Piper mituense Trel. & Yunck.

Trujillo, William, Jaramillo, M. Alejandra, Toro, Diego & Balslev, Henrik, 2023, Over- and under-described: new species, new synonyms, and a new name in the megadiverse genus Piper (Piperaceae) on the east Andean slopes, Phytotaxa 601 (3), pp. 263-284 : 280

Piper mituense Trel. & Yunck. The Piperaceae of northern South America 1: 382. 1950.

Type:— COLOMBIA: Vaupés , Mitú, 200 m, 14 September 1939, E. Pérez Arbeláez & J. Cuatrecasas 6810 A (holotype US!) .

= Piper metanum var. villibracteum Trel. & Yunck. The Piperaceae of northern South America 1: 343. 1950. Type :— COLOMBIA: Meta, Mitú , at Vaupés boundary, 200 m, 14 September 1939, E. Pérez-Arbeláez & J. Cuatrecasas 6810 (holotype US!). syn. nov.

Comments:— Piper mituense Trel. & Yunck. (1950: 382) was described from the collection E. Pérez Arbelaez and J. Cuatrecasas 6810 and P. metanum var. villibracteum Trel. & Yunck. (1950: 343) was described from E. Pérez-Arbelaez and J. Cuatrecasas 6810A. The two collections were made at the same locality and on the same day. The protologue of P. mituense highlighted: “the villous twigs, pinnately nerved, oblong-elliptic leaves, and short spikes with substylose ovaries characterize this species”, while for P. metanum var. villibracteum the authors note: “Differs from the species in having somewhat less pubescent twigs, slightly thicker leaves, and with the floral bracts rounded and densely long-fringed”. In addition, P. metanum is remarkably different from the variety because it has spikes 4–6 cm long and erect (vs. spikes 1–1.8 cm long and pendulous). The protologues do not recognize the similarity between the two taxa discussed here. After a detailed examination, we conclude that there are no notable morphological differences that allow considering the two specimens as belonging to different species, for which reason we propose to synonymize the variety P. metanum var. villibracteum under the species P. mituense , giving priority to the species name.

Distribution and habitat:— Piper mituense is distributed in the Amazon of Colombia and Ecuador, at elevations below 500 m. It is a shade-loving species growing in the understory.

Additional specimens examined:— COLOMBIA: Caquetá, Albania, trail to Florida 1, El Porvenir farm, 13 March 2010, W. Trujillo et al. 1358 ( HUAZ!). Florencia, trail to Sebastopol, 5 September 2010, L. Zúñiga 02 ( HUAZ!); Center Macagual, Monitoreo research station, 30 June 2008, M. Correa et al. 6648 ( HUAZ!); San Martin, trail to El Venado, Macagual Research Center of Universidad de la Amazonia , 246 m, 01°29’59.3”N, 75°39’21.9”W, 30 September 2011, M. Correa 7120 ( HUAZ!). Milán: Bombay, La Juansoco canyon, 230 m, 1°13’54.9”N, 75°29’30.3”W, 18 September 2007, W. Trujillo et al. 713 ( HUAZ!, COAH!) . ECUADOR: Napo, Añangu, south bank of Río Napo 95 km downstream from Coca , 246 m, 0°32’S, 76°23’W, 4 July 1985, H. Balslev et al. 60620 ( AAU!) .