Freziera apolobambensis D.Santam. & A.Fuentes, 2018

Santamaría-Aguilar, Daniel, Fuentes, Alfredo F. & Lagomarsino, Laura P., 2018, Three new species of Freziera (Pentaphylacaceae, Freziereae) from Bolivia and Peru, Phytotaxa 349 (2), pp. 101-114 : 103-106

Freziera apolobambensis D.Santam. & A.Fuentes , sp. nov. ( Figures 1A–I , 2A–D )

Type:— BOLIVIA. La Paz: Prov. Bautista Saavedra. Parque Nacional Madidi, Laji-Sorapata, Río Laji , sector Supay Puncu , 14°53’12”S, 068°50’59”W, 2917 m, 27 June 2010 (♀ fl), A. F. Fuentes & M. Ampuero 16866 (holotype: LPB! [LPB0003504]; isotypes: FR!, GH, K!, MO!, USZ!) .

Tree or shrub (1.8–) 4–11 m tall × 8–34 cm diam.; trunk with external bark described as brown or beige, corky; internal bark described as beige, brown or pink. Mature branches cylindrical, brown, striate, papillate; leaf-bearing branches cylindrical, villous to hirsute-villous, trichome bases enlarged, leaving a granulose surface when they fall, trichomes 0.4–1.0 mm long, reddish, yellowish white or colorless, sparsely lenticellate, lenticels elliptic, whitish. Terminal bud conduplicate-involute, 0.5–1.0 cm long, glabrescent distally and pubescent at base, trichomes 0.4–1.0 mm long, reddish brown or whitish. Leaves petiolate; petiole (1.0–)2.5–3.0 mm long, adaxially caniculate, abaxially rounded, glabrous or barely pubescent adaxially, abaxially glabrous on medial part and pubescent laterally, petiolar wing erect, margin entire or bearing small black setae; colleters 1–2 at petiole base; laminae 1.9–3.1 × 1.0– 2.6 cm, lanceolate-elliptic to ovate; adaxial surface glabrous, sometimes with trichomes along the lateral veins; abaxial surface glabrous or sparsely pubescent, trichomes 0.3–1.0 mm long, reddish brown, yellowish white or colorless, papillate or not papillate; midrib flat or weakly sulcate, glabrous or sparsely pubescent on adaxial surface, rounded, prominent, papillate, glabrous or sparsely pubescent on abaxial surface; lateral veins 5–12 per side, flat or weakly elevated on both surfaces; tertiary veins reticulate, visible on both surfaces, more prominent on abaxial surface; base rounded, obtuse or subcordate, both sides symmetrical or weakly asymmetrical, revolute, with trichomes on adaxial surface; margin serrate to crenulate, with (12–)21–24 (–28) teeth per side, each tooth with a black or reddish brown conical caducous seta, setae not ringed by trichomes; apex acute to obtuse. Inflorescences fasciculate, axillary, bearing 1–3 flowers per axil; pedicel 2.5–3.0(–6.0) mm long, cylindrical, erect or weakly curved, tomentose or strigose; bracts 3.0–4.0 × 1.0–2.0 mm, borne at base of pedicel, persistent, ovate or triangular, carinate, external surface strigose, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, internal surface glabrous, margin with sparsely distributed setae with these sometimes inconspicuous, apex acute with black, curved terminal conical or uncinate and caducous setae; bracteoles 2, 0.8–2.0 × 1.0– 1.5 mm, persistent, opposite or subopposite, borne at apex of pedicel, unequal, suborbicular or triangular, carinate, external surface glabrous or sparsely pubescent, rugose mainly above base, internal surface glabrous, margin entire except with 1 or 2(3) setae at base, ciliate, apex acute to obtuse, trichomes thick, surface granulose when trichomes fall. Flowers: flower bud 2.0–3.0 mm wide; sepals 5, imbricate; external sepals 2.9–3.0 × 3.0– 3.1 mm, widely ovate to suborbicular, external surface glabrous or sparsely pubescent, internal surface glabrous, margin prominently ciliate, apex rounded or acute; inner sepals 2.8–3.0 × 1.5–2.2 mm, similar in shape to external sepals, external surface glabrous or sparsely pubescent, internal surface glabrous, margin ciliate, apex rounded; petals 5, 4.0–4.5 × 1.3–1.8 mm, magenta, glabrous, separate or weakly connate basally, ovate, margin entire, apex rounded or acute. Staminate flowers: stamens 14, 1.0– 1.5 mm long, separate or weakly adnate at base, unequal; filaments 0.5–1.2 mm long, flat; anthers ca. 0.5 mm long, not locellate, base rounded or subcordate and asymmetric on one side, apex acute; gynoecium ca. 3.0 × 1.0 mm, pyriform, glabrous, 3 or 4-locular; style not separated; stigmatic lobes 2–3. Pistillate flowers: staminodes 16, ca. 1.1 mm long, separate, linear, flat, apex acute; gynoecium 4.0 × 1.1 mm, conical or pyriform, glabrous, 3 or 4-locular; style not separated; stigmatic lobes 2–3. Fruit ca. 3.0–5.0 × 4.0– 4.2 mm, rounded, glabrous, purple; fruit walls 0.2–0.4 mm thick; seeds ca. 15–19 per fruit, ca. 1.0 mm long, ± reniform to rounded, reddish brown to pale brown, foveolate.

Etymology:— The specific epithet “ apolobambensis ” refers to the Cordillera de Apolobamba, to which this species is endemic. It additionally pays honor to the Área Natural de Manejo Integrado Apolobamba (ANMI).

