Stachytarpheta longipedicellata (Moldenke) P.H.Cardoso, 2022

Cardoso, Pedro Henrique, Neto, Luiz Menini, Somavilla, Nádia Silvia & Trovó, Marcelo, 2022, A morphometric approach and recircumscription of the Stachytarpheta longispicata complex (Verbenaceae), European Journal of Taxonomy 833, pp. 12-45 : 30-33

Stachytarpheta longipedicellata (Moldenke) P.H.Cardoso comb. and stat. nov.

Figs 6D–F , 7C–D , 8C–D , 10

Stachytarpheta chamissonis var. longipedicellata Moldenke, Phytologia 28: 467 ( Moldenke 1974), basionym. – Stachytarpheta longispicata subsp. longipedicellata (Moldenke) S.Atkins, Kew Bulletin 60: 230 ( Atkins 2005).

Stachytarpheta chamissonis var. andersonii Moldenke, Phytologia 28: 467 ( Moldenke 1974), basionym. – Stachytarpheta longispicata var. andersonii (Moldenke) S.Atkins, Kew Bulletin 60: 230 ( Atkins 2005). –

Type. BRAZIL – Goiás • 4 km by road east of São João da Aliança, Serra Geral do Paraná ; 24 May 1973; W.R. Anderson et al. 7893; holotype: LL[ LL00373686 ] web!; isotypes: F[ F0074448F ] web!, NY[ NY00138062 ] web!, U[ U0007044 ] web!. syn. nov.

Stachytarpheta chamissonis var. parvifolia Moldenke, Phytologia 45: 39 ( Moldenke 1980), basionym. – Stachytarpheta longispicata var. parvifolia (Moldenke) S.Atkins, Kew Bulletin 60: 230 ( Atkins 2005). –

Type. BRAZIL – Goiás • Alto Paraíso, Chapada dos Veadeiros ; 14 Feb. 1979; Gates & Estabrook 176; lectotype: NY[ NY00138066 ] web!, designated by Cardoso et al. (2020); isolectotypes: MICH [ MICH1108415 ] web!, UB web!. syn. nov.

Stachytarpheta chamissonis var. longipetiolata Moldenke, Phytologia 52: 414 ( Moldenke 1983). –

Type. BRAZIL – Goiás • Chapada dos Veadeiros , about 50 km north of Alto Paraíso; 24 Mar. 1971; H.S. Irwin et al. 33117; holotype: NY [ NY00138065 ] web!; isotype: K[ K000065450 ] web!.

Material examined

Type BRAZIL – Goiás • Chapada dos Veadeiros , 20 km by road north of Alto Paraíso; 6 Mar. 1973; W.R.Anderson et al. 6460; holotype: LL[ LL00373687 ] web!; isotypes: F[ F0074449F ] web!, K[ K000065450 ] web!, NY [ NY00138064 ] web!.

Representative specimens

BRAZIL – Goiás • “ Água Fria de Goiás , Estação Repetidora da Telebrasília de Roncador ”; 8 Feb. 1994; G. Hatschbach et al. 60021; MBM • “ Alto Paraíso de Goiás , Córrego Piçarrão ”; 8 Nov. 1991; G. Hatschbach et al. 55932; MBM • “ Alto Paraíso de Goiás ”; 28 Feb. 1982; P.I. Oliveira 377; SPF • “ Alto Paraíso de Goiás ”; 30 May 1994; J.A. Ratter & S. Bridgewater 4271; UFG • “ Alto Paraíso de Goiás , Fazenda Água Fria ”; 15 Mar. 2020; P. H. Cardoso et al. 54; CESJ • “ Alto Paraíso de Goiás , trilha para a Cachoeira Água Fria ”; 15 Mar. 2020; P.H. Cardoso et al. 59; CESJ • “ Alto Paraíso de Goiás , entrada do aeroporto em direção ao Rio dos Couros ”; 16 Mar. 2020; P.H. Cardoso et al. 60; CESJ • “ Alto Paraíso de Goiás , RPPN Cara Preta ”; 16 Mar. 2020; P.H. Cardoso et al. 62; CESJ • “ Chapada dos Veadeiros , ca 6 km E de Alto Paraíso de Goiás ”; 14 Feb. 1979; S.M. Sano & T.S. Filgueiras 47; K, NY, UB • “ Cavalcante, Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros ”; 15 Apr. 2009; G. Martinelli 16467; SPF • “ Macedo , ca 15 km N of Niquelândia ”; 21 Apr. 1988; R.R. Brooks et al. 157; NY • “ Niquelândia , 1 km após a mina da companhia de níquel Tocantins ( CNT)”; 12 Apr. 1996; R.C. de Mendonça 2428; NY • “ Niquelândia, Return to ‘ponte alta’ área ”; 5 Feb. 2005; R.D. Reeves 3030; CEN • “ Niquelândia, ca 20 km de Niquelândia, estrada de terra que vai para a mina de níquel ”; 21 Jun. 1995; M.L. Fonseca et al. 375; UFG .

