Hirtella recurva (Spruce ex Prance) Sothers & Prance, 2014

Sothers, Cynthia, Prance, Ghillean T., Buerki, Sven, Kok, Rogier De & Chase, Mark W., 2014, Taxonomic novelties in Neotropical Chrysobalanaceae: towards a monophyletic Couepia, Phytotaxa 172 (2), pp. 176-200 : 192

Hirtella recurva (Spruce ex Prance) Sothers & Prance , comb. nov.

Basionym : Couepia recurva Spruce ex Prance (1972a: 242) . Type :— ECUADOR. ‘ In Andibus Ecuadoriensis’, October 1857, Spruce 5067 (holotype NY!, isotypes BM!, CGE!, G!, K!, LE, OXF!, W!) .

Fruit fleshy, 2.5 × 1.2 mm, with a rugose and glabrescent surface. Mature fruit black. Fig. 13 .

Illustrations:— Prance (1972a: 243, 1979: 13); Prance & Sothers (2003b: 38).

Distribution and habitat: — Ecuador and Peru. Hirtella recurva is an Andean primary tropical forest species of higher elevations, found from 1300 to 1930 m.

Conservation status: —This species is here assessed as VU D1+2 ( IUCN 2001); Hirtella recurva is restricted to high altitudes and is only known from a few localities. It is also currently cited as vulnerable, VU D2 ( Romero-Saltos & Pitman 2004), and although cited as endemic to Ecuador it has now been collected in Peru (Campos & Nuñez 4605).

Selected specimens examined: — ECUADOR. Tungurahua: La Victoria, valley of Río Pastaza, 1 December 1939, Asplund 10055 ( NY!, S!) . Napo: El Charo Cantón, Río Quijos, at Coca Hydroelectric Project , 3–5 October 1990, Palacios 5956 ( K!, MO!, NY!, QCNE). Prov . Zamora-Chinchipe: Zamora, P. N. Podocarpus, Guardería Río Bombuscaro , January 1995, Palacios & Tirado 13264 ( K!, MO!, QCNE), January 1995, Palacios & Tirado 13304 ( K!, MO!, NY!, QCNE). Prov . Zamora-Chinchipe: Res. San Francisco , road Loja-Zamora, ca. 35 km from Loja, 2 September 2003, Homeier 1245 ( GOET!, K!, LOJA, MO, QCNE) [first record of fruiting collection]; 17 March 2006, Homeier & Hertel 2190 ( GOET!, K!, LOJA, MO, QCNE), 19 September 2008, Homeier 4083 ( GOET!, K!, LOJA, QCNE) . Zamora-Chinchipe: Zamora, region de la Cordillera de Cóndor, Parroquia San Carlos de las Minas , Nambija , San Carlos , 30 January 2005, Quizhpe et al. 867 ( K!, LOJA, MO!) . PERU. Cajamarca: San Ignacio Prov., Huarango, Nuevo Mundo , 12 November 1997, Campos & Nuñez 4605 ( K!, MO!) .

Notes: — Couepia recurva was described from a specimen of flowering material made by Spruce in 1857 ( Prance 1972a). Prance noted that the collection was distinct from all other Couepia by the leaves and hirsute filaments. Moreover, he stated that it resembled many Hirtella in floral characters, but placed the new species in Couepia rather than Hirtella based solely on the number of stamens (15–20, unlike all other Hirtella with 3–9 stamens), a character long used to separate Hirtella from Couepia ( Prance & White 1988) . Fruit morphological characters are also used to distinguish Couepia from Hirtella ( Martius 1827, Zuccarini 1832, Prance & White 1988); fruits of Hirtella have a thin and fragile endocarp, whereas fruits of Couepia have a hard and woody endocarp. When C. recurva was described its fruits were unknown but now recent collections from Ecuador (Homeier 1245) confirm that the fruits share more features with Hirtella than with Couepia . The fruits of Hirtella are generally dispersed by birds, and Couepia are mammal-dispersed.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Fruit of Hirtella recurva (Prance) Sothers & Prance (Homeier et al. 1245), from Ecuador. © J.Homeier.