Cremastosperma awaense Pirie

Pirie, Michael D., Chatrou, Lars W. & Maas, Paul J. M., 2018, A taxonomic revision of the Neotropical genus Cremastosperma (Annonaceae), including five new species, PhytoKeys 112, pp. 1-141 : 1

3. Cremastosperma awaense Pirie Fig. 10 , Map 3

Cremastosperma awaense Pirie, Blumea 50: 45, f. 2. 2005.

Type.

ECUADOR. Carchi: Maldonado, parish of Tobar Donoso, Ethnic Reserve Awá, Sabalera, 900 m a.s.l., 22 Nov 1992, Aulestia, C. 842 (holotype: QCNE! [QCNE87829]; isotypes: MO! [MO-1609731], U! [U0012222]), US! [US00901537].

Description.

Tree 4-15(-20) m tall, 8-25 cm diam.; young twigs and petioles sparsely to rather densely covered with appressed golden hairs to 0.3 mm long. Leaves: petioles 4 –11(– 15) by 1.5-3 mm; lamina elliptic to slightly obovate or narrowly so, 17-33 by 5.5-13 cm (index 2.2-3.6), chartaceous, brown/grey green above, darker below, veins on underside dark brown, glabrous above, veins sparsely to rather densely covered with appressed golden hairs to 0.3 mm long below, base obtuse to acute, apex acuminate (acumen 10-20 mm long), primary vein 1-3 mm wide at widest point, secondary veins 7-11, intersecondary veins occasional, distance between from 10 mm at the base to up to 60 mm closer to the apex, angles with primary vein from 45-50° at the base to 55-60° closer to the apex, forming loops in the apical half, smallest distance between loops and margin 1-3 mm, tertiary veins slightly reticulate. Inflorescence of single, solitary flowers, axillary on leafy or leafless twigs; peduncles ca. 1.5 by 1 mm (in flower), 1.5-3 by 1-2 mm (in fruit); pedicels 27-28 by ca. 1 mm (in flower), 35-60 by 1-2 mm (in fruit), peduncles and pedicels rather densely to densely covered with appressed golden hairs to 0.3 mm long; single lower bract, broadly elliptic, 1-2 by 1-1.5 mm, obtuse, soon falling off, outer side densely covered with appressed golden hairs to 0.3 mm long; upper bract attached around midway along the pedicel, broadly elliptic, 1-2.5 by 1-2 mm, obtuse, rather densely to densely covered with appressed golden hairs to 0.3 mm long; closed flower buds depressed ovoid; flowers green or cream in vivo, blackish in sicco; sepals free, deltate, reflexed (appressed in bud), 2-2.5 by 2-2.5 mm, obtuse, soon falling off, outer side rather densely to densely covered with appressed golden hairs to 0.3 mm long; outer petals elliptic to broadly elliptic, 10-15 by 8-9 mm, inner petals elliptic, 10-15 by 5-6 mm, sparsely to rather densely covered with appressed golden hairs to 0.2 mm long on the outer side, denser at the base and in a band leading from the base to the apex of the petals; stamens 1-1.5 mm long, connective appendage ca. 1 mm wide; gynoecium ca. 2 mm diam., carpels 30-40, 1-2 mm long, sparsely covered with golden, <0.1 mm long hairs. Monocarps 10 –12(– 20), ellipsoid, slightly asymmetrical, 22-28 by 12-17 mm, brown in sicco, with an excentric apicule or rarely a nipple-like protuberance; stipes 11-24 by 1-1.5 mm; fruiting receptacle depressed ovoid, 3.5-8 mm diam. monocarps, stipes and receptacle very sparsely to sparsely covered with appressed white hairs <0.1 mm long. Seeds ellipsoid, asymmetrical, yellow-orange with shallow pits, ca. 19 by 11 mm, raphe sunken, regular.

Distribution.

Pacific coast of Colombia ( Chocó, Nariño) and Ecuador (Carchi, Esmeraldas).

Habitat and ecology.

Primary humid to premontane tropical forest. At elevations of 0-2000 m. Flowering: January, September and November; fruiting: January, February and June to September.

Vernacular names.

Colombia: Guasca negra ( Romero-Castañeda 3369). Ecuador: Cargadera negra (Tipaz et al. 1718), Castaña negro (Aulestia, C. et al. 1842), Huasca negra (Quelal et al. 191), Teuug teiug (Tipaz et al. 1428).

Note.

Cremastosperma awaense can be distinguished by the unique pattern of indument on the outer sides of the petals; denser at base and in a line leading to the petal apex. The sparse indument of very short (<0.1mm) hairs on the monocarps and stipes are not visible without magnification and the fruits appear glabrous. This character is also exhibited by some specimens of C. westrae . C. awaense can easily be distinguished from both C. westrae and the geographically closer C. stenophyllum Pirie on the basis of the length of the pedicel. The pedicels of C. westrae are shorter (not exceeding 17 mm) and those of C. stenophyllum longer (ca. 45 mm in comparison to 27-28 mm in flower).

Preliminary conservation status.

Although the species is distributed across a moderately wide area (EOO>20,000), C. awaense is rather rarely collected (AOO <500 km2) and half of the specimens known to us are from within just one ethnic reserve in Ecuador which reportedly does not confer protected status to the biota. Decline in non-protected areas may lead to a considerable reduction in EOO and hence we assign the category Near Threatened [NT] (Table 1 ).

Selected specimens examined.

COLOMBIA. Chocó: Termales, between Jobi and Arusi, 5°37'N, 77°25'W, 5-50 m a.s.l., 31 Jan 1995, Betancur et al. 6043 (COL, HUA, U, US). ECUADOR. Carchi: Reserva Etnica Awá-Camumbí, 0°53'N, 78°16'W, 1700-1900 m a.s.l., 20 Jul 1991, Quelal et al. 191 (U); Tulcán, 0°53'N, 78°20'W, 1600 m a.s.l., 20 Sep 1991, Rubio et al. 2181 (MO); Reserva Etnica Awá, sector Sabalera, 1°00'N, 78°24'W, 650-1000 m a.s.l., 19 Jun 1992, Tipaz et al. 1428 (U); Reserva Etnica Awá, 0°53'N, 78°25'W, 1800 m a.s.l., 17 Aug 1992, Tipaz et al. 1718 (U); Lita-Alto Tambo Road, ca. 20 km past Lita, 0°55'N, 78°30'W, 550 m a.s.l., 26 Jun 1991, Van der Werff et al. 12045 (QCNE, U). Esmeraldas: Reserva Etnica Awá, 1°08'N, 78°33'W, 200 m a.s.l., 21 Sep 1992, C. Aulestia et al. 637 (U); Bravito, 0°35'N, 79°02'W, 600 m a.s.l., 9 Sep 1998, X. Cornejo & Bonifaz 6451 (U); Lita-San Lorenzo road, 1°05'N, 78°40'W, 300-500 m a.s.l., 12 May 1990, Gentry et al. 70042 (U); Eloy Elfaro, 0°49'N, 78°45'W, 250 m a.s.l., 23 Oct 1993, Tirado et al. 591 (MO, US); Río Santiago, 0°49'S, 78°54'W, 200 m a.s.l., 17 Jul 1994, Tirado et al. 1083 (U).

Figures

Map 3. Distribution of Cremastosperma awaense Pirie, C. dolichocarpum Pirie, C. magdalenae Pirie, C. napoense Pirie, C. pacificum R. E. Fr. and C. westrae Pirie

Figure 10. Cremastosperma awaense Pirie. a flower b leaf and fruit (a Aulestia 842 b Van der Werff 12045).