Description

Clump-forming shrubs 0.5–2 m tall, erect, much-branched, stems cylindrical, when young sericeous, when old puberulent to hirsutulous, xylopodium present. Leaves opposite, patent, not conduplicate, with smaller leaves on the axils, petiolate; petioles 4.76‒24.19 mm long, sericeous; blades 16.78–46.15 × 11.43–40.29 mm, ovate, thickly-chartaceous, slightly discolorous, base cuneate or attenuate, rarely obtuse, decurrent into petiole, apex acute or obtuse, margin entire near the base, crenate-serrate towards the apex, revolute, abaxially not foveolate, sericeous, veins evident, adaxially sericeous. Inflorescences 89.14–702.35 × 16.99–26.83 mm, pendulous at the apex, rachis visible, lanuginose; bracts 4.29–10.49 × 0.6–1.67 mm, light green, triangular or narrowly triangular, apex caudate, abaxially sparsely lanuginose. Flowers pedicellate, pedicel 2.43‒6.91 mm long, lanuginose; calyx tube narrow, slightly widened at the apex, 8.29‒14.22 × 2.73–5.44 mm, light green, externally lanuginose from base to apex, 5-toothed; corolla salmon, tube 13.88‒18.91 mm long, externally with pedicellate glandular trichomes. Fruits 0.32‒0.5 cm long, castaneous, external surface reticulate, with thin and flat commissure, apex rounded with short stylopodium, prominent attachment scar, separating into two cluses, covered by the persistent calyx.

Distribution, habitat and phenology

Stachytarpheta longipedicellata is endemic to the Cerrado of Goiás State, being mostly found in the northern mesoregion and in the Chapada dos Veadeiros ( Fig. 5 ). Dense, but locally restricted populations are found in these areas, growing in campos rupestres, campos limpos (grasslands), and campos sujos (shrubby grasslands). Found fertile from February to June, and in November.

Proposed conservation status

Stachytarpheta longipedicellata has an estimated EOO of 11 592.019 km 2 and AOO of 72 km 2. Its populations are abundant, but locally restricted. Although this species occurs within a protected area (Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park), most collection records are from farms, crops, pastures, or mining areas. Several extinction threats are found in the Chapada dos Veadeiros region, such as the tourism increase in recent years, agriculture expansion, cattle ranching, and illegal fires ( Barbosa 2008; Silva et al. 2018; Matos et al. 2020). Additionally, populations from Niquelândia are threatened by mining and recent soybean crops ( Leite & Steinberger 2015; Moretto 2016). Thus, S. longipedicellata can be regarded as “Endangered” (EN) based on the B2ab(i,ii,iii) criteria and subcriteria ( IUCN 2022) due to its AOO <500 km 2, locally restricted populations, and continuous decline of habitat quality.

