Neomarica eburnea A. Gil & M. C. E. Amaral 2014, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Gil, André Dos Santos Bragança
name: Bittrich, Volker
name: Amaral, Maria Do Carmo Estanislau Do
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Liliopsida
Asparagales
Iridaceae
Neomarica
Neomarica eburnea

description: Neomarica eburnea A.Gil and M.C.E.Amaral, sp. nov. (Figs. 1, 2)
Type: — BRAZIL. Bahia: mun. Feira de Santana, distrito de Maria Quitéria, Pé de Serra, Serra de São José, beira da Trilha Principal, 12º06’56”S, 39º02’56”W, ca. 460 m, 1 March 2005, A. Gil & L.Y.S. Aona 161 (holotype UEC!).
Large perennial herbs, ca. 41–87 cm tall. Leaves and flowering stems congested at the apex of the horizontal, often curved underground rhizome. Leaves ensiform, 41.5–54 × 2–2.5 cm, often bright green, rarely dull green. Leaves and flowering stems similar in color but different in height (flowering stems 68.5–87 × 0.9–1 cm always taller, often twice the length of leaves), width (leaf blades about twice the width of flowering stems peduncle) and posture (mature leaves always erect in the basal part with the apical half curved while flowering stems are entirely erect, sometimes with the first bract curved). Peduncle winged, 55–81 cm long, with conspicuous central midrib. First bract as a continuation of the peduncle, 6.5–26 × 1–3 cm, similar to the apex of the leaves. Leaves and first bract with thin and slightly prominent midrib. Second bract much smaller than first bract, 3–6.5 × 0.5–1.3 cm, erect to subpatent, navicular, with small to medium-sized winged projection and always subtended by a conspicuous rachis internode (3–6 × 0.3–0.7 cm). Third bract often inconspicuous, when conspicuous, with about half size of the second bract, navicular, often without a wing, and subtended by a second conspicuous rachis internode (ca. 4–5 × 0.4–0.6 cm). Fourth bract always inconspicuous. Rhipidia 1–3(–4) per flowering stem, 4.5–6 × 0.5–0.6 cm, always on a 4–5 cm long stalk (infra-rhipidial raquis internode), giving the inflorescence a lax appearance, with two external opposed invaginated leathery bract-like spatha enclosing the flower buds and membranous bracteoles. Flowers ca. 7–8 cm in diameter, predominantly ivory colored, with the basal third of all tepals slightly yellowish and covered by brown irregular stripes, mostly transversally orientated; outer tepals, 4–4.6 × 2–2.6 cm, patent to recurved, elliptic to wide-elliptic, with apical two-thirds ivory colored; inner tepals, 2.8–3.2 × 1.1–1.2 cm, erect, nearly sigmoid, with the basal part radiate, the middle part erect and the apical part revolute, with two intensely yellow, parallel, elongated streaks at the base of the revolute apex; apical third with margins completely white and center white with sparse purple, diagonal, stripes directed towards the margins and with a purple stripe directed towards the apex, which sometimes is light violet colored above the stripe. Reproductive column ca. 2–2.2 cm long; stamens ca. 1.2–1.5 cm long, anthers ca. 0.7–0.9 cm long; filaments (brown at the base), anthers and connectives yellowish, with the anthers lighter colored; styles brown at the base and cream to white above; stigmatic crests white, subfalcate, margin entire, apex filiform; both lateral crests measure about a third of the reproductive column (ca. 0.6–0.8 cm long); the central crest measures about more than half to a third of the length of the lateral ones (ca. 0.2–0.4 cm long), apex erect to patent, sometimes curved within the two lateral crests; ovary ca. 1.4 cm long, fruit (immature) ca. 4 × 1.6 cm, subcircular to subtrigonous in cross-section, 6-sulcate, surface smooth.
