Symplocos longipes Lundell (1969: 123)

Kelly, Lawrence M., Almeda, Frank & Fritsch, Peter W., 2016, A taxonomic revision of Mexican and Central American Symplocos (Symplocaceae), Phytotaxa 264 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

2. Symplocos longipes Lundell (1969: 123) . Type:— MEXICO. Chiapas: Mpio. Tenejapa, slope with Quercus , Pinus and Liquidambar , paraje of Shohleh, 7800 ft, [16°52′12″N, 92°28′12″W], 2 October 1965, D. E. Breedlove 12716 (holotype LL!, isotypes DS!, F!, MO!, US!, WIS-n.v., online image!)

Trees 3–20 m tall; juvenile branchlets and vegetative buds glabrous; mature current-year branchlets green. Petioles 6–9 mm long; leaf blades concolorous, elliptic to oblong, 7–12(–14) × 3.5–5 cm, coriaceous, abaxially glabrous or sparsely strigillose on midvein, adaxially glabrous, secondary veins not adaxially impressed, base acute to obtuse, margins entire or irregularly serrate distally, plane to slightly revolute, apex acuminate. Inflorescences panicles 2.5–9.5 cm long, 4–10-flowered; peduncle 0.5–3 cm long, 0.3–1.2 mm wide; rachis 1–5 cm long, glabrous; bracts caducous, ovate, 0.75–1.25 × 1–1.5 mm, glabrous, margins ciliate; bracteoles caducous, 1(2), linear, 2–2.5 × 0.5–0.75 mm, glabrous, margins ciliate; pedicels 0.7–2.5 cm long. Hypanthium glabrous. Calyx lobes 5, suborbicular, 1–1.8 × 2–3 mm, glabrous, margins ciliate. Corolla white, 5-lobed, 7–10 mm long; tube ca. 1 mm long, adnate to filaments for ca. 1 mm; lobes broadly oblong, glabrous to minutely sericeous. Stamens ± 3-seriate; filaments distinct or connate for ca. 1 mm, 8–10 × 0.2–0.3 mm. Disk glabrous; style 8–10 mm long, glabrous; stigma conspicuously and irregularly lobed. Fruits green maturing to dark bluish purple, cylindrical to ellipsoid, 1.5–2.2 × 0.6–0.7 cm, glabrous, apex obtuse to truncate, with incurved-appressed calyx lobes; disk flat to slightly convex, apex partly visible, surpassed and covered by calyx; endocarp 1(2–3)-locular, septa (when present) thin and delicate, perimeter rounded.

Vernacular name —None.

Illustration — Figure 5 .

Photographic image — Figure 1a .

Phenology —Flowering January, April through June, August, October, and December; fruiting January, April, and September through November.

Distribution and habitat — Mexico (Veracruz, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas), uncommon in cloud forests at 2000–2800 m elev. Figure 4 .

Conservation status —This species is known from about ten different scattered populations in southern Mexico, none of which occurs in a protected area. The EOO is 135,586 km ² and the AOO is 64 km ². The quality of its habitat is threatened by deforestation throughout its range and thus is projected to be in decline. We assign a classification of Endangered (EN): B2ab(iii) to this species.

Discussion — Symplocos longipes is similar to S. culminicola in that both combine the distinctive (mostly floral) features of S. sect. Hopea with predominantly glabrous vegetative and floral structures. The green color of the mature current-year branchlets provides the most reliable vegetative distinction between S. longipes and S. culminicola (which has brown branchlets).

