Punjuba racemiflora (Donn. Sm.) Britton & Rose, 1928

Soares, Marcos Vinicius Batista, Guerra, Ethiéne, Morim, Marli Pires & Iganci, João Ricardo Vieira, 2024, Taxonomic revision of the genus Punjuba (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae), Phytotaxa 659 (1), pp. 41-55 : 51-53

6. Punjuba racemiflora (DOnn.Sm.) BrittOn & ROsE (1928: 28)

≡ Pithecellobium racemiflorum Donn.Sm. [as Pithecolobium ] (1913: 57) ≡ Abarema racemiflora (Donn.Sm.) Barneby & J.W.Grimes (1996: 90) . Type:— COSTA RICA. Tucurrique, Comarea [comarca] de Puntarenas [9°51’ N, 83°42’ W, in prov. Cartago], “in silvis collinis ad Las

Vueltas”, 600–750 m elevation, Feb 1899, A. Tonduz 13060 (lectotype: US!, isolectotypes: BM!, F!, G (2 sheets)!, GH (3sheets)!, K

(2sheets)!, LL!, M!, MICH!, NY (2sheets)!, P (3sheets)!, US!, W!). Figures 1 & 4

Trees and shrubs 1.5–30 m tall; branches glabrous. Leaves 1–2 pairs of pinnae; petiole 2.5–6(–10) cm, glabrous; nectaries at the tip of leaf stalk and between the proximal pair of pinnae, sometimes obsolete, pateliform; leaflets 2–6 pairs, 7–18 × 3–9 cm, ovate, elliptic to lanceolate, apex acuminate to caudate, base cuneate to rounded, margin revolute, concolor, glabrous, venation eucamptodromous. Inflorescence racemose, peduncles 5.5–11cm, floral axis 12–20 cm, both glabrous. Flowers white or greenish, puberulent; pedicels 0.5–0.7 cm; calyx tubular, 0.3 cm; corolla tubular, 0.6–0.7 cm; filaments of the staminal tube white; ovary ca. 0.1 cm, glabrous. Pods broad–linear, recurved to coiled. Seeds obovate, orbicular, or oblong 10 × 6.5 mm.

Distribution and habitat — Punjuba racemiflora occurs in montane forests and antropogenic areas from 200 m to 3000 m elevation in Costa Rica and Panama, and a disjunct area in Ecuador up to 1900 m elevation ( Fig. 1 ).

Phenology —Flowering from February to August; fruiting from February to September.

Notes — Punjuba racemiflora is the type species of the genus and is morphologically related to P. callejasii and P. centiflora by presenting long-racemose inflorescences. The diferences between those species are discussed under P. callejasii . Punjuba racemiflora has glabrous leaflets, which are variable in size and shape, and long racemes up to 30 cm long. The markedly long racemes, not found in other species of related genera in the Jupunba clade ( Soares et al. 2021; Koenen et al. 2020), led Britton & Rose (1928) to describe Punjuba as a new genus. Besides published records of P. racemiflora for the flora of Colombia ( Romero-Hernandez 2019), the specimen cited as Abarema racemiflora , Devia , W. 266 (COL, MO, QCNE), has sessile flowers in a spiciform inflorescence, thus recognized here as P. killipii and not as P. racemiflora ( Romero-Hernandez 2019) .

Conservation status: —The species presents an Extent of Occurrence (EOO) of 266,981.550 km ², and an Area of Occupancy (AOO) of 64 km ². The species was assessed as Least Concern (LC) by Zamora & Beech (2019). It has a large Extent of Occurrence (EOO) and although the Area of Occupancy (AOO) is small, it is not thought to be declining significantly and individuals of the species are found within protected areas in Costa Rica ( Zamora & Beech 2019). The same authors mentioned the presence of Punjuba racemifora in Brazil and Colombia, however this was a misidentified material, not found in our revision. Here we confirm the assessment category as Least Concern (LC).