Notes

Atkins (2005) characterised Stachytarpheta longispicata var. longipedicellata from Chapada dos Veadeiros as a shrub up to 2 m tall, ramified, with leaf-blades ovate, 25‒55 × 10‒25 mm, base attenuated, inflorescence up to 170 mm long, bracts linear up to 7 mm long, calyx up to 12 mm long, densely covered with uniseriate hairs pointing in all directions, and corolla salmon pink. This author states that this variety is similar to S. longispicata var. andersonii , only differing in the salmon pink corolla (vs red orange corolla in S. longispicata var. andersonii ). This latter was described for the São João da Aliança municipality, less than 70 km from the Chapada dos Veadeiros, within the same geomorphological unit ( Martins-Ferreira & Campos 2017). On the other hand, according to Atkins (2005), S. longispicata var. longipedicellata and S. longispicata var. andersonii were distinguished from the S. longispicata subsp. longispicata by the ovate leaves and shorter inflorescences (vs leaves fan-shaped and longer inflorescences in S. longispicata subsp. longispicata ).

The morphological characters used by Atkins (2005) to distinguish Stachytarpheta longispicata var. longipedicellata from S. longispicata var. andersonii seem to be based solely on specimens’ label annotations, which described the salmon colouration differently.Although the corolla colour distinguishes some species groups within Stachytarpheta (e.g., groups with black, bright red, or blue corolla), no taxon is solely distinguished based on this character ( Atkins 2005; Cardoso & Salimena 2020). In this case, corolla colour is a weak character since it heavily relies on the collector’s point of view, and it is not always included in the specimens labels.

Stachytarpheta chamissonis var. longipetiolata was treated as a synonym of S. longispicata var. longipedicellata by Atkins (2005), while S. longispicata var. parvifolia was characterised as shrubs up to 50 cm tall, ramified, leaf-blades ovate, 15‒30 × 9‒14 mm, bracts narrowly-triangular up to 5 mm long, calyx up to 10 mm long, densely hairy, with hairs pointing to all directions, and corolla red ( Atkins 2005). In the PCA and DA ( Figs 2–3 ), the type specimen of Stachytarpheta longispicata var. parvifolia represents a variation extreme in its grouping. This can be explained by the specimen consisting of an immature branch with short leaves and inflorescences, plus not fully developed flowers. Stachytarpheta chamissonis var. longipetiolata is supported as a synonym of S. longispicata var. longipedicellata in our analyses by its type specimen being grouped with the populations collected in Chapada dos Veadeiros, with long pedicels and petioles. The same is observed regarding the placement of the type specimen of S. longispicata subsp. andersonii . It was characterised by its “distinctly pedicellate flowers”, while S. longispicata var. longipedicellata was similarly characterised by its “long-pedicellate flowers” ( Moldenke 1974). This equal characterisation of both taxa was an early indication of weak taxonomic boundaries.

Thus, based on the morphometric results, it is possible to recognise all accepted varieties of S. longispicata that have sympatric distributions as a single taxonomic entity. In its current circumscription, Stachytarpheta longispicata var. longipedicellata is elevated to the species level and two new synonyms are proposed ( S. longipicata var. andersonii and S. longispicata var. parvifolia ). The name Stachytarpheta longipedicellata was chosen to represent this species, with the specific epithet referring to its main diagnostic feature (longer length of the pedicels).

Stachytarpheta longipedicellata is distinguished from the remaining taxa of this complex mainly by its flowers with pedicels equal to or longer than 2.43 mm, rachis, calyx, and pedicel lanuginose, with the hairs conferring a whitish aspect to the inflorescences. Regarding the observed variations on the analysed specimens, contrasting with Atkins (2005) circumscription, this species is a clump-forming shrub, 0.8–2 m tall, with leaf-blades 16.78–46.15 × 11.43–40.29 mm, inflorescences 89.14–702.35 mm long, bracts 4.29–10.49 mm long, calyx 8.29‒14.22 mm long, and corolla 13.88‒18.91 mm long. According to Atkins (2005), the leaves can be up to 55 mm long, but this measurement would also encompass the petiole, and in this study the petioles and leaf-blades were separately measured. Inflorescence length in the three varieties demonstrated by Atkins (2005) varied from 70 to 170 mm. However, we verified that inflorescences might be up to 700 mm long, being the longest ones from this species complex. When inflorescences are shorter than 90 mm, the specimens most likely represent young individuals. Furthermore, we observed that some specimens from Niquelândia have a more sparse indumentum on the leaves and inflorescences.

