Vriesea bifida Leme & L. Kollmann, 2014

Leme, Elton M. C., Till, Walter, Kollmann, Ludovic J. C., De Moura, Ricardo L. & Ribeiro, Otávio B. C., 2014, Miscellaneous New Species of Brazilian Bromeliaceae, Phytotaxa 177 (2), pp. 61-100 : 89-92

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/phytotaxa.177.2.1

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/8A079E11-FFF0-0924-FF58-FC1FFC63CA60

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Vriesea bifida Leme & L. Kollmann
status

sp. nov.

Vriesea bifida Leme & L. Kollmann View in CoL , sp. nov. ( Figs. 18 View FIGURE 18 , 20 A–E View FIGURE 20 )

This new species differs from Vriesea appariciana , its closest relative, by the cinereous leaf blades (vs. grayish-green), the longer inflorescence (ca. 25 cm vs. 12–20 cm), which is laxly flowered at anthesis (vs. densely flowered), the obtuse floral bracts (vs. acute) and the bifid and caudate petals appendages (vs. irregularly long-dentate).

Type –– BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: Água Doce do Norte, near the city, Morro da Torre , 616 m elevation, 18° 34’ 17” S, 40° 59’ 10” W, 27 May 2008, E GoogleMaps . Leme 7368, L . Kollmann , A . Fontana , M . Zanoni & O . Ribeiro (holotype RB!) GoogleMaps .

Plants rupicolous, flowering ca. 65 cm tall. Leaves ca. 17 in number, rosulate, coriaceous, forming a funnelform rosette; sheaths obovate, 10.5–12 × 7–7.5 cm, densely and minutely brown lepidote on both sides, castaneous, nerved when dry; blades narrowly triangular, acuminate-caudate, canaliculate toward the base and nearly flat toward the apex, 15–16 cm long, 4–4.3 cm wide at the base, completely covered on both sides with a dense layer of cinereous trichomes obscuring the color of the blades, margins ca. 1 mm thick. Peduncle suberect, ca. 36 cm long, 0.5–0.7 cm in diameter, green to dark purplish, glabrous, not sulcate at anthesis; peduncle bracts the basal ones subfoliaceous, the upper ones ovate, acute, 3–3.5 × 2.3 cm, erect, exceeding to equaling the internodes, abaxially densely and coarsely white lepidote toward the apex and soon drying, strongly nervate-sulcate at anthesis, castaneous toward the base, stramineous toward the apex. Inflorescence simple, suberect, linear in outline at anthesis, ca. 25 × 2.5 cm, ca. 9-flowered, apex acute before and at anthesis; main axis smooth at anthesis, green to dark purple, glabrous, obtusely if at all angled, nearly straight, internodes 2–3 × 0.5–0.7 cm; floral bracts orbicular, obtuse, 25–30 × 25–30 mm, abaxially white lepidote at the apex to glabrous, adaxially inconspicuously brown lepidote, ecarinate, not imbricate and secund with the flowers before and at anthesis, coriaceous, lustrous toward the base, stramineous and strongly and coarsely corrugate-sulcate at anthesis, base weekly truncate, about reaching 3/5 of the sepal length. Flowers 4–4.5 cm long, nocturnal, with a garlic odor, distichous, laxly disposed and distinctly secund at anthesis; pedicel ca. 8 mm long, ca. 8 mm in diameter at distal end, stout, green, glabrous; sepals elliptic, obtuse-emarginate, 21 × 13–14 mm, green except for the wine colored apex, abaxially glabrous, adaxially inconspicuously and minutely lepidote, ecarinate, thick coriaceous near the base, apical margins membranaceous; petals obovate, apex broadly rounded and emarginate, recurved near the apex at anthesis, 34–36 × 20 mm, greenish, thicker toward the base, bearing 2 appendages at the base; appendages 9 × 2.5–3 mm, basally adnate to the petals for 3–4 mm, apex bifid-caudate; corolla ca. 30 mm in diameter; filaments free, 22–23 × 1–1.5 mm; anthers ca. 8 mm long, dorsifixed near the base, base bilobed, apex obtuse, three of them disposed on each lateral side of the corolla at anthesis; stigma tubo-laciniate, long digitate-laciniate at the margins, ca. 2 mm in diameter, greenish-white; ovules shortly caudate. Capsules unknown.

Distribution and habitat:–– Vriesea bifida is a rupicole, living on bare, nearly vertical granitic surfaces of inselbergs located in the county of Água Doce do Norte, Espírito Santo state, near the border with Minas Gerais. At the type locality, the heliophytic plants are scattered and form a small to medium-sized population.

According to the available information on V. bifida and using the criteria “B1a” and “B2a” adopted by IUCN (2010), this species can be considered critically endangered.

Etymology:––The name of this new species refers to the apex of the petal appendages which is distinctly bifidcaudate, an unusual characteristic useful in the identification of this taxon.

Observations:––This new species is a member of a species complex of tillandsioids which is endemic to Brazil and has an exclusive rupicolous habit. It is closely related to V. appariciana Pereira & Reitz ( Pereira 1974: 441) , differing from it by the cinereous leaf blades (vs. grayish-green), the longer inflorescence (ca. 25 cm vs. 12–20 cm long), which is laxly flowered at anthesis (vs. densely flowered), obtuse floral bracts (vs. acute) and the basal petal appendages with an unusual bifid-caudate apex (vs. irregularly long-dentate).

E

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

L

Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Leiden University branch

A

Harvard University - Arnold Arboretum

M

Botanische Staatssammlung München

O

Botanical Museum - University of Oslo

RB

Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Liliopsida

Order

Poales

Family

Bromeliaceae

Genus

Vriesea

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