Pitcairnia abscondita Flores-Arg., Lopez-Ferr ., Gonz.-Rocha & Espejo, 2022

Flores-Argueelles, Alejandra, Lopez-Ferrari, Ana Rosa, Gonzalez-Rocha, Edith & Espejo-Serna, Adolfo, 2022, Pitcairnia abscondita (Pitcairnioideae, Bromeliaceae), a hidden novelty from north-western Jalisco, Mexico, PhytoKeys 189, pp. 129-139 : 129

Pitcairnia abscondita Flores-Arg., Lopez-Ferr., Gonz.-Rocha & Espejo sp. nov.

Figs 1 , 2A-B and 3

Type.

Mexico. Jalisco: municipio Cabo Corrientes, ejido Las Juntas y Los Veranos , santuario las Guacamayas , 20°25.802'N, 105°18.978'W, 600 m a.s.l., bosque de galería, 25 Jan 2020, flowered in cultivation, 12 Jul 2021, A. Flores-Argüelles, G. Contreras-Félix & J. Novoa 1189 (holotype: UAMIZ in two sheets!) .

Diagnosis.

Similar to Pitcairnia imbricata , but differs by the presence of green, widely oblong to widely ovate floral bracts with the apex divergent to spreading (vs. red elliptic with the apex appressed to the rachis), arcuate corollas (vs. erect), appendiculate, chartreuse-green, 9.4-9.8 cm long, petals (vs. yellow, not appendiculate 6.5-6.6 cm long).

Description.

Plant terrestrial or rupicolous, growing frequently along streams, aerial portion of the stem inconspicuous, with underground erect rhizomes ca. 5 cm in diam., flowering 100-110 cm tall. Roots fibrous, thin. Rosettes 40-50 cm high, 90-110 cm diam. Leaves 10 to 50, rosulate, monomorphic, pseudopetiolate; sheaths brown to light brown, with a transverse white band at the base, triangular, 5-6 cm long, 5-6 cm wide at the base, strongly nerved, densely white-tomentose abaxially, entire; pseudopetiole 20-40 cm long, ca. 10 mm wide, involute, margins minutely spinose-serrate, densely white-tomentose abaxially at the base; blades green, linear, attenuate towards the apical portion, 90-170 cm long, 2.5-5.5 cm wide at its widest part, with a central longitudinal channel, entire, very sparsely lepidote adaxially, glabrous abaxially. Inflorescence terminal, simple, erect to arched; peduncle green, cylindrical, 70-77 cm long, 0.7-1.4 cm in diam. at the base; peduncle bracts green, foliaceous, erect, the sheaths appressed, the blades becoming progressively reduced distally, narrowly triangular, 4-35 cm long, ca. 3 cm wide at the base, entire, attenuate to long-attenuate, glabrescent to glabrous on both surfaces; spike terete, 10-50 cm long, 3.5-4 cm in diam., rachis wholly covered by the floral bracts; floral bracts foliaceous, appressed and imbricate, green, widely oblong to widely ovate, 49-52 mm long, 30-32 mm wide, the apex acuminate, divergent to spreading in living plants, the margin hyaline, glabrous on both surfaces, much longer than the sepals. Flowers 25-80 per inflorescence, polystichous, zygomorphic, slightly, but conspicuously arcuate-recurved, sessile, acropetalous; sepals free, green, oblong, 28-30 mm long, 9-11 mm wide, ecarinate, nerved, acute and shortly apiculate, glabrous; petals free, chartreuse green, narrowly oblanceolate, 94-98 mm long, 14-19 mm wide, rounded and very shortly apiculate, with an adaxially basal, oblong, ca. 13 mm long × ca. 6 mm wide, erose appendage, almost completely adnate to the petal; stamens all equal in length, shorter than the petals, filaments whitish, filiform, 71-72 mm long; anthers yellow, linear, 16-17 mm long, basifixed; ovary half superior, greenish-white, ovoid, ca. 15 mm long, ca. 6 mm in diam., glabrous; style linear, arcuate-recurved, ca. 78 mm long; stigma white, conduplicate-spiral (type II sensu Brown and Gilmartin 1984), glabrous. Capsules dark brown when mature, narrowly ovoid in the outline, trigonous in cross section, 19-21 mm long, 6-8 mm in diam., septicidal, glabrous; seeds reddish to light-brown, fusiform, 1-1.5 mm long, long bicaudate, the caudae filiform, ca. 5 mm long each one.

