Myrcia depauperata Glaziou ex P.O.Rosa & Proença, 2021

Rosa, Priscila O., Vasconcelos, Thaís N. C., Lucas, Eve J. & Proença, Carolyn E. B., 2021, Revisiting Glaziou and the botany of the second Cruls Mission: three new species and 23 accepted species of Myrcia (Myrtaceae) collected from Goiás, Brazil and a detailed description of his “ Goyaz ” itinerary, Phytotaxa 509 (1), pp. 69-92 : 72

1. Myrcia depauperata Glaziou ex P.O.Rosa & Proença , sp. nov. Type:— BRAZIL. Goiás: [Cristalina], Serra dos Cristaes près du village d’Almocaffa, undated. Glaziou 21129 (holotype P00547461!; isotypes K000342803 !, G!). Figures 1 , 4F–H .

Myrcia depauperata resembles M. pinifolia Cambessèdes (1832: 333) in its habit, leaf shape and indumentum, differing in having a trilocular ovary, branches with fewer and longer leaves particularly at the base (1.6–8 cm versus 0.5–4 cm in M. pinifolia ) and mostly isolated flowers, opposed to the panicles of the latter.

Herb to shrub, 0.3–0.4 m height; peeling bark; reproductive branches glabrous with puberulous remnants of white indumentum on the vegetative branches and leaf blade. Branches non-dichotomous, cylindrical at the base, flattened at the apex, smooth, without appendages. Leaves opposite to subopposite distally, sessile, blades 1.6–8 × 0.1–0.7 cm, linear to elliptical, coriaceous, concolorous, apex acute, margin slightly revolute, base attenuate, midvein prominent on the first third of the adaxial face, secondary veins inconspicuous, not possible to measure the angles between secondary and the midvein, collecting veins 2, 0.2–0.4 mm from the innermost collecting vein to the edge respectively. Flowers usually solitary or a botryoid up to 3 cm long; bracts not seen; bracteoles opposite to subopposite, frequently subequal or unequal, 2–3.5 x 0.5-1 mm, linear; peduncles absent or up to 0.4 cm, canaliculate; bud obconic, base not constricted, 0.38–0.5 × 0.3–0.4 cm; hypanthium strongly prolonged above level of stylar insertion, sepals (4) 5, equal, 1.9–2 cm × 1.9–2 mm, apices acute, margins ciliate; petals 5, 1.9–3 cm × 2.5–3 mm, apices rounded, margins glabrous; stamens 80–85 in two whorls, 3–4.5 mm long, anthers eglandulate, floral disk glabrous; ovary locules 3, ovules 2 per locule. Fruits berries, globose, 0.45–0.75 × 0.5–0.75 cm, the apex crowned by a persistent hypanthium tube with persistent reflexed sepals, red to brown when mature; seeds 1–4.

Paratypes:— BRAZIL. Distrito Federal: 12 September 1965, Irwin et al. 8246 ( ASU, NY, US) ; 3 August 2006, Neiva 235 ( CEN) ; 1 November 2014, Souza & Oliveira 26 ( HEPH! UB) ; Goiás: Alto Paraíso de Goiás , 15 December 2010, Santos et al. 613 ( SPF!, RB!, UB!) ; Corumbá de Goiás , 14 October 2001, Proença 2564 (UB!) ; Niquelândia , 25 November 1992, Cordovil et al. 171 ( CEN!, UB!) ; ibidem, 7 September 2011, Faria & Moreira 1695 ( BHCB, HUEG, UB!) ; Pirenópolis, 10 December 2005, Aparecida da Silva et al. 5803 ( IBGE!, UB!, UFG) ; ibidem, 23 September 2008, Aparecida da Silva et al. 6625 ( IBGE!, UB!) ; ibidem, 3 October 2017, Rosa et al. 1965 ( HEPH!) ; ibidem, 5 February 2018, Rosa et al. 2087 ( HEPH!) ; ibidem, 9 April 2018, Rosa et al. 2120 ( HEPH!) . Minas Gerais: São Roque de Minas , 24 September 1997, Nakajima et al. 2680 ( HUFU) ; ibidem, 19 November 2002, Romero et al. 6531 ( HUFU) ; 2 October 1999, Mello-Silva et al. 1713 ( HUFU, SPF, UPCB) .

Phenology: — Specimens with flowers and immature fruits were collected from August to December. Specimens with flowers and galled fruits were collected in February to April. It is not uncommon to find galled fruits in this species, which is not usual in other Myrcia species.

Habitat and distribution:— Brazil: Distrito Federal, Goiás, and Minas Gerais (Serra da Canastra), at altitude between 400-1400m, but mostly collected in high altitude Cerrado. In Pirenópolis , where a large population is found, it occurs prostrate along small water courses that runs over rocky soil .

Etymology:— The specific epithet is probably a reference to the depauperate inflorescence.

Systematics:— The morphology of this species, particularly its trilocular ovary and glabrous staminal disk, would place it within Myrcia sect. Aguava ( Rafinesque 1838: 107) D.F.Lima & Lucas (in Lucas et al., 2018: 7).

Comments:— The specimens listed in the examined material have all been previously identified as M. pinifolia . Both species are subshrubs, with similar-sized, linear leaves. In Myrcia depauperata , however, the leaves are longer at base, less profusely arranged on the branch and diminish markedly in size towards the apex. In M. depauperata , acute, sharp-tipped leaf apices are universal or virtually so, while in M. pinifolia most leaves (or at least some of them) have rounded or obtuse apices. M. depauperata also has a trilocular ovary, while in M. pinifolia the ovary is bilocular.

Conservation status:— The assessment for this species was LC–Least Concern. It has an EOO= 68,100 km 2, an AOO= 56 km 2 and c. 20 known locations.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Myrcia depauperata. Top (left to right): habit, inflorescence, bud and dissected bud. Bottom (left to right): flower, old flower, transversal section of ovary and longitudinal section of old flower (Proença 2564 at UB).

FIGURE 4. Field images. A – C Myrcia siriacoana; D – E Myrcia tocantinensis; F – H Myrcia depauperata. Photographs by P.O. Rosa and T.N.C. Vasconcelos.