Distribution and habitat:— This new species is endemic to Bolivia, where it has been collected in the Franz Tamayo and Bautista Saavedra provinces in the department of La Paz ( Figure 3A ). It grows in wet ceja de monte forests, where it can be found on steep slopes and areas cleared by landslides. Associated plants include abundant mosses and species in Chloranthaceae , Clusia (L. 1753: 510) spp., Cunoniaceae , Melastomataceae , and Poaceae . Freziera apolobambensis can also be found in secondary vegetation of ceja de monte forests between 2900–3300 m, where it is associated with Blechnum auratum (Fée.) R.M. Tryon & Stolze (1993: 67) , Chusquea ( Kunth 1822: 151) spp. , and Clethra (L. 1753: 396) spp.

Phenology:— Plants producing staminate flowers have been collected in April and August, and pistillate flowers in June and August. The complete phenology of this species (including any period of non-overlap between the production of pistillate and staminate flowers) is still unknown due to the limited number of collection of this species. Fruits have been collected in July and August.

Conservation status:— Freziera apolobambensis is known only from “ceja de monte” forests and associated secondary vegetation in a small region of the upper Laji River basin in the Cordillera de Apolobamba. This species has not been found during recent botanical work near to this area nor in similar ecosystems in the region. We thus conclude that this species has a restricted distribution. The “ceja de monte” forest in the elevational range in which F. apolobambensis grows is one of the areas most affected by current and past human use. Its extent is now very reduced, and has largely been transformed into high Andean grassland ( Fuentes 2005, Rivas-Martínez et al. 2011), an inappropriate habitat for this new species. Freziera apolobambensis has an extent of occurrence of 2.3 km 2 and an area of occupancy of 16 km 2 (employing a grid size of 2 × 2 km), and ongoing extensive habitat destruction and degradation. For these reasons, we consider this species in Critically Endangered (CR) according to the IUCN criteria ( IUCN 2001): CR B1ab.

Discussion:— Freziera apolobambensis is one of the two Bolivian Freziera species with small leaves (with F. erickitae , below). Together, a unique combination of leaf characters—reticulate tertiary venation, serrate or serrulate margins, and a revolute base that is internally covered with trichomes—distinguish this species from all others in the genus. Freziera apolobambensis can also be distinguished from other Freziera species by its bracts and bracteoles with conspicuous marginal setae, and is among few species in the genus with a magenta corolla. It most closely resembles F. minima A.L. Weitzman (1987: 331) from Ecuador and F. erickitae A. Fuentes (described below) from Bolivia. Freziera apolobambensis can be distinguished from F. minima by the characteristics summarized in Table 1 and from F. erickitae by the characteristics in Table 2. Other species with small leaves include F. microphylla Sandwith (1943: 3450) from Ecuador and Peru and F. suberosa Tul. (1847: 330) from Colombia and Ecuador, but these other species have densely pubescent leaf undersides (vs. glabrous or sparsely pubescent).

Additional material examined (paratypes):— BOLIVIA. La Paz: Prov. Bautista Saavedra, ANMI Apolobamba, sector Codo , primer campamento para lavar oro, por el antiguo camino Sorapata-Apolo , 14°53’06”S, 068°45’42”W, 3316 m, 06 April 2009 (♂ fl), A. F. Fuentes & S. Achá 13865 (FCME, GH!, LPB! [LPB0003505], MO!, US). Prov. Franz Tamayo: Área Natural de Manejo Integrado (ANMI) Apolobamba, Hilo Hilo, Chaka, senda hacia Amantala, 14°53’00”S, 068°46’53”W, 3189 m, 18 August 2009 (♂ fl), L. Cayola et al. 3484 (GH!, LPB! [LPB0003503], MO!) ; ANMI Apolobamba, El Codo, 2.6 km al E del campamento Chaka , al NE de El Codo, 14°52’52”S, 068°46’13”W, 3162 m, 16 August 2009 (st), M. Cornejo et al. 750 (GH!, LPB! [LPB0003502], MO!) ; ANMI Apolobamba, El Codo, 2.7 km al E del campamento Chaka , al SE de El Codo, 14°53’09”S, 068°46’07”W, 3187 m, 19 August 2009 (♀ fl, fr), M. Cornejo et al. 820 (FCME, GH!, LPB! [LPB0003500], MO!, US) ; ANMI Apolobamba, Chaka , 200 m al SW del campamento minero, 14°53’07”S, 068°46’38”W, 3243 m, 21 August 2009 (st), M. Cornejo et al. 862 (GH!, LPB! [LPB0003506], MO!) ; ANMI Apolobamba, Chaka , 300 m al NE del campamento minero, 14°53’03”S, 068°46’38”W, 3200 m, 23 August 2009 (fr), M. Cornejo et al. 913 (GH!, LPB! [LPB0003501], MO!, US) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Freziera apolobambensis. A. Branchlet with flowers. B. Bract. C and D. Floral buds. E. Flower at anthesis. F. Pistil and staminodes. G. Pistillode and stamens. H. Detail of fruiting branch. I. Immature fruit. Drawing by Carlos Maldonado from the holotype A–E, G–I; and F from A. F. Fuentes & S. Achá 13865 (LPB).

FIGURE 2. Freziera apolobambensis. A. Branchlet with flowers and fruits. B. Abaxial side of a leaf. C. Flower. D. Fruit.A–D from the type specimen. Photos by Alfredo F. Fuentes.

FIGURE 3. Geographic distribution of Freziera apolobambensis (A), F. erickitae (B), and F. magnibracteolata (C).