Bertolonia violacea Bisewski et al. (2020: 570)

Bisewski, Gessica C. A., Bacci, Lucas F., Amorim, André M. & Goldenberg, Renato, 2022, The Genus Bertolonia (Melastomataceae) In The State Of Bahia, Brazil, Phytotaxa 548 (2), pp. 153-183 : 179-180

14. Bertolonia violacea Bisewski et al. (2020: 570) . Figure 18 .

Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia. Guaratinga , “Córrego Jacutinga”, 23 Apr 2009, A.P. Fontana, L. Kollmann, E. Leme & C. Esgario 5909 (lectotype, designated here: MBML 50082 !; isolectotypes MBML 51684!, CEPEC 157986 !).

Herbs 5–8 cm tall, terrestrial. Stem 2.5–5 mm wide, terete, densely glandulose-punctate (trichomes less than 0.1 mm long) and moderately glandulose-villose (trichomes 1–2.4 mm long). Leaves opposite; petioles 1.4–3.3 cm long, terete, sparsely to moderately glandulose-punctate and sparsely to moderately glandulose-hirsute (trichomes 1.5–2 mm long); blades 3–5 × 2.5–4.3 cm, flat, widely elliptic, base cordate, apex rounded, margins entire, moderately ciliate, adaxial surface purple, sparsely glandulose-punctate and sparsely to moderately glandulose-pilose (trichomes 1.2–1.5 mm long, purplish), abaxial surface purple, seldom dark green, sparsely glandulose-punctate and sparsely glandulose-pilose (trichomes ca. 1 mm long, purplish), main veins 5, plus one pair that do not reach the leaf apex, basal. Inflorescences terminal, 6.2–9 cm long (10.8–13 cm long in old infructescences), branches sparsely glandulosepunctate and moderately to densely glandulose-villose, sparsely glandulose-punctate and sparsely glandulose-villose when old. Bracts not seen; bracteoles 1.1–1.2 mm long, lanceolate, apex acute, both surfaces glandulose-punctate. Hypanthium 1.6–2.1 × 2–2.3 mm, shortly terete, glandulose-punctate and glandulose-villose. Sepals elliptic to ovate, apex acute, margins entire, ciliate, both surfaces glandulose-punctate and glandulose-villose. Petals 4–6.5 × 2.5–3 mm, pink, elliptic, base cuneate, apex apiculate, the apiculum ca. 0.6mm long, with a caducous gland head, margins entire with long-stalked glands (trichomes 0.2–0.3 mm long), both surfaces papillose, otherwise glabrous. Stamens 5.7–5.9 mm long; filaments 3.2–3.4 mm long; anthers 2.4–2.5 mm long, cream colored, lanceolate, surface slightly undulate, pore rounded, non-thickened margins, extrorse; connective shortly prolonged (less than 0.1 mm), unappendaged. Style 5.5–7.3 mm long, straight, glabrous. Fruits 0.5–0.6 × 0.8–1 cm. Seeds reniform.

Examined material: — BRAZIL. Bahia: Guaratinga, Fontana 5909 ( CEPEC, MBML!); Kollmann 11578 ( MBML!).

Additional material: — BRAZIL. Espírito Santo (Cultivated): Santa Teresa, Bacci 160 ( NY, UPCB!). Paraná (Cultivated): Curitiba, Bisewski 60 ( UPCB!).

Conservation Status: — The species has been collected only twice at the same locality, a private property in the municipality of Guaratinga. Bertolonia violacea has an AOO of 4 km ², and should be classified as “Critically Endangered” (CR), following IUCN (2017) categories. It occurs only in one locality, so it is not possible to calculate its Extent of Occurrence (EOO).

Notes: — Bertolonia violacea is endemic to Bahia, occurring in lowland forest ( Fig. 13f ). It has been cultivated in a greenhouse at the “Museu de Biologia Mello Leitão” in the state of Espírito Santo where it got spread, weedy-like. Collected with flowers and fruits in April to May. Bertolonia violacea is characterized by the remarkable purplish indumentum covering the plants. It has one of the smallest leaves in the genus (about 2.5–7 cm long), together with B. alternifolia , B. angustipetala , and B. kollmannii . Bertolonia violacea is similar to B. marmorata ; they share the widely elliptic or widely ovate leaf blades, and also the branches, leaf blades, hypanthium and sepals glandulose-punctate (trichomes less than 0.1 mm long) and glandulose-villose or glandulose-pilose (trichomes 1–2.5 mm long). However, Bertolonia violacea differs by the leaves with an acute apex and revolute margins (vs. rounded apex and entire margins in B. marmorata ), the purplish color of the leaf trichomes (vs. brownish in B. marmorata ), and the anthers dehiscing through an extrorse pore (vs. introrse in B. marmorata ). For more details see Bisewski et al. (2020) and Table 1 .

The original description of B. violacea indicated the holotype ( Fontana 5909) deposited at MBML, but there are two duplicates in this herbarium with different catalogue numbers. To solve this problem, we decided to choose one of them as the lectotype of the species. In this case, the specimen with an online photo available was selected (see http://splink.cria.org.br/ and http://reflora.jbrj.gov.br /reflora/).

Figures

FIGURE 13. Distributions of species of Bertolonia in Bahia.A.Bertolonia linearifolia. B. Bertolonia maculata. C. Bertolonia marmorata. D. Bertolonia reginatoi. E. Bertolonia riocontensis. F. Bertolonia violacea. G. Bertolonia vitoriana.

FIGURE 18. Bertolonia violacea. A. Fertile branch. B. C. Leaf base, abaxial surface. D. Purplish trichomes on the abaxial leaf surface. E. Inflorescence. F. Hypanthium and calyx, abaxial surface. G. Petals apex showing the apiculum with glands (arrow). H. Stamen, dorsal (left) and lateral (right) views, note the extrorse pore on dorsal view. I. Ovary and style. [A, C: Kollmann 11578; B, D, E, F, G, H, I: Fontana 5909].