Symplocos povedae Almeda (1982a: 320)

Kelly, Lawrence M., Almeda, Frank & Fritsch, Peter W., 2016, A taxonomic revision of Mexican and Central American Symplocos (Symplocaceae), Phytotaxa 264 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

22. Symplocos povedae Almeda (1982a: 320) . Type:— COSTA RICA. Heredia: among rocks at the margin of Río Patria, Monte de la Cruz , [10°04′N, 84°05′W], 30 October 1975, L. Poveda 1179 (holotype CAS!, isotypes CR!, F!, NY!)

Trees 5–6 m tall; juvenile branchlets and vegetative buds hirtellous to hirsute, trichomes 1–1.5 mm long, spreading, brownish. Petioles (0.6–) 1–2 cm long; leaf blades slightly bicolorous, elliptic to elliptic-ovate, (9–)13–25.5 × 3.5–9.6 cm, membranaceous to subcoriaceous, abaxially moderately hirsute or hirtellous, adaxially ± bullate, glabrous to sparsely hirtellous, secondary veins adaxially impressed, abaxially raised, base obtuse to rounded or truncate, margins serrate to serrulate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences sessile or subsessile fascicles 2–3.3 cm long, 1–5-flowered; peduncle absent; rachis 0–7 mm long, sericeous, trichomes 0.5–1 mm long; bracts persistent, lanceolate, 2–6 × 1.5–2.5 mm, sericeous, margins ciliate and with brown vesicular glands; bracteoles persistent, 6–15, lanceolate, 2–4 × 1.5–2 mm, sericeous, margins ciliate and with brown vesicular glands; pedicels 0–7 mm long. Hypanthium glabrous. Calyx lobes 5, lanceolate, 5–8 × 2–3 mm, densely sericeous, margins ciliate, usually glandular. Corolla pink, 10-lobed, 2–2.7 cm long; tube 6–8 mm long; lobes adnate to filament tube for 12–14 mm, linear-oblong, glabrous. Stamens multiseriate; filament tube 16–19 mm long; distinct portions of filaments 3–4 × 1–1.5 mm. Disk densely setose; style 19–20 mm long, sparsely pubescent basally; stigma conspicuously and

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irregularly lobed. Fruits green maturing to grayish blue or purple, narrowly ellipsoid, 2.2–2.9 × 0.8–0.9 cm, glabrous, apex constricted and rostrate, with beak formed by fruit body and erect calyx lobes; disk convex, enclosed by calyx lobes; disk narrowly conical, apex partly visible, surpassed by calyx lobes; endocarp 3-locular, perimeter 3-fluted.

Vernacular name —None.

Illustration — Almeda (1982a: 321).

Photographic image — Figure 1h .

Phenology —Flowering October through December; fruiting July, August, and October.

Distribution and habitat — Costa Rica (Alajuela, Guanacaste, and Puntarenas provinces), in cloud forests at 1200–1700 m elev. Figure 22 .

Conservation status —This Costa Rican endemic is known from ten collections representing about four or five populations. Largely centered on the Cordillera de Tilarán, it is afforded protection in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and the Children’s Eternal Rain Forest. Two other outlying populations are known from Rincón de la Vieja National Park and Monte de la Cruz southwest of and outside of Braulio Carrillo National Park. The EOO is 1615 km ² and the AOO is 40 km ². The species is rare at all of its known localities and evidently represented by few individuals at any one site, as judged from several attempts to locate it. Based on these data, we assign a classification of Endangered (EN): B1ab(v).

Discussion — Symplocos povedae is easily distinguished from other species in Mexico and Central America by its large serrate leaves that are conspicuously bullate above and hirtellous on the prominently elevated network of secondary veins below, as well as the combination of large flowers, consistently 10-lobed corolla, and rostrate fruits with a fluted endocarp.

Additional specimens examined — COSTA RICA. Alajuela: Reserva Biológica Monteverde, Río Peñas Blancas, Rancho Escondido hasta San Gerardo , 1400–1700 m, 10°20′N, 84°43′W, 20 November 1988, Bello C. 551 (CAS!, MEXU!, MO!) ; Cantón de San Ramón, Reserva Biológica Monteverde, Cordillera de Tilarán , Sendero Caño Negro , 1600–1700 m, 10°21′20″N, 84°49′50″W, 18 November 1994, Fuentes 785 ( MO!) ; Reserva Biológica Alberto M. Brenes , 1320 m, 10°13′N, 84°36′W, 25 August 2000, Homeier & Mora 497 (BIEL!, CAS!, INB!, USJ!) . Alajuela-Puntarenas-Guanacaste border: Cordillera de Tilarán , 1550–1580 m, [10°18′N, 84°48′W], 7 October 1976, Dryer 831 (CR!, F!) . Alajuela-Puntarenas border: on and near the continental divide ca. 2–5 km E and SE of Monteverde, 1550 m, 10°18′N, 84°46′W, 5 October 1978, Lawton 1343 (F!) . Guanacaste: Parque Rincón de La Vieja, Liberia, Cabeceras de Quebrada Rancho Grande , bosque circundante a Meseta Aguacatales , 1350–1400 m, 10°46′N, 85°49′W, [10°46′N, 85°19′W], 2 December 1987, Herrera 1479 (CAS!, MEXU!, MO!) . Puntarenas: Monteverde, upper San Luis Valley on Pacific slope, 1200 m, 84°50′N, 10°20′W, 20 October 1985, Bello C. 3098 (CAS!, MO!) ; Monteverde, Veracruz River valley S of reserve, Pacific slope, 1300–1500 m, 10°15′N, 84°86′W, [10°15′N, 84°47′W], 22 August 1986, Bello C. & Clagget 5324 ( MO!) ; Monteverde , reserve cliff edge, 1550 m, [10°16′48″N, 84°46′48″W], 14 October 1978, Haber 214 ( MO!) ; Reserva Biológica Monteverde, rd to divide, swamp on continental divide (Sendero Pantanoso) and Sendero Chomogo , 1500–1600 m, 110°18′N, 84°47′W, 6 July 1990, Haber & Zuchowski 10032 (CAS!, MEXU!, MO!) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Flowers of some species of Mexican and Central American Symplocos. a. S. longipes (photograph by Victor Steinman). b. S. austromexicana. c. S. breedlovei. d. S. coccinea. e. S. costaricana (photograph by Daniel Solano). f. S. hartwegii. g. S. nigridentata. h. S. povedae.

FIGURE 22. Geographic distribution of Symplocos morii and S. povedae.