Billbergia matogrossensis Leme, 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 : 78-81

Billbergia matogrossensis Leme , sp. nov. ( Figs. 11 , 12 A–E )

This new species differs from Billbergia robert-readii , the closest relative, by the castaneous floccose lepidote peduncle (vs. white floccose), shorter flowers (45–50 mm vs. 50–60), erect sepals (vs. suberect to recurved), green petals (vs. greenish-castaneous or purplish-castaneous), stamens straight at anthesis (vs. upwardly curved at anthesis), distinctly shorter anthers (ca. 7 mm vs. ca. 15 mm long), green stigma blades (vs. purple) and the castaneous sublanate ovary (vs. white lepidote).

Type: –– BRAZIL. Mato Grosso: Brasnorte , ca. 50 km from Brasnorte on MT 170 toward Campo Novo do Parecis , near Fazenda Agropecuária do Crivari , 416 m elevation, 12º 35’ 32” S, 58º 00’ 58” W, 11 July 2007, W . Kranz 209, fl.cult. E . Leme 7141 (holotype RB!) .

Plants epiphytic, propagating by short basal shoots, flowering ca. 70 cm tall including inflorescence (when extended). Leaves ca. 12 in number, arcuate, thick coriaceous mainly toward the base, the base of the rosette narrow subtubular; sheaths ovate, 4–9 × 3.5–5 cm, densely and coarsely pale castaneous lepidote mainly toward the base, white lepidote near the apex, green toward the apex; blades sublinear, attenuate, 60–130 × 2.5–3.5 cm (the outermost leaves much reduced in length), not narrowed at the base, green, subdensely to densely white lepidote, trichomes forming irregular white crossbands abaxially, apex acuminate-caudate, margins densely spinose mainly toward the base to sometimes laxly spinose near the apex; spines triangular, dark green, prevailingly antrorse, 0.5–2 mm long, 2–10 mm apart. Peduncle ca. 44 cm long, 0.6–0.7 cm in diameter, densely and coarsely pale castaneous floccose, wine-purple but the color obscured by the trichomes, strongly curved and bent over; peduncle bracts narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, more or less equally distributed, distinctly exceeding the internodes but not covering the peduncle, 10–13 × 2 cm, densely whitish lepidote abaxially, sparsely whitish lepidote adaxially, stramineous at anthesis, nerved, margins entire. Inflorescence simple, pendulous, ca. 20 cm long, subdensely flowered, shorter than the leaves; main axis stout, 0.7–0.8 cm in diameter, straight, densely and coarsely pale castaneous floccose, the green color obscured by the trichomes; floral bracts narrowly triangular-lanceolate, 7–18 × 2–4 mm, stramineous, nerved, lepidote, entire, the basal slightly exceeding to equaling the ovary, the upper ones distinctly shorter than the ovary, submembranaceous. Flowers ca. 35 in number, 4.5–5 cm long including the stamens, sessile, polystichously arranged, subspreading at anthesis, odorless; sepals subequal, free, erect, triangular, slightly asymmetrical, entire, thin in texture, 10–14 × 6–7 mm, apex acuminate, green at the base and stramineous toward the apex but the color obscured by the dense layer of castaneous trichomes; petals narrowly lingulate-lanceolate, apex acuminate or often bifid, 35–37 × 6 mm, free, helicoid-recurved at anthesis, green, sparsely and inconspicuously white lepidote mainly toward the base abaxially, with glandulose trichomes, without lateral callosities, bearing 2 appendages at the base of 1–1.5 × 1 mm with truncate and minutely denticulate apex; stamens nearly fully exposed at anthesis; filaments greenish, free; anthers linear, ca. 7 mm long, base obtuse, apex apiculate, dorsifixed near the base; pollen subglobose, ca. 65 µm long, sulcate, sulcus with indistinct margins, exine psilate to perforate; stigma conduplicate, slightly spiral, erect, green, blades ca. 6 mm long, margins crenulate and sparsely papillose; ovary broadly ovoid, slightly turbinate at the distal end, 11–12 × 7–8 mm, densely castaneous sublanate with its green color completely obscured by the trichomes, deeply and irregularly sulcate; epigynous tube ca. 2 mm long, ca. 3.5 mm in diameter; placentation median; ovules nearly globose and obtuse. Fruits unknown.

Distribution and habitat:–– Billbergia matogrossensis was found growing as an epiphyte in Cerrado vegetation in the state of Mato Grosso, central Brazil, from a small population.

The information on B. matogrossensis is inadequate to make a direct or indirect assessment of its risk of extinction based on its known distribution and/or population status, being considered here a data-deficient species ( IUCN 2010).

Etymology:––The name of this new species is a reference to the state of Mato Grosso, Central Brazil, where it was collected.

Observations:––This new species is closely related to the Peruvian B. robert-readii Gross & Rauh (1987: 57) , differing by the castaneous floccose peduncle (vs. white floccose), shorter flowers (45–50 mm vs. 50–60), erect sepals (vs. suberect to recurved), green petals (vs. greenish-castaneous or purplish-castaneous), stamens straight at anthesis (vs. upwardly curved at anthesis), distinctly shorter anthers (ca. 7 mm vs. ca. 15 mm long), green stigma blades (vs. purple) and the castaneous sublanate ovary (vs. white lepidote). Billbergia robert-readii was originally collected in a rainforest area at 600–700 m elevation, near Quince Mil, Peru, about 1,400 km directly east of the type locality for B. matogrossensis , a lower elevated (ca. 400 m elevation) Cerrado vegetation.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Billbergia matogrossensis (Kranz 209). A. Inflorescence. B. Details of the corolla and stamens. C. General view of Cerrado vegetation at type locality. D. Median portion of the inflorescence showing rachis and flowers.

FIGURE 12. A–E. Billbergia matogrossensis (Kranz 209). A. Apex of the leaf. B. Basal segment of the leaf blade. C. Flower. D. Sepal. E. Petal with two basal appendages and a stamen. F–K. Bromelia amplifolia (Leme 5314 et al.). F. Median segment of the leaf blade. G. Flower. H. Floral bracts. I. Sepals. J. Petal and stamens. K. Cross-section of the ovary and style.