Capsicum pereirae Barboza & Bianch., Syst. Bot. 30(4): 863. 2005.

Barboza, Gloria E., Garcia, Carolina Carrizo, Bianchetti, Luciano de Bem, Romero, Maria V. & Scaldaferro, Marisel, 2022, Monograph of wild and cultivated chili peppers (Capsicum L., Solanaceae), PhytoKeys 200, pp. 1-423 : 1

34. Capsicum pereirae Barboza & Bianch., Syst. Bot. 30(4): 863. 2005.

Figs 98 , 99

Type.

Brazil. Espírito Santo: Mun. Castelo, Castelo-Forno Grande , 6 Dec 1956, E. Pereira 2245 (holotype: CORD (CORD00006630); isotypes: CORD [CORD00006631, CORD00006632], HB [acc. # 7060], RB [RB00722054, acc. # 96194]) .

Description.

Erect shrubs (0.5-) 0.8-3 (-8?) m tall, the branches slender and horizontal in a typical “zig-zag” appearance. Young stems slightly angled, fragile, green, white mottled, glabrous; nodes solid, purple; bark of older stems brown, glabrous; lenticels absent. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate; leaf pair unequal in size, similar in shape. Leaves coriaceous, discolorous, bright dark green above, opaque light green beneath, glabrous on both surfaces, with the abaxial nerves white mottled; blades of major leaves (6.1-) 9-15 (-20) cm long, 2-4 (-7) cm wide, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, the major veins (7-) 8-12 on each side of mid-vein, the base asymmetric, short-attenuate or attenuate, the margin entire, the apex acute to acuminate; petioles 0.5-1 (-1.5) cm, glabrous; blades of minor leaves 2.5-3 (-5.4) cm long, 0.75-1.5 cm wide, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, the major veins 4-7 on each side of mid-vein, the base short-attenuate, the margin entire, the apex acute; petioles 0.3-0.5 cm, glabrous. Inflorescences axillary, 2-6 flowers per axil, rarely flowers solitary; flowering pedicels 15-30 mm long, slightly striate, pendent, sometimes curved, non-geniculate at anthesis, green or green-purple, glabrous; pedicels scars inconspicuous. Buds subglobose, white with green or greenish-yellow spots at the base. Flowers 5-merous. Calyx 1.5-2 (-3) mm, (2.5-) 3-3.2 mm wide, cup-shaped, circular or pentagonal in outline, thin and translucent, green or light green, glabrescent, with short eglandular trichomes on the margin, the calyx appendages absent or five, minute, less than 0.5 mm. Corolla 9-10 mm long, 8-19 mm in diameter, entirely white or white with greenish-yellow spots outside, white with purple and greenish-yellow pigmentation in the lobes and throat and a cream centre within, stellate with interpetalar membrane, lobed nearly halfway to the base, the tube ca. 4 mm long, with a continuous ring of small glandular trichomes (stalk long, 1-2-celled; head globose, peltate unicellular) adaxially, glabrous abaxially, the lobes 5-6 mm long, 4.5-5 (-6) mm wide, broadly triangular, spreading, glabrous adaxially and abaxially, the margins involute and papillate, the tips strongly cucullate, densely papillate. Stamens five, equal; filaments 3-4 (-5) mm long, equal, cream, inserted on the corolla ca. 1 mm from the base, with auricles fused to the corolla at the point of insertion; anthers 1.8-2.1 (-3) mm, ellipsoid, dark green or greyish, not connivent at anthesis. Gynoecium with ovary ca. 1.5 mm long, ca. 1.2 mm in diameter, light green, subconic; ovules more than two per locule; nectary ca. 0.3 mm tall; styles homomorphic, (3.7-) 4-6 (-7) mm long, barely exserted beyond the anthers, cream, clavate, slightly curved; stigma 0.2-0.3 mm long, ca. 0.7 mm wide, discoid, somewhat bilobulate, light green. Berry (6-) 8-10 mm in diameter, globose, hardly depressed, green when immature, greenish-golden yellow at maturity, deciduous, pungent, the pericarp thin, translucent, with giant cells (endocarp alveolate); stone cells absent; fruiting pedicels (20-) 23-28 (-35) mm, slightly angled, pendent, slightly widened distally, green; fruiting calyx 5-6 mm in diameter, persistent, not accrescent, discoid, green. Seeds (3-) 5-20 per fruit, 3-3.7 mm long, 2.5-3.4 mm wide, subglobose or teardrop-shaped, brownish-black to black, the seed coat reticulate and tuberculate at margins (SM), reticulate with pillar-like outgrowths at margins (SEM), the cells irregular in shape, the lateral walls sinuate, straight to the hilum; embryo imbricate.

