Notopleura sandwithiana (Steyerm.) C.M.Taylor (Taylor 2004: 663)

Lachenaud, Olivier & Delprete, Piero, 2022, Revision of Carapichea (Rubiaceae - Psychotrieae) in the Guianas, with two new combinations and transfer of three species to Notopleura, Plant Ecology and Evolution 155 (2), pp. 275-300 : 275

Notopleura sandwithiana (Steyerm.) C.M.Taylor (Taylor 2004: 663)

Cephaelis sandwithiana Steyerm. ( Steyermark 1967: 428, figure 42)

Psychotria sandwithiana (Steyerm.) Steyerm. ( Steyermark 1972: 555)

Carapichea sandwithiana (Steyerm.) C.M.Taylor ( Taylor and Gereau 2013: 122)

Type.

VENEZUELA - Bolívar • Along Río Framela, Cerro Piton , Cordillera Epicara ; 400 m; 3 Sep. 1962; fr.; B. Maguire, J.A. Steyermark & C.K. Maguire 53562; holotype: VEN [No. 63029] .

Description.

Shrub 2.0-2.5 m tall, single-stemmed, glabrous; distal internodes terete, 10-12 mm in diam., somewhat succulent, glabrous. Stipules basally sheathing, truncate to shallowly elliptic, 2-3 × 10-12 mm, glabrous. Leaves with petioles 2.0-2.5 cm long, glabrous; blades elliptic to elliptic-obovate, 26-37 × 10-12 cm, acute at base, abruptly acuminate at apex, acumen narrowly triangular, 2.0-2.5 cm long, somewhat succulent to coriaceous when fresh, drying brownish-olive green above and pale olive green below ("silvery beneath" when fresh, fide Maguire et al. 53562), glabrous throughout; secondary veins 38-40 on each side [Steyermark wrote "lateral veins 40-45 on each side" without distinguishing secondary and intersecondary veins], barely visible in dry specimens; tertiary veins barely visible in dry specimens; domatia absent. Inflorescence terminal, long-pedunculate, capitate; peduncles 4.5 cm long, gradually wider towards the head, ca 3 mm wide just below the head, glabrous, drying dark brown; head multiflorous, subtended by cup-shaped structure made by 2 bracts connate at base, the cup-shaped base 3 mm long and 1.7 cm wide; the free portion of bracts subequal, broadly ovate, 1.8 × 2.6 cm, cream-white when fresh, pale brown when dry, persistent, drying pale brown, glabrous; internal bracts subtending fascicles of ca 3 flowers falcate-sublanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 3.5-4.0 × 1.0-1.5 mm, entire of with a lateral tooth at base, glabrous; bracteoles absent [fide Steyermark]. Flowers 5-merous, pedicellate; pedicels 7-8 mm long, 1.5-2.0 mm thick, fleshy, angular. Hypanthium narrowly oblong-turbinate, size unknown, glabrous. Calyx cupular, 1.5-2.0 mm long, 5-toothed, teeth deltoid to triangular-subulate, 0.2-0.6 mm long, glabrous. Corolla hypocrateriform, 12-13 mm long, glabrous, white; tube narrowly cylindrical, 9-11 mm long, 1 mm wide, glabrous outside and inside; lobes ovate, 2 × 1.5 mm, subacute at apex, glabrous outside, papillose inside. Stamens inserted below the middle of the corolla base; anthers subsessile, included, narrowly oblong, 2 mm long. Disk and style unknown. Fruits ellipsoid, 4 x 2.5-3 mm. Pyrenes (seen through dried fruits) dorsally costate.

Distribution.

Only known from the holotype specimen, collected on Cordillera Epicara, state of Bolívar, southern Venezuela.

Ecology.

Evergreen forest, at ca 400 m elevation.

Phenology.

The only collection, with both flowers and fruits, was made in September.

Notes.

The only collection of this species was seen on photograph, and as the high-resolution image available at JSTOR Global Plants (https://plants.jstor.org/). The above description is largely based on Steyermark (1967, 1974). Although Steyermark (1967: 428-430, figure 42) described and illustrated flowers, the holotype, which is evidently the specimen on which the drawing was based, has only fruits and no flower is left. Steyermark (1967: 430) separated Notopleura sandwithiana from N. altsonii by the "shorter peduncle, longer pedicels, absence of bracteoles, more conspicuously and unequally dentate calyx-lobes, and acute, ovate calyx-lobes". These two species are in fact quite similar. Notopleura sandwithiana apparently has only two involucral bracts (while there are four in N. altsonii ) and also has a shorter peduncle and longer pedicels than those of N. altsoni . The taxonomic value of these characters is difficult to assess with so little material available. The length of the pedicels is of doubtful taxonomic value, since they most likely elongate during fruit ripening. Steyermark (1967) mentioned, as additional differences, the shape of the calyx lobes, which is not a reliable character, and the absence of bracteoles subtending the individual flowers of N. sandwithiana , a feature that we could not check. For a morphological comparison of these two species see Table 3 .