Eugenia indistincta Sobral & Stadnik, 2015

Sobral, Marcos, Faria Jr, Jair E. Q., Ibrahim, Marla U., Lucas, Eve J., Rigueira, Dary, Stadnik, Aline & Dcnat-Ufsj, Daniel Villaroel, 2015, Thirteen new Myrtaceae from Bahia, Brazil, Phytotaxa 224 (3), pp. 201-231 : 209-211

4. Eugenia indistincta Sobral & Stadnik , sp. nov. Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: mun. Cachoeira, Morro Belo, vale dos rios Paraguaçu e Jacuípe, 12º32’ S, 39º05’ W, November 1980, Grupo Pedra do Cavalo [L. Scardino et al.] 949 (holotype CEPEC!, isotypes ALCB!, HUEFS!, NY, RB!). Figure 5 .

This species is apparently related to Eugenia subavenia , from which it is distinguished through its mostly elliptic blades (versus elliptic-obovate in E. subavenia ), its umbelliform inflorescences with axis absent or up to 3 mm, with about three flowers (vs. inflorescence racemiform, with axis up to 9 mm and up to eight flowers), flowers with calyx lobes adaxially glabrous (vs. adaxially sericeous) and globose fruits to 7 mm in diameter, yellow when ripe (vs. oblong, to 25 × 15 mm, red when ripe).

Tree to 6 m. Cortex reddish (according to gathering Melo 1845). Twigs slightly applanate, grey, with minute simple erect trichomes to 0.2 mm, visible only under lenses, the internodes 15–35 × 1–2 mm. Leaves with petioles 4–6.5 × 0.5–1 mm, adaxially sulcate, with trichomes as the twigs; blades elliptic or widely elliptic, 38–70 × 19–32 mm, 1.9–2.3 times longer than wide, glabrous on both faces, discolorous, dull green adaxially, lighter abaxially; glandular dots 6 to 15 /mm², about 0.1 mm in diameter or smaller, visible on both faces; apex acute; base cuneate; midvein finely sulcate adaxially and raised abaxially; lateral veins 8 to 10 at each side, moderately raised on both sides but sometimes scarcely visible adaxially, leaving the midvein at angles 45–60º; marginal vein 1–2 mm from the margin, the margin itself irregularly undulate and markedly revolute. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, umbelliform, with one to three flowers per axile, rarely along an axis up to 3 × 1 mm; bracts not seen; pedicels 3–7.5 × 0.2–0.5 mm, with simple erect trichomes as the twigs; bracteoles ovate or triangular, to 0.5 × 0.5 mm, glabrous or ciliate, persisting after anthesis; flower buds globose or obovate, 4–5 × 3.5–4 mm, the ovary externally dark red-brown, densely and minutely covered by trichomes to 0.1 mm or smaller, markedly distinct from the mostly glabrous calyx lobes, these four, in two unequal pairs, the external ones hemispheric to widely ovate, 0.8–1 × 1.8–2 mm, the internal ones ovate or widely elliptic, 2 × 2–2.5 mm, with cilia to 0.1 mm; petals four, globose, glabrous, to 4 × 4 mm; stamens about 60, 3–4 mm, the anthers elliptic, to 0.5 × 0.3 mm, with 3 to 5 glands; staminal ring to 2 mm in diameter, glabrous or with scattered trichomes; style 4–5 mm, glabrous, the stigma punctiform, papillose; calyx tube absent; ovary with two locules with glabrous walls, with 16 to 19 ovules per locule. Fruits globose, glabrous, yellow when ripe, 5–7 mm in diameter, crowned by the calyx lobes; seed one, globose, to 4 mm, the embryo with fused cotyledons and no visible hypocotyl.

Distribution, habitat and phenology:— Eugenia indistincta was collected in seasonal forests, cerrados and rocky fields along the central Bahian plateau, in the municipalities of Cachoeira, Feira de Santana, Itatim, Jacobina and Pindobaçu; flowers were collected in February, March, July and November and fruits in June, September and December.