Etymology.

The specific epithet refers to the fact that, for a long time, the specimens of this species was “hidden” behind the name Pitcairnia imbricata (see McVaugh 1989), to difficulties in identifications of herbarium samples, since the dried specimens of P. abscondita can be easily confused with P. imbricata .

Distribution and habitat.

Pitcairnia abscondita is known until now only from the State of Jalisco, in the Municipalities of Cabo Corrientes, Mascota, Puerto Vallarta, San Sebastián del Oeste and Talpa de Allende (Fig. 3 ), growing rupicolous or terrestrial in wet Pinus - Quercus forests, gallery forests and cloud forests often near rivers or streams, at an elevation interval from 400-1,500 m a.s.l. Blooms during July and fructifies from August to September.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes).

Mexico. Jalisco: Municipio Cabo Corrientes: 3-10 km generally east on the road to Mina del Cuale, from the junction 5 km northwest of El Tuito , 850-1,150 m elev., steep mountainsides pine-oak forest on decomposed granitic soils, with Podocarpus , oaks and other deciduous trees in rocky stream valleys, 16-19 Feb 1975, R. McVaugh 26385 (MEXU (two sheets)); MICH (two sheets)); entre El Tuito y Puerto Vallarta, a 20 km de Puerto Vallarta y a 20 km de El Tuito , ca. 450 m elev., bosque de pino-encino, 19 Jul 1976, A. Delgado S. & R. Hernández M. 2617 (MEXU); km 18 camino El Tuito hacia la mina de Zimapán, 960 m elev., bosque mesófilo de montaña, 1 Jun 1985, J.A. Pérez de la Rosa 974 (IBUG); ca. 0.5 km después de Pedro Moreno, rumbo a El Tuito , 637 m elev., 20°24.3833'N, 105°18.2'W, 30 Jul 2003, J. Ceja, A. Espejo, A.R. López-Ferrari, A. Mendoza R. & I. Ramírez M. 1476 (UAMIZ); km 4 del camino El Tuito-Zimapán, 3.5 km al W de la Provincia, 937 m elev., 20°20.9333'N, 105°17.6067'W, bosque de pino-encino con elementos mesófilos, 2 Aug 2011, A. Castro-Castro, J.G. González, R. Guerrero & E. de Castro 2518 (IBUG); km 2 del camino a la mina de Zimapán, 813 m elev., 20°21.0468'N, 105°18.1897'W, bosque de pino-encino, 29 Aug 2019, A. Flores-Argüelles, A.R. López-Ferrari, E. González R., J. Hernández B., R. Hernández C. & A. Espejo 1131 (UAMIZ); camino El Tuito-minas de Zimapán, 881 m elev., 20° 21'N, 105°17.7833'W, bosque de pino y encino, 13 Sep 2020, Brunel, E. Ruíz-Sánchez & E. Gándara 901 (IBUG). Municipio Mascota: la Bulera, 9.5 km al WSW de la Estancia, 900 m elev., 20°44.4833'N, 105°0.0333'W, bosque mesófilo de montaña, 2 Apr 2002, P. Carrillo R., E.M. Barba & M. Alcázar 3147 (IBUG, UAMIZ). Municipio Puerto Vallarta: 800 m de Peña Blanca, camino a Talpa de Allende , 1,360 m elev., 20°44.4767'N, 105°01.6467'W, bosque mesófilo de montaña con Magnolia , Clusia , Calophyllum , Chamaedorea , Chryosophila , Cecropia , Quercus , 22 Feb 1998, R. Ramírez D., F. Cupul, H. Hernández, J. Fonseca & F. Rodríguez Z. 5252 (IBUG); Ojo de Agua , 6 km al SE de Vallejo, 1,190 m elev., 20°31.337'N, 105°11.6212'W, bosque de encino con Quercus magnoliifolia , Brahea sarukhanii , Bejaria mexicana , 21 Jan 2013, A. Flores-Argüelles & R. Romero 652 (IBUG, ZEA). Municipio San Sebastian del Oeste : los Ojos de Agua , ca. 3.7 km en línea recta al SW de la Estancia de los Landeros, 1,280 m elev., 20°44.665'N, 104°55.9017'W, bosque de galería con Podocarpus , Hedyosmum , Saurauia , 24 Jul 2014, P. Carrillo R., D. Cabrera-Toledo, L.A. Ortega-Valencia & L.M. Valadez-Sandoval 7439 (IBUG). Municipio Talpa de Allende : steep mountains 11-12 miles south of Talpa de Allende , in the headwaters of a west branch of Rio de Talpa , 1,200 m elev., 20°14.5833'N, 104°46.7757'W, barranca above a rapid clear stream, in dense Forest of Quercus , Carpinus , Distylium , Magnolia , Podocarpus , with pine forest on the ridges above, 18-19 Oct 1960, R. McVaugh 20441 (MICH); brecha Talpa-La Cuesta, 1,400 m elev., bosque mesófilo de montaña, 29 Jul 1990, R. Ramírez D. & R.G. Tamayo 2139 (IBUG); 15 km al SW de Talpa, 5 km de Aranjuez, 2 km al NNE de la estación de microondas, 1,320 m elev., 20°18.05'N, 104°53.3'W, bosque de pino-encino con asociación de Pinus douglasiana , P. jaliscana , P. oocarpa , Quercus magnoliifolia , Q. elliptica , 16 Jul 2009, L.M. González-Villarreal, J.A. Pérez de la Rosa & G. Vargas 5180 (IBUG) .