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A TAXONOMIC REVISION OF SYMPLOCOS

Phytotaxa 264 (1) © 2016 Magnolia Press • 15

Additional specimens examined — MEXICO. Chiapas: Tenejapa, Paraje Balum Kanul , 2700 m, [16°47′24″N, 92°31′48″W], 3 April 1981, Breedlove 50675 (CAS!, GH!, NY!) ; Tenejapa, Paraje Banabil , 2713 m, [16°46′48″N, 92°30′36″W], 8 October 1981, Breedlove 53390 (CAS!, GH!, MEXU!, MO!, NY!) ; Tenejapa, Paraje Balun K'anal, 2500 m, [16°47′24″N, 92°31′48″W], 22 November 1981, Breedlove & Bartholomew 55700 (CAS!, MEXU!) ; Tenejapa, Paraje Balum K'anal, 2440 m, 29 January 1982, Breedlove & Almeda 58075 (CAS!, MEXU!) ; Tenejapa, Colonia Chalam , 2700 m, [16°46′12″N, 92°26′24″W], 23 May 1988, Breedlove 68604 ( CAS!) ; Tenejapa, Camino Chalam–Ashlum, Km 10, 2000 m, [16°46′20″N, 92°25′41″W], 23 May 1988, Palacios E. & Breedlove 436 ( CAS!) ; Tenejapa, near Tenejapa center, 6700 ft, [17°06′N, 92°19′12″W], January–March 1964, Ton 215 ( DS!) ; Tenejapa, Paraje Shohleh, 8400 ft, [16°52′12″N, 92°28′12″W], 12 January 1966, Ton 585 (DS!, F!); Tenejapa, colonia of ' Ach'lum , 9100 ft, [16°47′01″N, 92°27′05″W], 15 May 1967, Ton 2364 ( DS!) . Guerrero: below Puerto El Gallo along rd to Atoyac , 1980 m, [17°25′39″N, 100°11′42″W], 10 October 1986, Breedlove & Almeda 65152 ( CAS!) ; 10 km al SO de Puerto del Gallo, sobre el camino a Atoyac , 2100 m, 17°28′18″N, 100°11′49″W, 13 March 2007, Ramírez-Amezcua et al. 958 ( CAS!) . Oaxaca: Cuicatlán, Cerro Ferrene (?), Cuyamecalco , 2800 m, [17°58′09″N, 96°47′38″W], 8 September 1909, Conzatti 2516 (F!, US!) . Veracruz: Ayahualulco, Abajo de carrizal rumbo a Monte Grande , 2300 m, [19°23′57″N, 97°04′20″W], 25 June 1986, Cházaro B. & Acosta 3749 ( MO!) ; Coatepec, Abajo de Ingenio del Rosario rumbo a Tierra Grande , 2600 m, [19°30′41″N, 97°04′21″W], 18 July 1986, Cházaro B. & Robles H. 3805 ( MO!) ; Coatepec, abajo de mesa de los laureles rumbo a Tierra Grande , 2500 m, [19°30′42″N, 97°04′03″W], 30 August 1986, Cházaro B. & Hernández de C. 3992-B ( MO!) ; Huatusco, a medio camino siguiendo la brecha entre Elotepec, Veracruz , y Rancho Nuevo , Puebla , 2200 m, [18°36′57″N, 97°11′04″W], 28 October 1986, Cházaro & Hernández de C. 4132 ( MO!) ; Xico , entre Corral de Rojas y Buenavista, 2400 m, [19°29′10″N, 97°04′45″W], 28 December 1986, Cházaro B. & Oliva 4300 ( MO!) ; Coatepec, Cerro Juilotepec, entre Mesa de los Laureles y Tierra Grande , 2600 m, [19°30′42″N, 97°04′03″W], 19 April 1987, Cházaro B. & Hernández de C. 4677 (CAS!, MEXU!, MO!) ; Xico, abajo de Corral de Rajas rumbo a Buenavista , 2500 m, [19°29′10″N, 97°04′45″W], 12 October 1987, Cházaro B. & Hernández de C. 5069 ( MO!) ; Coatepec, Cerro Huilotepec entre Mesa de los Laureles y Tierra Grande , 2500 m, [19°30′42″N, 97°04′03″W], 27 November 1987, Cházaro B. et al. 5267 ( MO!) ; Santa Rita ca. 10 km antes de Misantla carretera Xalapa-Misantla , [19°52′32″N, 96°48′26″W], 2 May 1972, Dorantes L. 590 (F!); Mpio. Yacuatla, El Clarín, 800 m al E de Santa Rita, 1300 m, [19°49′27″N, 96°48′59″W], 3 April 1990, Gutiérrez B. 3980 ( MEXU!) ; Yecuatla, Los Capulines, near Paz de Enriquez , ca. 8 km (by air) N of Chiconquiaco, 1400–1600 m, 19°47′N, 96°49′W, 13 January 1984, Taylor et al. 143 (F!, MO!, NY!) .

