Myrcia ramirezii

Parra-O, Carlos, 2021, Thirteen new species, new records, and a new combination on Colombian Myrtaceae, Phytotaxa 497 (3), pp. 175-210 : 196-198

10. Myrcia ramirezii C. Parra-O., sp. nov.

Type:— COLOMBIA. Valle del Cauca: Buenaventura , “Punta San Pedro”, 3°50’18’’N, 77°15’42’’W, 0–60 m, 26 January 2011 (fr.), D. Macías, B. Ramírez & Estudiantes IV Biología 6450 (holotype CAUP!). Figure 12 .

Diagnosis:—This species is most similar to Myrcia maarana Sobral & M.A.D.Souza (2015: 222) , from which it is distinguished by having leaf blades with one marginal vein (versus two marginal veins in M. maarana ), inflorescence moderately pubescent with light golden tricomes (vs. glabrous or with sparse reddish tricomes), flowers pentamerous (vs. tetramerous), and fruits ellipsoid (vs. oblate).

Description:—Shrub to tree, 4–8 m tall; hairs when present 0.1–0.5 mm, simple, drying light golden; young branches subcompressed to terete, brownish orange, moderately pubescent; old branches not seen. Leaf blades narrowly ovate or lanceolate, (21) 26–28.5 × (6.3) 9.5–11 cm, coriaceous, slightly bullate, discolorous, the upper surface glabrous, with impressed glandular dots not perceptible, moderately lustrous, the lower surface glabrous to slightly pubescent, with impressed glandular dots; apex acuminate, the acumen 1.5–2.5 cm; base subcordate; margin entire; midvein convex and glabrous to moderately pubescent above, convex and slight to moderately pubescent below; lateral veins 24–28 pairs, convex and glabrous to moderately pubescent above, convex and slightly pubescent below, venation joining in an inframarginal vein at 1.5–4 mm from margin; petioles 3.2–5 mm long, dark brown or blackish and moderate to densely pubescent abaxially and adaxially. Inflorescences subterminal, paniculate, 15–26 cm long, with 50–100 flowers per panicle, axes compressed, moderately pubescent, brownish orange when dry; peduncles 48– 85 × 1.7–2 mm; bracts not seen, probably deciduous before anthesis; bracteoles 1–2, axillary at base of hypanthium, ovate, 0.4–0.6 × 0.3–0.4 mm, densely pubescent, deciduous before anthesis; flower buds globose, 2.5–3.7 mm long, 2.3–3.4 mm in diameter, moderate to densely pubescent, sessile or in a subcompressed pedicel 0.5–1 × 0.3–0.6 mm, moderately pubescent; open flowers not seen. Fruits ellipsoid, blackish when dry, 1.5–2.7 cm long, scarcely pubescent, sessile or pedicellate, the pedicel terete, 0.8–1 × 1.5–2 mm, moderately pubescent, calyx lobes 5, persistent in fruit, depressed ovate to broadly ovate, 1.2–1.5 × 1.4–1.7 mm, moderate to densely pubescent outside, slight to moderately pubescent inside, apex subobtuse or subacute, remnant staminal ring on fruit circular, 2–3 mm, moderate to densely pubescent; seed 1, ellipsoid, 2 × 1 cm, seed coat smooth and striate; embryo myrcioid with minute glands, with hairs on the margin of some portions of the cotyledons.

Distribution, habitat and phenology:— Myrcia ramirezii grows in western tropical humid forests (Chocó Biogeographic Region) of Valle del Cauca Department between 0–60 m elev.; this species seems to be endemic to Colombia. Myrcia ramirezii has been collected with buds in August and with fruits in January and October.

Conservation:—The conservation status of Myrcia ramirezii is assessed as Data Deficient (DD) following IUCN Red List criteria ( IUCN 2019), because this species is currently known from only two close locations at the municipality of Buenaventura.

Etymology:— Myrcia ramirezii is named to honor Bernardo Ramírez Padilla, a Colombian botanist based at Universidad del Cauca and the herbarium CAUP where he was a Botany Professor and Curator of the Herbarium. Bernardo has contributed extensively to the knowledge of the southwestern Colombian flora, specially at Nariño and Cauca Departments, and he has published several contributions on floristics, diversity and ecology of Colombian Bryophytes and Angiosperms.

Affinities:—Of the Colombian species of Myrcia , Myrcia ramirezii is somewhat similar to Myrcia maarana ; the characters that differentiate both species are mentioned in the diagnosis.

Paratypes:— COLOMBIA. Valle del Cauca: Buenaventura , “Punta San Pedro-Maguipi”, 3°50’18’’N, 77°15’34.9’’W, 46 m, 3 August 2008 (buds), C . Durán & D. Macías 05 ( CAUP!); Buenaventura, “Playa Chucheros, Ensenada El Tigre, Bahía Málaga”, 3°55’17.5’’N, 77°18’53.3’’W, 27 m, 16 October 2012 (fr.), A . Jaramillo-Martínez 12 ( CUVC!) .

Figures

FIGURE 12. Myrcia ramirezii. (A) fruiting branch, (B) inflorescence, (C) flower buds, (D) fruit, (E) upper view of fruit with remnants of the calyx lobes, (F) embryo. A, D, E from the holotype, B and C from Durán & Macías 05, F from Jaramillo-Martínez 12. Scale bar for B = 5 cm, scale bar for C and E = 2 mm, scale bar for D and F = 1 cm.