Anthurium gallardoae Cornejo & Croat, 2021

Cornejo, Xavier & Croat, Tom, 2021, Anthurium gallardoae and Xanthosoma isabellanum (Araceae), two new species from coastal Ecuador, Phytotaxa 505 (1), pp. 107-113 : 109

Anthurium gallardoae Cornejo & Croat , sp. nov. ( Fig. 1 )

Anthurium gallardoae is a new species similar to A. aromoense but differs by the inflorescences with peduncles shorter, 34–35 cm long, spadix shorter and narrower, 4.0–4.5 × 0.6–0.8 cm, spathe broader, 3.5–4.5 cm width, and leaf blades smaller, 15.0–30.5 × 10.5– 18.5 cm, with 6–8 pairs of primary lateral veins (versus inflorescences with longer peduncles, ca. 67 cm long, spadix longer and thicker, ca. 19.8 × 1.5 cm, spathe narrower, ca. 1.5 cm width, and leaf blades larger, ca. 39.8 × 26.5 cm, with 11 primary lateral veins in A. aromoense ).

Type: — ECUADOR. Manabí: El Aromo environs, ca. 01°03’S, 80°49’W, ca. 200 m, very dry tropical forest, Mar 2014 (st), flowered in cultivation in Guayaquil, ca. 6 m, 02°07’S, 79°54’W, 7 Aug-6 Sep 2020 (fl), X. Cornejo, M. Gallardo, V. Solórzano 9335 (holotype GUAY!, mounted material and spirit collection) .

Epiphytic and facultatively terrestrial, internodes very short, 2.5 cm diam., with abundant adventitious roots; cataphylls lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 5–16 cm long, weakly acuminate at apex, drying brown, persisting intact. Leaves erect and suberect with petioles 21–37 × 0.7–0.8 cm, drying dark brown, C-shaped, narrowly V-sulcate adaxially with the margins drying bluntly acute; geniculum 1.7–2.5 cm long, light-brown to light-green, slightly swollen; blades stiffly coriaceous, 15.0–30.5 × 10.5–18.5 cm, widest in the lower third, 1.5 to 2 times longer than wide, 0.9 to 0.5 times longer than petiole, narrowly rounded and weakly emarginate at the apex, truncate-broadly rounded at the base, weakly glossy above, matte beneath, margin somewhat rolled under; midrib drying faintly raised in valley, yellowish-green above, narrowly rounded, finely ribbed, yellowish-green below; primary lateral veins 6–8 pairs, scalariform, arising from the midrib and basal veins at 30–50° angles, deeply sunken above with edges raised, finely, narrowly raised, irregularly ridged, darker below with usually a single somewhat irregular interprimary vein between; tertiary veins few; basal veins 3 pairs, concolorous, slightly raised in valley above, prominently raised, rounded below, inner pair forming the collective veins, middle pair reaching the margin at halfway to upper 1/3 of blade, outer pair reaching the margin at the lower 1/5 of blade; upper surface drying semiglossy upon magnification, aerolate-ridged, grayish darkbrown; lower surface drying semiglossy upon magnification, with scattered pustules and large glandular punctations, medium reddish brown. Inflorescence 38–39 cm long with peduncles 34–35 × 0.4–0.5 cm long; spathe lanceolate, light-green, suffused pink and twisted at distal half, longitudinally nerved, beneath glossy, the nerves prominent (dry), 7.7–9.5 cm × 3.5–4.5 cm, reflexed, somewhat twisted at lower half, subpendular; spadix green, cylindroid, 4.0–4.5 × 0.6–0.8 cm, on peduncle 0.5–0.6 × 0.4 cm; flowers ca. 6 visible per spiral, ca. 3.0– 3.5 mm long and wide, tepals smooth upon drying, inner margins nearly straight with edges upward. Infructescences not seen.

Discussion: — Anthurium gallardoae is a new species similar to A. aromoense but differs by the characters written in the diagnosis. Anthurium gallardoae may also be confused with the more common Anthurium ovatifolium Engler (1898: 437) which differs by having blades which are proportionately broader, often about as broad as long with basal veins more elliptic and with many more primary lateral veins with 16–20 closely spaced, frequently quilted primary lateral veins; Anthurium occidentale Sodiro (1906: 29) , differing by having longer petioles (40–45 cm long), longer geniculum (3–3.5 cm long), proportionately narrower blades 2 times longer than broad, a shorter peduncle (20 cm long) and a much longer and thicker spadix (12–15 cm long by 2 cm diam.); and Anthurium pachyspathum Krause (1940: 39) , which occurs in the Amazon basin and differing by having proportionately narrower leaf blades (40 × 17 and 2.3 time longer than wide and a much longer peduncle (50–55 cm long).

Eponymy: —The epithet “gallardoae” refers to type co-collector, the Ecuadorian biologist Margarita Gallardo.

Habitat and distribution: — Anthurium gallardoae is endemic to coastal Ecuador, known only from the very dry forests of environs of El Aromo, in the province of Manabi.

Phenology and cultivation: — Anthurium gallardoae can be planted in a pot under shade and live well for years at the interior of an office or home. Therefore, due to the relatively medium size and attractive appearance, cloning this species to be propagated as an ornamental is suggested.

Conservation status: —The low number of individuals estimated in less than 100 found in the original disturbed habitat that is threaten by deforestation lead us to regard Anthurium gallardoae as Endangered EN B1 ab(iii) ( IUCN 2017).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Anthurium gallardoae. A. Spadix, spathe and adaxial view of leaf blades (bottom). B. Leaf blade beneath. C. A persistent brown cataphyll and base of petioles. D. Cultivated plant.