Distribution and Habitat: —Known only from the state of Bahia (northeastern Brazil) in the neighboring municipalities of Feira de Santana and Anguera in the northeastern region of the state. N. eburnea is found growing on stony ground in the understory of remnants of seasonally dry tropical forest. The localities belong to the Caatinga domain, but the vegetation has the physiognomy of seasonally dry tropical forest of the Atlantic Forest biome (Oliveira-Filho et al. 2006).
Etymology: —The epithet for this new species is Latin for " ivory, yellowish-white ", in reference to the predominant color of its flowers, mainly the outer tepals.
Phenology: —Flowering from October to February (mature fruits were not seen). This species has a very peculiar characteristic compared with other Neomarica species, because its flowers always wither before noon, while in the other species the flowers wither in the afternoon (ca. 3–5 pm).
Conservation status:— Neomarica eburnea is classified as Vulnerable (VU) under D2 criterion (IUCN 2013), existing at only two nearby locations (in two neighboring municipalities - Feira de Santana and Anguera) in small populations threatened by development for housing, livestock and agriculture.
Taxonomic relationships: —Regarding the predominantly ivory-like color of the flowers, Neomarica eburnea resembles N. portosecurensis from Bahia and N. humilis (Klatt 1862: 540) Capell. (2003: 135) from Ceará and Pernambuco states, Northeastern Brazil. It essentially differs from the first, by the second bract being always subtended by a conspicuous rachis internode (vs. second bract subsessile), rhipidia long-stalked, with a long rachis internode between the bracts and rhipidial spathes, giving a lax appearance to the inflorescence (vs. rhipidia subsessile to short-stalked, with a short rachis internode between the bracts and rhipidial spathes, giving a congested appearance to inflorescence) (see Figs. 2, 6). Furthermore, N. eburnea differs from N. portosecurensis by its inner tepals apical third with margins completely white and center white with sparse purple, diagonal, stripes directed towards the margins and with a purple stripe directed towards the apex, which sometimes is colored by light violet above the stripe (vs. inner tepals apical third with whitish margins, densely covered with diagonal, sublinear, blue to violet stripes, and center with a diffuse blue to violet macula or sometimes the whole central part completely colored by blue or violet, and with a large blue to purplish subtriangular apical macula) (see Figs. 2, 6). From N. humilis, this new species is easily distinguishable by presenting much larger flowers, with ca. 7–8 cm in diameter in N. eburnea and ca. 4–5 cm in N. humilis (i.e., all floral structures in N. eburnea are conspicuously larger than in N. humilis). Furthermore, N. humilis differs from N. eburnea by its inner tepals apical third with yellowish margins, covered with purplish transversal stripes, basal half part of apical third white, sometimes completely white, rarely with few purplish streaks and upper part of apical third with a large violet diffuse macula, sometimes absent in cultivated plants (see Figs. 2, 6). Besides those differences, the ca. 0.7–0.9 cm long anthers of N. eburnea are significantly longer than those of N. portosecurensis (ca. 0.4–0.5 cm) or N. humilis (ca. 0.4 cm).
Other specimens seen (paratypes): — BRAZIL. Bahia: mun. Feira de Santana, Distrito de Maria Quitéria, Pé de Serra, Serra de São José, beira da trilha principal, 12º06’56”S, 39º02’56”W, ca. 460 m, 5 February 2006, A. Gil et al. 186 (UEC!); mun. Anguera, Morro da Fazenda Retiro, 12º10’01”S, 39º11’16”W, ca. 380 m, 21 November 2006, D.B. Cardoso & F. França 1426 (HUEFS!).
description: Published as part of Gil, André Dos Santos Bragança, Bittrich, Volker & Amaral, Maria Do Carmo Estanislau Do, 2014, Two New Species of Neomarica Sprague (Trimezieae-Iridaceae) from Bahia State, Northeastern Brazil, pp. 47-57 in Phytotaxa 164 (1) on pages 48-51, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.164.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/5132555