Anthurium annularum O.Ortiz, Croat & Baldini, 2016

Ortiz, Orlando O., Baldini, Riccardo M., Berguido, Guido & Croat, Thomas B., 2016, New species of Anthurium (Araceae) from Chucantí Nature Reserve, eastern Panama, Phytotaxa 255 (1), pp. 47-56 : 48-51

Anthurium annularum O.Ortiz, Croat & Baldini , sp. nov. ( Figs. 2 , 3 )

Anthurium annularum is characterized by its hemiepiphytic climbing habit, swollen ring-shaped nodes separated internodes of alternating lengths, long and short, cataphylls persisting intact at apex, later deciduous with a few fibrous remnants at the nodes, short (0.9–2.0 cm long) terete petioles, lanceolate-elliptic or narrowly elliptic yellow-brown drying leaf blades, a cylindrical yellow-green spadix, pendent inflorescence and pale green globose berries.

Type:— PANAMÁ. Darién: Serranía de Majé, Reserva Privada Chucantí, cima del Cerro Chucantí , 1325 m, 8°47’45’’ N, 78°27’47’’ W, 30 Aug 2014, Orlando O. Ortiz, Rodolfo Flores, Adriel Sierra, Juvenal Batista, Yessenia Guadalupe, Calixto Rodríguez, Zabdy Samudio & Zuleika Serracín 2450 (holotype, PMA!; isotypes, FT!, MO!, SCZ!, UCH!, US!).

Hemiepiphytic climbing herb; stems to 1 m long, drying yellow-brown, longitudinally ribbed, matte; internodes alternating between short internodes and much longer internodes, 0.3–7 cm long, 2–4 mm diam., with ring-shaped swellings at the apex of each internode; cataphylls persisting intact at apex, later deciduous with a few fibrous remnants at node, drying yellow-brown, 0.5–5 cm long; petioles terete, 0.9–2.0 cm long, 1.0 mm in diam., drying matte, dark brown on geniculum and at base; blades lanceolate-elliptic or narrowly elliptic, gradually acuminate at apex, acute at base, 5–10 × 1.4–3.3 cm, 2.4–3 times longer than broad, ca. 5 times longer than petioles, broadest slightly below the middle, subcoriaceous to moderately thin, medium green and semi-glossy above, slightly paler and semi-glossy below, drying yellow-brown; midrib narrowly rounded and slightly paler above, narrowly rounded below; primary lateral veins ca. 16 pairs, obscure on both surfaces when fresh, moderately obscure when dried, arising at 40–50° angle; tertiary veins obscure. Inflorescence erect-spreading; peduncle 1.5–3.5 cm long, 1.0 mm in diam., slender, reddish; spathe reflexed-spreading (at anthesis) or erect, 1.1–1.5 × 0.4–0.6 cm, whitish-green to green, ovate to narrowly lanceolate, abruptly acuminate at apex; spadix yellow-green, e r ect, cylindrical, 0.7–1.9 cm long, 1–2 mm in diam. on drying, 7–10 times longer than wide, stipitate ca. 1–2 mm when dried, stipe whitish; flowers 3–4 visible in the principal spiral, 2–3 in the alternate spiral; stamens slightly exserted; anthers whitish. Infructescence pendent; spathe deciduous; spadix cylindrical, 3.5–4.2 cm long, 1–1.3 cm diam., 3.2–3.4 times longer than wide, rounded at apex, tepals faintly purplish red; berries globose, pale green, fading to greenish white, finally translucent in lower half; seeds 1–2 per berry.

Eponymy:— The species epithet is from the Latin adjective “ annularis ” (meaning ring-shaped or arranged in a circle) referring to the ring-shaped swellings at the apex of the nodes.

Distribution:— Anthurium annularum is endemic to Panama, known only from the type locality in the Serranía de Majé.

Habitat and Ecology:— The species grows at 1325 m in a Premontane rain forest and Tropical wet forest life zones according to the classification proposed by Holdridge et al. (1971). Anthurium annularum is notable because it usually grows in the canopy together with several species of Orchidaceae , at about 25–30 m above the forest floor, in a forest dominated by Quercus Linnaeus (1753b: 994) , Sloanea Linnaeus (1753a: 512) , Oreomunnea Oersted (1856: 33) and Magnolia Linnaeus (1753a: 535) .

Phenology:— Flowering and fruiting in August. Further investigations are required to determine exact flowering and fruiting seasons.

Conservation status:— The species has a reduced geographic distribution. Its area is strongly impacted by agricultural and livestock activities. We suggest it to be considered in the CR B2ab(iii) category according to the IUCN Red List Criteria (IUCN 2001).

Discussion:— Anthurium annularum is member of section Xialophyllium Schott (1860: 440) , by the erect stems that are scandent with long internodes, and with leaf blades typically longer than broad. Within section Xialophyllium , A. annularum could be confused only with A. carnosum Croat & R.A. Baker (1979: 36) and A. tenerum Engler (1898: 377) , all of which have similar blades shape and greenish spadices. Anthurium carnosum also differs in having leaf blades drying black to blue-black, or medium brown, longer petioles, inflorescences with longer peduncles, longer spadices, and infructescences with green tepals and orange berries ( Table 1); A. tenerum differing in having conspicuous petiole sheath, longer leaf blades that are grayish when dried, a longer spadix and no ring-shaped internodes ( Table 1).

In the Lucid Anthurium key A. annularum tracks to A. pulchellum Engler (1885: 273) , A. coclense Croat (1981: 321) , A. interruptum Sodiro (1902: 301) , A. microspadix Schott (1858: 180) and A. stipitatum Bentham (1846: 255) . Anthurium pulchellum differs from A. annularum in having persistent intact cataphylls, greenish to olive-green drying leaf blades and prominent primary lateral veins on lower surface; A. coclense differs from A. annularum in having oblong-oblanceolate to elliptic or ovate-elliptic leaf blades, a spadix with ca. 10 flowers visible in the principal spiral, and reddish berries; A. interruptum differs from A. annularum in having longer internodes (8–33 cm), brownish green to olive-green drying leaf blades and red berries; A. microspadix differs from A. annularum in having longer petioles (5–16 cm), longer peduncles (5–15 cm) and yellowish-green berries and A. stipitatum differs in having reddish-brown drying blades, primary lateral veins prominent on lower surface and prominently stipitate spadix (with 0.5–2.0 cm long stipe).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Anthurium annularum. Holotype specimen: Panamá. Darién: Serranía de Majé, Reserva Privada Chucantí, cima del Cerro Chucantí, 1325 m, 8°47’45’’ N, 78°27’47’’ W, 30 Aug 2014, Orlando O. Ortiz, Rodolfo Flores, Adriel Sierra, Juvenal Batista, Yessenia Guadalupe, Calixto Rodríguez, Zabdy Samudio & Zuleika Serracín 2450 (Photo PMA Herbarium).

FIGURE 3. Anthurium annularum at the type locality. A. In its habitat. B. Flowering spadix. C. Infrutescence spadix (Photo Orlando O. Ortiz).