Tillandsia chalcatzingensis González-Rocha, Cerros, López-Ferr. & Espejo, 2015

González-Rocha, Edith, Cerros-Tlatilpa, Rosa, Espejo-Serna, Adolfo & Ferrari, Ana Rosa López-, 2015, Tillandsia chalcatzingensis, a new species from the state of Morelos, Mexico, Phytotaxa 227 (2), pp. 182-188 : 183-187

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/phytotaxa.227.2.8
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A787D6-FFED-EF66-66D3-6EFFFC5415DD
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Tillandsia chalcatzingensis González-Rocha, Cerros, López-Ferr. & Espejo
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Tillandsia chalcatzingensis González-Rocha, Cerros, López-Ferr. & Espejo View in CoL , spec. nov. Figures 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 , 3A View FIGURE 3 , 4 View FIGURE 4 .

Tillandsia chalcatzingensis is closely related to T. superinsignis Matuda from which it differs by having narrowly triangular vs. sublingulate leaf blades, a shorter peduncle, longer stipes of the spikes, spikes 28–45 vs. 60–73 cm long, flowers sessile vs. pedicellate, sepals 28–33 vs. 39–40 mm long, and dark violet vs. violet petals.

Type:— MEXICO. Morelos: municipio de Jantetelco, en el peñón de Chalcatzingo creciendo rupícola en las paredes verticales del peñón con vegetación xerófila, 18° 40’ 32” N, 98° 46’ 18” W, ca. 1400 m, 4 March 2014, R. Cerros T., L. G. Ávila T. & A. Barranco 2969 (holotype UAMIZ (x11!), isotypes HUMO(x4!), IEB(x8!), MEXU(x5!)).

Plant saxicolous, stemless or short caulescent, solitary, flowering 1.5–2 m tall; rosette of the tank type, 1–1.25 m diam. in its broadest part; the stem, when produced, 20–35 cm long, 9–10 cm diam. Leaves rosulate, numerous; sheaths pale brown abaxially, dark brown adaxially, oblong to suborbicular, densely punctate-lepidote on both surfaces, glabrous towards the base and margins, 16–22 cm long, 17–22 cm wide; blades green, narrowly triangular, abaxially lepidote between the veins and adaxially glabrous, 51–54 cm long, 10–14 cm wide, long attenuate. Inflorescence paniculate, terminal, erect, once branched, with 25–32 ascending spikes; peduncle green, terete, erect, glabrous, 30 cm long, 5.4 cm diam. at the base, fully covered by the sheaths of the bracts; peduncle bracts green, the lower ones foliaceous, similar in shape and size to the leaves, exceeding the peduncle, decreasing gradually in size towards distal portion of the peduncle, 49–72 cm long, densely imbricate, the upper ones with oblong to suborbicular sheaths, 9–11 cm long, 6–7.7 cm wide, the blades narrowly triangular, glabrous to sparsely punctulate-lepidote adaxially and punctulate-lepidote between the veins abaxially, 39–40 cm long, 4.2–4.7 cm wide; primary bracts with recurved blades, upward decreasing gradually in size, the basal ones green, foliaceous and extended, longer than the spikes, similar in shape and size as the upper peduncle bracts, upward soon shorter than spikes, rose, vaginiform, with the sheaths ovate-elliptic, glabrous adaxially, very sparsely punctulate-lepidote abaxially; spikes divergent and slightly ascending, long stipitate, complanate, linear, acute, 17–19-flowered, 28–45 cm long including the stipe, 1.5–1.9 cm wide; stipes initially erect then curving outward, 9–16(–25) cm long, the basal ebracteate portion 2.1–3.2 cm long, 9–12 mm diam.; floral bracts rose, ovate when flattened, glabrous and waxy pruinose abaxially, adaxially lepidote at the apex and sparsely so at the base, imbricate, bicarinate towards the base, conspicuously veined towards the apex, 12–42 mm long, 19–20 mm wide, acute, with hyaline margins, exceeding the internodes and sepals; flowers distichous, erect, sessile, corolla tubiform; sepals free, pale green, elliptic, glabrous, 28–33 mm long, 10–13 mm wide, acute, the two adaxial ones slightly carinate at the base; petals dark violet in the apical half, white in the basal half, very narrowly oblong-elliptic, glabrous, 44–49 mm long, 6–7 mm wide, emarginate and slightly divergent at the apex; stamens subequal, exerted, filaments free, white, flattened for its entire length and twisted in basal portion, 44–55 mm long; anthers yellow, oblong, 4–5.5 mm long, 1–1.4 mm wide, dorsifixed below the center; ovary green, ovoid, 6.9–10 mm long, 4–5 mm diam.; style white to distally violet, slender, 46–52 mm long, exceeding the stamens; stigma of the conduplicate spiral type ( Brown & Gilmartin, 1984), stigmatic branches violet, 2–3 mm long. Capsule, oblong-elliptic, shortly rostrate, 20–23 mm long, 5–6 mm diam.; seeds brown, fusiform, 3–4 mm long, with a yellowish or whitish, 9–16 mm long coma.

Distribution and habitat:—So far, the new species is known only from the Peñón de Chalcatzingo, also called Cerro Gordo or Cerro de la Cantera, that is part of the Sierra del Camello or Sierra de Chalcatzingo, an igneous rock formation (granodiorites) located in the eastern part of the state of Morelos, Mexico ( Figure 4 View FIGURE 4 ). There it grows saxicolously on the vertical rock walls of the peñón with xerophilous scrub ( Figures 1A, B View FIGURE 1 ). The vegetation in the surroundings of the Peñón region is tropical dry forest with a warm sub-humid climate.

Etymology:—The specific epithet refers to the place where this species was collected: the archaeological site of Chalcatzingo, an important pre-classic ceremonial center, known for its monuments and petroglyphs of Olmec influence. It should be noted that some monuments founded in the area, particularly the “el rey” include petroglyphs that resembles Tillandsia chalcatzingensis ( Figure 1C View FIGURE 1 ). There are only two saxicolous native plants of the genus in this area, Tillandsia hubertiana Matuda (1975: 8) and T. chalcatzingensis . Both were compared with this petroglyph and the second ones matches better ( Figures 1B, D View FIGURE 1 ).

Comments:—The new species can be confused with Tillandsia superinsig nis, T. thyrsigera an d T. tonalaensis ( Figure 3 View FIGURE 3 ) due to its saxicolous habit, violet flowers and complanate, linear and acute spikes. However, it differs from these two species by the number of flowers per spike and by the size of the flowers ( Table 1). The geographical distribution of all mentioned species are also different ( Figure 4 View FIGURE 4 ).

Additional specimens examined (paratypes):— MEXICO. Morelos: municipio de Jantetelco, en el peñón de Chalcatzingo, ladera E, 18° 40’ 26” N, 98° 46’ 14” W, 1415 m, collected 4 February 2014, pressed 13 May 2015, E. González-Rocha, R. Cerros T., L. G. Ávila T. & A. Barranco 315 (UAMIZ!).