Lychnophorella jacobinensis Loeuille, Semir & Pirani, 2019

Loeuille, Benoît, Semir, João & Pirani, José R., 2019, A synopsis of Lychnophorinae (Asteraceae: Vernonieae), Phytotaxa 398 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

3. Lychnophorella jacobinensis Loeuille, Semir & Pirani , sp. nov. Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia : Jacobina, Serra da Jacobina (Toca da Areia) , 11°09’09”S, 40°30’16”W, 932 m, 5 July 1996, H.P. Bautista et al. PCD 3426 (holotype: SPF [SPF128915]; isotypes: ALCB [not seen], CEPEC [not seen], K [not seen], HST [not seen], HUEFS) ( Fig. 30 ).

Species Lychnophorellae blanchetio simile, sed foliis anguste ellipticis ad lanceolata (non linearibus ad linearia-lanceolata) et capitulis brevibus (5–6.1 mm, non 7–11 mm) differt.

Shrub, up to 50 cm tall, erect, ericoid; branches tomentose, brownish to greyish; leaf scars semicircular without tuft of trichomes. Leaves with petiole 0.6–1.7 mm long, pad-like sheath circular, 0.9–13 mm diam.; blade narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, frequently slightly conduplicate, usually somewhat arched, 0.8–1.5 cm × 1.8–3.5 mm, venation hyphodromous, midrib prominent abaxially (distally concealed by indumentum), adaxially canaliculate, sericeous, adaxial surface dark green, glabrous, distally sericeous when young, glandular-punctate, abaxial surface dirty white, velutinous, apex acute, with small subpungent mucro, unfrequently absent, covered by a tuft of trichomes when young, base rounded, sometimes oblique. Inflorescence a solitary syncephalium (second-order), terminal on side branches 3.7–6.6 cm long. Syncephalium 0.9–1.5 cm tall, 1.35–2 cm diam., hemispherical, surrounded by foliage leaves. Capitula ca. 20, closely appressed; involucre cylindrical 5–6.1 mm tall, 1.8–2.6 mm diam., phyllaries 5–6- seriate, stramineous, apex acute, dark purple; outer phyllaries lanceolate, rarely narrowly ovate, 1.5–3.4 × 0.4–1.2 mm, tomentose, frequently restricted to upper part; inner phyllaries narrowly elliptic, 4–4.8 × 0.7–1 mm long, glabrous except upper part tomentulose; receptacle shortly foveolate, naked. Florets 3–4; corolla purple, glabrous, glandular-punctate, corolla tube 3.6–4.5 × 0.6–0.9 mm, corolla lobes 3.3–4 × 0.6–0.8 mm, apex acute, mammillate; anther purple, apical anther appendages trullate, acute, anther base sagittate, obtuse; style shaft 5.9–6.3 mm long, purple, glabrous throughout except for pubescent upper ca. 1 mm beneath style-arms, style-arms 2.2–2.8 mm long. Cypsela (immature) cylindrical 0.7–1.6 × 0.4–0.9 mm, obscurely 10-ribbed, glabrous, poorly glandular-punctate; pappus biseriate, whitish or purple, outer series setae 0.2–0.7 mm, partially to completely fused, coroniform, apex acute, erose, fimbriate, inner series setae 3.9–4.9 mm, serrulate.

Distribution and habitat: — Brazil ( Bahia , known only from the Serra da Jacobina). Campo rupestre; 932 m.

Conservation status: —The species is known from a single locality and population, which is not situated within any protected area. According to results obtained through GeoCAT analysis ( Bachman et al. 2011) (EOO = 0 km 2; AOO = 4 km 2; using a cell size of 2 km 2), the species is classified as Critically Endangered. Nevertheless, the only known population of the species may not allow a confident evaluation of its conservation status. Thus, we suggest this species should be classified as Data Deficient (DD) ( IUCN 2017).

Etymology: —The specific epithet refers to the geographical locality of the species.

Taxonomic Notes: —To date, this species is only known from the type collection, and our attempts to re-collect it were unsuccessful. In Moura & Roque (2014) the type specimen have been misidentified as Lychnophorella blanchetii , the other species of the genus found in the same mountain range. Both species are highly similar but the new species has narrowly elliptic to lanceolate leaves (vs. linear to linear-lanceolate) which are frequently conduplicate (vs. flat), smaller heads (5–6.1 mm vs. 7–11 mm), and tomentose to tomentulose phyllaries (at least in the upper half) (vs. glabrous).

Figures

FIGURE 30. Holotype of Lychnophorella jacobinensis Loeuille, Semir & Pirani (SPF128915).