes extramarginal, secondary veins 10 to 17 per side, higher order veins markedly reticulate, not ferruginous beneath, intramarginal vein present, discontinuous. Peduncle 7.0– 8.5 cm long, puberulous to glabrescent, ebracteolate. Hypanthium subglobose, 9‒10 × 8‒9 mm, sparsely puberulous. Calyx lobes narrowly ovate to narrowly oblong (length:width ratio 4:1), 12–16 × 3–4 mm, ascending, sparsely puberulous, basally contiguous, margin with five to six teeth per side, apex obtuse. Corolla 1.9–2.1 cm long, densely puberulous; tube 8–16 mm long, 2–3 mm in diameter at its mid-level, inflated specially at its base up to 3.0– 4.2 mm in diameter; lobes falcate, narrowly triangular, dorsal lobes 14–16 × 3–5 mm, lateral lobes 12–15 × 3–5 mm, ventral lobe 12–14 × 3–5 mm. Synandrium 2.8–3.4 cm long, exserted up to 1.5 cm; filament tube 2.2–2.3 cm long, puberulous; anther tube 6–11 mm long, glabrous except for the apex evenly villous, ventral anthers ebarbate. Berries oblate, 8–10 × 9–12 mm, puberulous.

Phenology: — Burmeistera pennellii has been collected with flowers in May and September.

Distribution, ecology and conservation status: — Burmeistera pennellii is restricted to two disjunct patches of cloud forests at elevations between 1000 and 2700 in the Western Cordillera, in the Chocó / Risaralda boundary, and the Andes of the Cauca / Nariño border. It is known only from the type collections. Following the IUCN´s (2022) criteria [B1(EOO) and B2(AOO), conditions (a) and (b), and C2(a)(i)], this species qualifies as Critically Endangered.

Notes: — Burmeistera pennellii is similar to B. fuscoapicata (see distinctive traits under the latter).

After a careful examination of the protologue and the type material of Burmeistera pennellii and B. globosa , no consistent distinctive traits were detected between these two entities. Rather, the diagnostic characters and the geographic distribution of the original material are coincident, for which the binomial proposed by Wimmer (1931) is here reduced to the synonymy of B. pennellii .

Figures

FIGURE 19. A–D. Burmeistera obtusifolia (Cuatrecasas 15329, type), leaf (A), leaf margin (B), flower (C), and berry (D). E, F. B. orientalis (Lozano et al. 2390, type), flowering branch (E), and flower (F). G–I. B. pennellii (Pennell 12119, type), leaf (G), leaf margin (H), and flower (I). J–M. B. pomifera (Idrobo 3917), leaf (J), leaf margin (K), flower (L), and berry (M). Scale bars: 5 mm in A, C, D, F, H–I, L, M; 2 mm in B, K; 1 cm in E, G, J.

FIGURE 20. Distribution of Burmeistera obtusifolia, B. orientalis, B. pennellii, B. pinnatisecta, B. pomifera, B. pteridioides, B. puberula and B. reclinata.