Comments.

In herbarium specimens, Pitcairnia abscondita superficially resembles P. imbricata and/or P. wendlandii . However, the new taxon differs from these two species by the characters shown in Table 1 and Fig. 2 . In fact, the Jalisco material that McVaugh (1989) included in his Flora Novo-Galiciana as P. imbricata , actually belongs to the new species.

The flowers of Pitcairnia abscondita last only one night, opening between 7.30 and 9.30 pm and remain that way during the night, starting to close at 7.30 in the morning, being completely closed at 9.00 am, so they are likely associated with a pollination syndrome by moths or bats, different from P. imbricata which, due to its red floral bracts and yellow flowers of diurnal anthesis, is associated with an ornithophilic pollination syndrome ( Proctor et al. 1996).

As far as we know, the plants of P. abscondita are not used by the inhabitants of the region, so we think that the species has no immediate human pressure; however and due to the lack of detailed information about the precise distribution of the species, we suggest the inclusion of the new taxon in the Not Evaluated (NE) category of the IUCN (2020).

Figures

Figure 1. Pitcairnia abscondita Flores-Arg., Lopez-Ferr., Gonz. - Rocha & Espejo A habit B detail of the inflorescence C flower dissected D inflorescence E plant in the type locality (A. Flores-Argueelles et al. 1131). Photo credits: A. Espejo-Serna.

Figure 2. Flower dissected and detail of the inflorescence A, B Pitcairnia abscondita (A. Flores Argueelles et al. 1189) C, D P. imbricata (A. Espejo et al. 7271) E, F P. wendlandii (M. I. Mejia-Marin et al. 146). Photo credits: A. Espejo-Serna.

Figure 3. Known distribution of Pitcairnia abscondita, P. imbricata and P. wendlandii in Mexico.