Carex sodiroi Kuek ., Beibl. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 78: 7 (1904)

Jimenez-Mejias, Pedro, Morales-Alonso, Ana, Oleas, Nora H, Sanchez, Enmily, Martin-Bravo, Santiago, Masa-Iranzo, Irene & S. Meseguer, Andrea, 2023, New relevant chorological and conservation data on Carex (Cyperaceae) and Hypericum (Hypericaceae) from Ecuador, Biodiversity Data Journal 11, pp. 99603-99603 : 99603

Carex sodiroi Kuek., Beibl. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 78: 7 (1904)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: 121 ECU-AMA22 (HUTI, UPOS) ; recordNumber: 121; recordedBy: Morales Alonso, A., Jiménez Mejías, P., Masa Iranzo, I & Oña, P; occurrenceID: 121 ECU-AMA22 (HUTI, UPOS); Taxon: scientificName: Carex sodiroi Kük; Location : country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Pichincha; locality: Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua ; verbatimLocality: carretera desde Moraspungo ; locationRemarks: Pichincha. Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua , carretera desde Moraspungo , 00°02.1872'N 078°30.5291'W, 2749 m, bosque montano alterado en taludes al borde de la carretera; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: P. Jiménez-Mejías; dateIdentified: 2022; Event: eventDate: 8 Aug 2022; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: 122, 125, 126 ECU-AMA22 (HUTI, UPOS). ; recordNumber: 122, 125, 126; recordedBy: Morales Alonso, A., Jiménez Mejías, P., Masa Iranzo, I & Oña, P.; occurrenceID: 122, 125, 126 ECU-AMA22 (HUTI, UPOS).; Taxon: scientificName: Carex sodiroi Kük; Location : country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Pichincha; locality: Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua ; verbatimLocality: base Cerro Pan de Azucar ; locationRemarks: Pichincha. Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua , base Cerro Pan de Azucar , 00°03.1237'N 078°29.2568'W - 00°03.5315'N 078°29.6173'W, 2662- 2428 m, bosque montano bajo, camino en formación cerrada de "culunco"; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: P. Jiménez-Mejías; dateIdentified: 2022; Event: eventDate: 8 Aug 2022; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: 133 ECU-AMA22 (HUTI, UPOS). ; recordNumber: 133; recordedBy: Morales Alonso, A., Jiménez Mejías, P., Masa Iranzo, I & Oña, P; occurrenceID: 133 ECU-AMA22 (HUTI, UPOS).; Taxon: scientificName: Carex sodiroi Kük; Location : country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Pichincha; locality: Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua ; verbatimLocality: base Cerro Pondona ; locationRemarks: Pichincha. Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua , base Cerro Pondona , 00°03.2663'N 078°30.1839'W, 2335 m, remanente de bosque en borde de camino abierto; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: P. Jiménez-Mejías; dateIdentified: 2022; Event: eventDate: 8 Aug 2022; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: 136 ECU-AMA22 (HUTI, UPOS). ; recordNumber: 136; recordedBy: Morales Alonso, A., Jiménez Mejías, P., Masa Iranzo, I & Oña P.; occurrenceID: 136 ECU-AMA22 (HUTI, UPOS).; Taxon: scientificName: Carex sodiroi Kük; Location : country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Pichincha; locality: Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua. Quito-Gualea. El Pahuma ; locationRemarks: Pichincha. Quito-Gualea. El Pahuma, 00°01.5696'N 078°37.9463'W, 1979 m, remanente de bosque montano, en pastizal al lado de la carretera; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: P. Jiménez-Mejías; dateIdentified: 2022; Event: eventDate: 10 Aug 2022; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: QCA 36711 ; recordNumber: 1847; recordedBy: C.E. Cerón, G. Benavídez & L. Velásquez; occurrenceID: QCA 36711 ; Taxon: scientificName: Carex sodiroi Kük; Location : country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Pichincha; locality: Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua ; verbatimLocality: camino que bordea todo el Pondoña; locationRemarks: Pichincha. Parroqua Calacali , Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua , camino que bordea todo el Pondoña; georeferenceProtocol: label; Event : eventDate: 8 Aug 1987; Record Level : basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Taxon discussion

Carex sodiroi is a poorly known Ecuadorian endemic species. It belongs to the problematic Decora Clade (subg. Carex Carex ) as part of sect. Carex Indicae sensu lato (see comments under C. aztecica ) (Fig. 1 E,e).

Carex sodiroi was reported in the Ecuadorian Red List as critically endangered (CR) because of the lack of recent collections. However, this is probably not due to a true rarity of the species, but to the poor taxonomic circumscription of C. sodiroi . Section Carex Indicae in Tropical America has an obscure taxonomy. A number of taxa have been described, based on little material and within a local scale (e.g. C. culmenicola Steyerm. Steyermark (1951)), C. regnelliana Boeck. ( Boeckeler (1888)). The whole variation of the species in the field remains understudied and, thus, the taxonomic limits are blurred by specimens that does not fit the characteristics and measurements that are presented in the available descriptions. Carex sodiroi is clearly affected by this lack of understanding. The only description associated with the name is Kükenthal (1904), which is in turn based just on the original collection. To date, no additional study has accounted for this taxon.

In our fieldwork campaign across the western slopes of the Western Cordillera in Pichincha, in forest remnants near to where the original collection of C. sodiroi was performed, we found plants that clearly match the diagnostic characteristics of C. sodiroi 's type, allowing its distinction from the syntopic and closely-related C. polystachya : terminal clusters of spikes densely packed with many flowers, concealing the branch axis vs. with less flowers and lax, with the branch axis exposed; and glumes dark orange-brown vs. glumes lighter, pale reddish-brown, orange, stramineous or hyaline. Moreover, in Pululahua Geobotanic Reserve, we also identified individuals morphologically intermediate (124ECUAMA22 and 130ECUAMA22; HUTI, UPOS) between the co-occurring C. polystachya and C. porrecta Reznicek and Camelb., another species of sect. Carex Indicae , whose morphology also approached the type of C. sodiroi . This makes us think that, perhaps, C. sodiroi is a local established hybrid between these two species. Further biosystematics studies are needed to figure out the taxonomic status of C. sodiroi and its systematic relationships with the other South American sect. Carex Indicae species.

Figures

Figure 1. Representative photos of Carex species (capital letters) mentioned in this work and their habitats (small letters). Carex ecuadorensis: (A, a), Imbabura, Parque Nacional de Cotacachi, type locality. Carex madida: (B, b), Pichincha, Parque Nacional Cayambe-Coca, type locality; (C, c), Carchi, Reserva Ecologica El Angel. Carex punicola: (D, d), Pichincha, Parque Nacional Cotopaxi. Carex sodiroi: (E, e), Pichincha, Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua. Carex subsacculata: (F 1, F 2, f), Pichincha, Reserva Biologica Yanacocha; the specimen in picture F 1 is still inmature, while the one in picture F 2 is fully ripe.