Distribution.

Capsicum pereirae is endemic to north- and south-eastern Brazil ( Bahía, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais and São Paulo States) (Fig. 100 ).

Ecology.

Capsicum pereirae inhabits the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica), mainly in the Dense Ombrophilous Forest (Floresta Ombrófila Densa), between 500 and 1,650 m elevation. It is found in marginal or interior forests or in aquatic depressions usually in shady places. In the Parque Estadual do Ibitipoca (Minas Gerais), the species is found close to wet caves in the Nanofloresta Nebular (Mata de Grota) formation.

Phenology.

Flowering from late October to March. Fruiting from February to May.

Chromosome number.

n = 13 ( Pozzobon and Schifino-Wittmann 2006); 2 n = 2x = 26 ( Pozzobon et al. 2006, as Capsicum sp 7; Moscone et al. 2007).

Common names.

None recorded.

Uses.

None recorded.

Preliminary conservation assessment.

EOO (271,639.782 km2); AOO (92 km2). Capsicum pereirae has a relatively large extent of occurrence and is found in more than 10 localities, the majority of them in protected areas (Bahia: RPPN Palmeira, PN de Boa Nova; Espírito Santo: Estação Biológica de Santa Lúcia; Mina Gerais: APA Felício, Parque Estadual do Ibitipoca and RPPN Loredano Aleixo). For these reasons, we assign the preliminary LC category. However, subpopulations outside conservation areas within the Atlantic Forest may be threatened.

Discussion.

Capsicum pereirae belongs to the Atlantic Forest clade ( Carrizo García et al. 2016) and is a member of the group of species with white corollas tinged with purple and greenish-yellow spots within (Fig. 99D, E ), also growing in eastern Brazil (e.g. C. mirabile , C. schottianum , C. hunzikerianum ). In some specimens from the Parque Estadual do Ibitipoca, anthocyanin pigmentation of the corolla is paler (Fig. 99D ) or, more rarely, the purple spots are lacking completely (Fig. 99F ), a peculiarity also observed in C. schottianum and C. mirabile.

Capsicum pereirae also shares with C. schottianum the absence of evident calyx appendages, but the two species can be distinguished by general pubescence (plants glabrous in C. pereirae vs. plants glabrescent to pubescent in C. schottianum ), consistency of the leaves (coriaceous vs. membranous) and geniculation of the flowering pedicels (non-geniculate vs. geniculate). Stems and leaves of C. pereirae are glabrous like C. hunzikerianum from which it can be differentiated by the lack of appendages in the calyx, the smaller flowers and the shorter fruiting pedicels. The presence of membranous leaves and calyx with five conspicuous appendages distinguish C. mirabile (Figs 88 , 89 ) from C. pereirae with its coriaceous leaves and lack of appendages.

Specimens examined.

See Suppl. material 4: Appendix 4.

Figures

Figure 88. Capsicum mirabile A flowering branch B, C major and minor leaf D flower bud E flower, in lateral view F, G flowers, upper views H sector of opened corolla I gynoecium J fruit K fruit, in cross section L seed. From Hunziker 1956 2. Drawn by L. Sanchez.

Figure 89. Capsicum mirabile A plant B flower buds on geniculate pedicels C flower, in pre-anthesis D flower, seen from behind E, H flowers, in front view, showing corollas with different colouration F flower, in full anthesis G flower, seen from behind I immature fruits J mature fruit A, B, D-J from Barboza & Deanna 5024 C from Bianchetti & Bustamante 1518 A, B, D-H photos by G. E. Barboza C photo by L. Bianchetti I, J photos by R. Deanna.

Figure 98. Capsicum pereirae A flowering branch B leaf C flower bud D flower E calyx F eglandular trichome of the calyx G opened corolla H gynoecium I fruiting branch J fruit, in cross section K anatomical detail of the pericarp (note the giant cells in the mesocarp) L seed M seed, in cross section N embryo A-J, L-N from Pereira 2245 K from Hunziker 25248. Drawn by N. de Flury. Published in Barboza and Bianchetti (2005), reproduced with permission.

Figure 99. Capsicum pereirae A flowering branch B young branch showing lanceolate leaves and buds on pendent pedicels C flower showing mutic calyx D, E flowers, in front view, with different patterns of purple colouration F flower without purple spots A, B, E from Bianchetti et al. 1558 F from Bianchetti et al. 1567, photos by L. Bianchetti C, D no specimen vouchers, photos taken in situ by C. dal Zovo (Associazione PepperFriends). Modified from Barboza and Bianchetti (2005), reproduced with permission.

Figure 100. Distribution of C. pereirae and C. piuranum.