II. Symplocos (section Symplocos) series Symplocos

= Ciponima Aublet (1775: 567) . Lectotype (designated by Nooteboom 1975):— Ciponima guianensis Aublet (1775: 567) . (≡ Symplocos guianensis [Aubl.] Gürke [1891: 172]).

= Alstonia Mutis ex Linnaeus f. (1782: 39) , non Scopoli (1777: 198), nom. rej., nec Brown (1811: 75), nom. cons. Praealstonia Miers (1879: 291) . Lectotype (designated by Nooteboom 1975):— Alstonia theiformis Linnaeus f. (1782: 264) (≡ Symplocos theiformis [L.f.] Gürke [1891: 172]).

= Mongezia Vellozo (1825: 229) . Lectotype (designated by Fritsch et al. 2008):— Mongezia pilosa Vellozo (1825: 229) (≡ Symplocos pubescens Klotzsch ex Bentham [1839: 233] ).

= Stemmatosiphum Pohl (1831: 86) . Lectotype (designated by Fritsch et al. 2008):— Stemmatosiphum platyphyllum Pohl (1831: 87) (≡ Symplocos platyphylla [Pohl] Bentham [1839: 233]).

= Hypopogon Turczaninow (1858: 246) . Lectotype (designated by Nagamasu 1993):— Hypopogon brevipes Turczaninow (1858: 246) (≡ Symplocos coccinea Bonpl. [1808: 185] ).

= Symplocos sect. Neosymplocos Brand (1901: 70) . Lectotype (designated by Fritsch et al. 2008):— Symplocos tenuifolia Brand (1901: 71) .

= Symplocos subsect. Pseudoalstonia Brand (1901: 73) . Lectotype (designated by Fritsch et al. 2008):— Symplocos mapiriensis Brand (1901: 74) .

Shrubs or trees, evergreen. Mature current-year branchlets brown. Leaf midvein sulcate adaxially. Hermaphroditic. Bracts and bracteoles caducous, deciduous, or persistent. Petals connate distinctly beyond base. Androecium adnate to corolla distinctly beyond base; filaments tangentially flattened in cross section, apically constricted (in Mexico and Central America). Gynoecium 3–5-carpellate (in Mexico and Central America); disk glabrous or pubescent; stigma lateral (in Mexico and Central America). Endocarp (2)3–5-locular (in Mexico and Central America) with thick and firm septa, surface smooth, grooved, undulate, or rarely fluted.

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Figures

FIGURE 1. Flowers of some species of Mexican and Central American Symplocos. a. S. longipes (photograph by Victor Steinman). b. S. austromexicana. c. S. breedlovei. d. S. coccinea. e. S. costaricana (photograph by Daniel Solano). f. S. hartwegii. g. S. nigridentata. h. S. povedae.

FIGURE 4. Geographic distribution of Symplocos culminicola and S. longipes.

FIGURE 5. Symplocos longipes. a. Branchlet with inflorescences. b. Leaf, adaxial surface. c. Flower bud. d. Close-up of (b) showing ciliate calyx lobe margin. e. Flower. f. Dissected flower showing disk, style, and stigma. g. Fruit. h. Fruit, cross section. (a, c drawn from A. Ton 2364, DS; b drawn from Y. Ramírez-Amezcua et al. 958, CAS; e, f drawn from D. E. Breedlove 50675, CAS; g, h drawn from D. E. Breedlove 53390, CAS.)