Athenaea hunzikeriana
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Ordo: Solanales
Familia: Solanaceae
Genus: Athenaea
Name
Athenaea hunzikeriana I.M.C. Rodrigues & Stehmann sp. nov. – Wikispecies link – Pensoft Profile
Diagnosis
Similar to A. pogogena, but differing in the campanulate rather than inflated calyx and a subglobose (versus ovoid) fruit that is purplish-red when mature and pubescent with eglandular trichomes (versus green to yellow fruits with glandular trichomes).
Type
Brazil Minas Gerais: Santa Maria do Salto, Fazenda Duas Barras, 16°24'45"S, 40°02'51"W, 817 m elev., 1 Nov 2013 (fl,fr), J.R. Stehmann, L.L. Giacomin, S. Knapp & L. Bohs 6328 (holotype: BHCB [acc. # 182684; duplicates to be distributed to BM, RB).
Description
Shrubs to small trees, up to 3 m tall; branching virgate and distally dichotomous. Stems rounded in cross-section, dark brown, tomentose with yellowish-brown, simple uniseriate trichomes, up to 2 mm long. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate, members of a pair markedly unequal. Leaves simple, alternate, elliptic to elliptic lanceolate, subcoriaceous, discolorous; blades of major leaves elliptic lanceolate, 8.7–16.4 cm long, 2.8–5 cm, 2.3–4.5 times longer than wide, the minor leaves elliptic to obelliptic 2.7–6.8 cm long, 1.3–3.2 cm wide, ca. 2.5 times longer than wide; abaxial and adaxial surfaces densely pubescent with 8–15-celled eglandular trichomes 0.5–2 mm long and scarce 1-celled glandular trichomes with usually 3-celled multicellular head; venation camptodromous and prominent abaxially, with 3–6 pairs of principal veins; base decurrent, the leaves appearing sessile or sub-sessile; margins entire and slightly revolute; apex acute to somewhat acuminate; petioles 0–0.8 cm long, densely pubescent with trichomes like those of the leaves. Inflorescences axillary, with 10–15 flowers along a distinct axis; rhachis 1.5–3.4 mm long; pedicels 0.6–2 cm long, erect to spreading, densely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes. Flower buds ovoid, white, densely glandular-pubescent. Flowers 5-merous, heteromorphic with long- and short-styled forms. Calyx 3.5–4.5 mm long, green, campanulate, densely pubescent, the tube ca. 2 mm long, the lobes 1.6–2.7 mm long, 0.8–1.4 mm wide, triangular, densely pubescent with 5–8-celled eglandular trichomes and longer 5–10-celled glandular trichomes with multicellular heads abaxially, sparsely pubescent with 4–8-celled glandular trichomes with multicellular heads adaxially, the lobe apices acute. Corolla 4.1–7.3 mm long, stellate, white with green and purple spots adaxially near the base, the tube 1.1–1.6 mm long, the lobes 3.4–5.6 mm long, 1.3–2.7 mm wide, lanceolate, covered with eglandular trichomes (3–4-celled) abaxially at the apex and 4–6-celled glandular trichomes with multicellular heads abaxially over the entire surface, adaxially with 3–5-celled glandular trichomes with unicellular heads. Stamens 5, equal, glabrous; filaments ca. 0.8 mm long, the stapet (basal extension of the filaments) ca. 0.6 mm long; anthers 1.4–1.9 mm long, 0.8–1 mm wide, oblong, yellowish-cream, slightly cordate at the base. Ovary ca. 0.6 mm long, subglobose, yellowish-cream, densely pubescent with glandular trichomes, surrounded by a yellowish-green nectary; styles heteromorphic, greenish-white, long styles 2.8–3 mm long, short styles ca. 2.2 mm long; stigma dilated, capitate, yellowish-white. Fruit a subglobose berry, ca. 12.6 mm long, 13.7 mm in diameter, green when immature, wine-red to purplish-red at maturity, the pericarp densely pubescent with simple, uniseriate 4–8-celled eglandular trichomes; fruiting calyx not accrescent, up to 1.8 times longer than in flower; fruiting pedicels 1.5–2 cm long, erect, enlarged at the apex, densely glandular-pubescent. Seeds ca. 6 per berry, 5.5–5.7 mm long, 3.8–4.0 mm wide, flattened-reniform, yellowish-brown, the testa minutely reticulate, foveolate, the embryo curved. Chromosome number: not known.