Conservation:—This species was collected in municipalities along central Bahian plateau that are more than 360 km apart; although these municipalities encompass an approximate area of more than 20,000 km ² ( IBGE 2015), it was possible to estimate the extent of occurrence of this species via GeoCAT (see Bachman et al. 2011), resulting in about 13,000 km ², an area suggestive of a Vulnerable (VU) status according to IUCN criteria ( IUCN 2001), fitting criterion B1 for this category. Nevertheless, since we do not have the additional information on habitat necessary to fulfill the other criteria, we score this species presently as DD (Data Deficient).

Affinities:—This species is apparently related to Eugenia subavenia O. Berg (1857 –1859: 571; type image: K barcode 000170011), a species from rainforest vegetation from southeastern and southern Brazil, from which it can be distinguished by the characters given in the diagnosis. We suppose that this species may be nested in clade 9 of the phylogenetic scheme of Mazine et al. (2014), due to its resemblance to E. subavenia and the presence of umbelliform inflorescences.

Etymology:—The epithet is derived from the Latin word meaning “indistinct” alluding to the scarcity of features characteristic of this species.

Paratypes:— BRAZIL. Bahia: mun. Cachoeira, Estação da Mata , vale dos rios Paraguaçu e Jacuípe , 12º32’ S, 39º05’ W, June 1980, Grupo Pedra do Cavalo [ L. Scardino et al.] 320 ( ALCB!, BAH, HUEFS!) ; idem, Bananeiras, June 1980, Grupo Pedra do Cavalo [ L. Scardino et al.] 211 ( ALCB!) ; idem, mata B. Bananeiras, 19 July 1980, Grupo Pedra do Cavalo [ L. Scardino et al.] 416 ( ALCB!) ; idem, mata B. Bananeiras, vale dos rios Paraguaçu e Jacuípe, 12º32’ S, 39º05’ W, 19 July 1980, Grupo Pedra do Cavalo [ L. Scardino et al.] 442 ( ALCB!, CEPEC!) ; idem, mata a NE da B. Bananeiras, November 1980, Grupo Pedra do Cavalo [ L. Scardino et al.] 912 ( ALCB!) ; mun. Feira de Santana, Fazenda Chapada , 12º15’22” S, 39º04’58” W, 15 March 2008, E. Melo , F. França & V. Mendes Carneiro 5446 ( HUEFS!) ; idem, Fazenda Chapada, 12º15’32” S, 39º05’46” W, 10 February 2009, E. Melo . F. França, Dalila & L. S. Pinho 6085 ( HUEFS!) ; mun. Itatim, Morro da Torre, 12º44’ S, 39º46’ W, inselberg, mata da base, próximo à parede do inselberg, solo com muito húmus, 380 m, 10 November 1996, E. de Melo , F. França , E. Miranda & D. Carneiro 1845 ( HUEFS!, MBM, RB!) ; idem, Morro das Tocas, 12º43’ S, 39º42’ W, inselberg, Piedmont, próximo parede íngreme arbustivo-arbóreo aberta, 360 m, 29 September 1996, F. França , E. de Melo, C. Correia & P. Oliveira

1851 (CEPEC!, HUEFS!, UB); mun. Jacobina, povoado de Palmeirinha, 11º13’00” S, 40º21’35” W, 440 m, 23 June 1999, F. França, E. de Melo & B. M. Silva 3043 ( HUEFS!) ; mun. Pindobaçu, margem direita do rio Itapicuru-Açu , 10º44’ S, 40º21’ W, 20 December 1999, M. L. Guedes, L. B. Silva, D. M. Lourenço & L. J. Alves 7042 ( ALCB!) ; without municipality, Km 30 da BR –242, 11 May 1975, A. L. Costa & G. Barroso ( ALCB 3054 !) .

Figures

FIGURE 5. Eugenia indistincta. Holotype.