Figures

Fig. 6. Comparison between the main characteristics of the species used in the identification key (photos taken under the stereo microscope). A, D, G, J, M. Adaxial indumentum of the leaf-blade. B, E, J, K, N. Abaxial indumentum of the leaf-blade. C, F, I, L, O. Indumentum of the rachis, bracts, pedicel, and calyx. A–C. Stachytarpheta brevibracteata (Moldenke) P.H.Cardoso (P.H. Cardoso & W.P. Leite 66). D–F. S. longipedicellata (Moldenke) P.H.Cardoso (P.H. Cardoso et al. 59); G–I. S. longispicata (Pohl) S.Atkins (P.H. Cardoso et al. 48). J–L. S. minasensis (S.Atkins) P.H.Cardoso (F.R.G. Salimena & P.H. Nobre 459). M–O. S. ratteri (S.Atkins) P.H.Cardoso (P.H. Cardoso et al. 51).

Fig. 7. Comparison between the pubescence of the leaves of the species (photos taken under electron microscope). A, C, G, E, I. Adaxial surface. B, D, F, H, J. Abaxial surface. A–B. Stachytarpheta brevibracteata (Moldenke) P.H.Cardoso (P.H. Cardoso & W.P. Leite 66). C–D. S. longipedicellata (Moldenke) P.H.Cardoso (P.H. Cardoso et al. 59). E–F. S. longispicata (Pohl) S.Atkins (P.H. Cardoso et al. 48). G–H. S. minasensis (S.Atkins) P.H.Cardoso (F.R.G. Salimena & P.H. Nobre 459). I–J. S. ratteri (S.Atkins) P.H.Cardoso (P.H. Cardoso et al. 51).

Fig. 8. Comparison between the pubescence of the calyx of the species (photos taken under electron microscope). A, C, G, E, I. The most basal part. B, D, F, H, J. The most apical part. A–B. Stachytarpheta brevibracteata (Moldenke) P.H.Cardoso (P.H. Cardoso & W.P. Leite 66). C–D. S. longipedicellata (Moldenke) P.H.Cardoso (P.H. Cardoso et al. 59). E–F. S. longispicata (Pohl) S.Atkins (P.H. Cardoso et al. 48). G–H. S. minasensis (S.Atkins) P.H.Cardoso (F.R.G. Salimena & P.H. Nobre 459). I–J. S. ratteri (S.Atkins) P.H.Cardoso (P.H. Cardoso et al. 51).

Fig. 10. Stachytarpheta longipedicellata (Moldenke) P.H.Cardoso comb. and stat. nov. A. Habitat. B. Habit. C–D. Individuals showing details of the inflorescences, highlighting the pubescence of the inflorescence, long pedicels, bracts, calyxes, and corollas. Photos by Pedro Henrique Cardoso.

Fig. 5. Distribution map of the five species recognised in the Stachytarpheta longispicata complex in the present study. The triangles represent localities sampled during fieldwork for the morphometric analysis.

Fig. 2. Scatterplots derived from Principal Component Analysis of 11 natural populations and eight type specimens of the Stachytarpheta longispicata complex. A. Plot of principal component (PC) 1 vs PC2. B. Plot of PC1 vs PC3. For explanation of OTUs see Table 2.

Fig. 3.Scatterplots derived from Discriminant Analysis of 11 natural populations and eight type specimens of the Stachytarpheta longispicata complex. A. Plot of Axis 1 vs Axis 2. B. Plot of Axis 1 vs Axis 3. For explanation of OTUs see Table 2.