Etymology
The specific epithet honours Ing. Armando Teodoro Hunziker (1919–2001), who dedicated his life to the study of the family Solanaceae in the Neotropics and whose mentorship formed a whole generation of Solanaceae workers.
Phenology
Athenaea hunzikeriana flowers and fruits from August to November.
Distribution and habitat
Athenaea hunzikeriana is endemic to Brazil and only known from the type locality, in north-eastern Minas Gerais State and in adjacent Bahia State. Athenaea hunzikeriana grows in the understorey of well-preserved remnants of wet Atlantic forests (Floresta Ombrófila Densa, Mata Atlântica; IBGE 2012[1]), from 700 to 1000 m elevation.
Preliminary conservation assessment
(IUCN 2019[2]). Data Deficient (DD). Just two populations of A. hunzikeriana are known, one growing in a private reserve (RPPN Fazenda Duas Barras), in the Municipality of Santa Maria do Salto, Minas Gerais and another in Fazenda Farofa in the Municipality of Boa Nova, Bahia. Although the locality in Bahia is well-protected, the extremely restricted range indicates the species is of some conservation concern.
Discussion
Athenaea hunzikeriana is easily recognised by its purple, eglandular-pubescent mature fruits on erect or spreading pedicels, its large seeds and the distinctive inflorescences with a short but persistent axis. Other species of Athenaea have axillary fascicles, with no rhachis along which pedicel scars can be observed. This species is morphologically similar to and sympatric with A. pogogena, with which it shares almost all flower characteristics, but can be distinguished by its subglobose (versus conic or ovoid) berry and leaf pubescence of mostly eglandular trichomes with sparse minute glandular trichomes, rather than densely glandular pubescent leaves. Athenaea hunzikeriana is also vegetatively similar to A. anonacea Sendtn. and A. martiana Sendtn. in having pubescent leaves but is differentiated from both those species by its pubescent fruit and non-accrescent fruiting calyx. It is also sympatric with A. fasciculata but differs from that species in its conspicuous pubescence (A. fasciculata is glabrous, see discussion of A. altoserranae above).
Additional specimens examined
Brazil. Bahia: Boa Nova, Faz. Farofa (Dr. Mauro), estrada entre Boa Nova e Dário Meira, 24 Oct 2007 (fr), F.M. Ferreira 1641 (CEPEC). Minas Gerais: Santa Maria do Salto, Fazenda Duas Barras, 23 Aug 2003 (fl, fr), J.A. Lombardi, J.R. Stehmann, R.C. Mota & L.G. Temponi 5447 (BHCB). Dichotomous key to the species of Athenaea All of the species in this key occur in Brazil, their distribution can be found in Rodrigues et al. (2019)[3]; A. fasciculata is the only species that occurs outside of Brazil.
Original Description
- Rodrigues, I; Knapp, S; Stehmann, J; 2021: Two new species of Athenaea Sendtn. (Solanaceae) from the Atlantic forests of south-eastern Brazil PhytoKeys, 178: 1-15. doi
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Other References
- ↑ IBGE – Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (2012) Manual técnico da vegetação brasileira 2 ed.Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, Rio de Janeiro, 271 pp.
- ↑ IUCN (2019) Guidelines for Using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Version 14. Prepared by the Standards and Petitions Committee. [accessed 20.01.2020]
- ↑ Rodrigues I, Knapp S, Stehmann J (2019) The nomenclatural re-establishment of Athenaea Sendtn. (Solanaceae) with a nomenclatural synopsis of the genus.Taxon68(4): 839–846. https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.12089