Specimens Examined— COSTA RICA.— CARTAGO: Turrialba. 1/ 2 miles S. of Pavones road, 4 miles E. of Turrialba , [09°53’24’’N, 83°37’12’’W], 3000 m, 21 May 1943 (fl), Babour, W. 1014 ( CR, MO) ; Turrialba, Platanillo , [09°49’N, 83°24’W], 650 m, 25 May 1952 (fr), Córdoba, J.J. 141 ( CR) ; Turrialba, Pavones , [09°54’N, 83°37’12’’W], 650 m, 18 May 1972 (fl), Poveda, L. 103 ( CR, USJ, MO) ; Turrialba, Pavones , [09°53’34’’ N, 83°36’30’’W], 1106 m, 14 Jun 2017 (fl, fr), Jimenez, J.E. & Soares, M.V.B 3626 ( USJ, ICN) ; Pavones, Javillos , 700 m, 6 Feb 1974 (fl), Laurito, J.G. 86 ( USJ) ; Santo Antonio , [09°58’N, 83°43’W], 1100 m, (fl), Reark, J.B. 702 ( CR) . HEREDIA: P.N. Braulio carrillo, Cantón de Sarapiquí, Puesto El Ceibo , on ridge crest 250 m W of Transect Trail, [10°17’45’’N, 84°04’37’’W], 765 m, 20 Mar 1994, Boyle, B. & Espino, A. 2999 ( CR) ; P.N. Braulio carrillo, Cantón de Sarapiquí, Puesto El Ceibo , on ridge crest 250 m W of Transect Trail, [10°17’45’’N, 84°04’37’’W], 765 m, 17 Apr 1994 (fr), Boyle, B. & Pickering, J.A. 3046 ( CR) ; Sarapiquí, P.N. Braulio Carrillo, Cuenca del Sarapiquí, El Ceibo , [10°22’29’’N, 84°02’10’’W], 200-300 m, 24 Aug 2004, Kriebel, R. et al. 4834 ( INB) . LIMON: Cantón de Pococí, R.F. Cordillera Volcánica Central, Cuenca del Sarapiquí , Teleferico , [10°10’22’’N, 83°54’32’W], 500 m, 18 Aug 1996 (fl, fr), Aguillar, R. 4680 ( INB, K, USJ) ; Siquirres, cuenca del reventazón, Altos Pascua , cabeceras quebrada linda, [10°01’20’’N, 83°38’50’’W], 800 m, 1 Apr 2001 (fl), Morales, J.F. 7826 ( CR, INB) .— ECUADOR. MANABI: Sector Loma Pambilar, Reserva Ecológica Mache - Chindul, [00°22.01’N, 79°49.2’W], 450 m, 24 July 2008 (fr), Cerón, C.E. et al. 62820 (Q, QAP) . COTACACHI: Parroquias Garcia Moreno y Quinindé , [0°18’11’’N, 78°16’15’’W], 273 m, 17 Feb 2007 (fl, fr), Marischal, A. et al. 9163 ( QCNE) . CARCHI: Tulcan Canton, Reserva Indígena Awá, Parroquia el Chical , centro San Marcos , [01°06’N, 78°14’W], 750 m, 20-30 Apr 1993 (fl, fr), Mendez, P. et al. 244 ( MO, NY, QCNE) ; Tulcan Canton, Reserva Indígena Awá, comunidad Guaipi Alto , parroquia chical, [01°02’N, 78°14’W], 1800 m, 15–28 Jun 1991 (fr), Rubio, D. et al. 1597 ( NY, QCNE) ; Tulcan cantón, Chical, Reserva etnica awá-Cacumbí, [00°53’00’’N, 78°16’00’’W], 1700–1900 m, 20-29 Jul 1991 (fl, fr), Quelal, C. et al. 280 ( NY, QCNE, MO) . ESMERALDAS: San Lorenzo cantón, Awá indigenous territory, Rio Bogotá community, 2 km south of Lita-San Lorenzo road, [00°59’11’’N, 78°35’50’’W], 350 m, 6 Apr 2002 (fl), Neil, D. et al. 13885 ( MO, QCNE) .— PANAMA. COLON: [8°50’22’’N, 80°38’51’’W], 205 m, 18 Sep 2007 (fr), McPherson, G. 19687 ( MO, PMA) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Geographic distribution of Punjuba Britton & Rose (Leguminosae).

FIGURE 4. Punjuba racemiflora (Donn.Sm.) Britton & Rose (Leguminosae).A. Tree growing in a paddock, in Costa Rica. B. Branches with inflorescences. C. Branch with leaves and inflorescences. D. Flowers. E. Detail of the trunk. F. Spiraled pod. Photos:A-E: E.Jimenez. F: M.V.B.Soares. [A-F: Jimenez, E. & Soares, M.V.B. 3626 (ICN!, USJ!)].