Cryptanthus flesherii E. H. Souza & Leme 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Souza, Everton Hilo De
name: Leme, Elton M. C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Liliopsida
Poales
Bromeliaceae
Cryptanthus
Cryptanthus flesherii

description: 1. Cryptanthus flesherii E.H. Souza & Leme, sp. nov. (Fig. 3 A–F)
Diagnosis:—This new species can be distinguished from its morphologically closest relative, C. ruthae, by its caulescent habit, 20–30 cm long (vs. stemless), shorter leaf blades (22–32 cm vs. to ca. 65 cm long), with margins equally densely spinulose (vs. entire except for its serrate distal end), shorter sepals (ca. 12 mm vs. 17–20 mm), which are shorter connate at the base (for 5–6 mm vs. 8–12 mm), and narrower sepal lobes (ca. 2.5 mm vs. 3–4 mm wide).
Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Igrapíuna, BA 001, Mata de Vila 5, Trilha Principal, Reserva Ecológica Michelin, 171 m elevation, 13º 49’ 15” S, 39º 12’ 14” W, 29 December 2018, flowered in cult. 27 February 2021, E.H. Souza 180 (holotype HURB!, isotype RB!).
Description:— Plants terrestrial, caulescent, 20–30 cm high when in bloom, propagating by erect axillary shoots. Leaves ca. 20 in number, spreading at anthesis, subdensely arranged; sheath subtrapeziform, ca. 3.5 × 2.5 cm, green to bronze colored, densely and coarsely white lepidote abaxially, adaxially glabrous; blade narrowly lanceolate, apex acuminate-caudate, distinctly narrowed toward the base but not pseudopetiolate, 22–32 × 2.4–3.3 cm, thinly coriaceous, slightly canaliculate, dull green to reddish-bronze colored mainly toward the apex, with a narrow thicker median channel, abaxially densely and coarsely white lepidote of trichomes obscuring the leaf color, adaxially inconspicuously and sparsely white lepidote to glabrous, margins slightly undulate, densely spinulose; spines triangular, antrorsely uncinate, greenish, ca. 0.3 mm long, 1–2 mm apart. Inflorescence sessile, subcorymbose, ca. 3 cm long, ca. 1.5 cm in diameter at the apex, once branched at the base and bearing an inconspicuous simple central portion with densely arranged staminate flowers surrounded by ca. 5 flower fascicles; primary bracts resembling the leaves; flower fascicles ca. 2 flowered, complanate, ca. 20 × 11 mm; floral bracts in the fascicles narrowly subtriangular-lanceolate, acuminate, 16–17 × 5–6 mm, membranaceous, hyaline toward the base and margins, pale brown toward the apex, sparsely pale brown lepidote mainly toward the apex, entire or nearly so, about equalling 2/3 of sepal length, carinate. Flowers sessile, odorless, the perfect ones ca. 33 mm long, the staminate ones slightly shorter; sepals ca. 12 mm long, unequally connate for 5–6 mm, inconspicuously and sparsely brown lepidote mainly toward the apex, whitish-hyaline except for the pale brown apex, lobes ovate, acute, 5–6 × 2.5 mm, symmetrical, obtusely if at all carinate, margins entire to inconspicuously crenulate; petals narrowly spathulate, apex obtuse-emarginate, white, exceeding the stamens but spreading-recurved at anthesis and exposing them; those of the perfect flowers 26–27 × 3.5–4 mm, connate at the base for ca. 8 mm, bearing 2 conspicuous callosities at the base of the free lobes; filaments ca. 20 mm long, equally adnate to the petal-tube and free above it; anthers ca. 3.5 mm long before dehiscence and 2 mm long when dry, dorsifixed slightly below the middle, base bilobed, apex apiculate; ovary narrowly trigonous obovoid, ca. 6.5 × 4.5 mm, white, glabrous; stigma conduplicate-patent, lobes ca. 3 mm long, ca. 0.8 mm wide, white, margins scalloped, without papillae; epigynous tube lacking; placentation apical; ovules few, obtuse. Fruits not seen.
Distribution, habitat and conservation:— Cryptanthus flesherii grows on the shaded forest floor in a Atlantic Forest fragment known as Mata de Vila 5, Reserva Ecológica Michelin, in the municipalites of Igrapinua and Ituberá, state of Bahia, Brazil (Fig. 1 and 2 A). The cities are located in the southern macroregion of Bahia that has a humid tropical climate and significant fragments of lowland evergreen Atlantic forest, as well as mangroves along the Serinhaém River. Its population is composed of medium-sized groups of individuals more or less sparsely distributed in the area with a population estimated of ca. 200 individuals always close to rocky outcrops. This new species is only known from its type locality which is situated inside a private protected area (Reverva Ecológica Michelin) owned and maintained by the Michelin company. The GeoCAT (Bachmann et al. 2011) estimated the extent of the occurrence of C. flesherii as about 4.633 km 2, while its area of occupancy is 20.000 Km² (AOO), so classifying the species as critically endangered (CR) according to the criteria adopted by IUCN (2020).
Etymology:—The specific epithet honors the ecologist Kevin Michael Flesher, Director of the Reserva Ecológica Michelin and responsible for the conservation and research management of the area where this new species was discovered.
Observations:— Cryptanthus flesherii is morphologically the closest relative of C. ruthae Philcox (1992: 268), a species known from Restinga habitats in the same region where this new species was found. However, C. flesherii can be clearly distinguished from it by its caulescent habit, 20–25 cm long (vs. stemless), the spreading leaves at anthesis (vs. suberect), shorter leaf blades (22–32 cm vs. to ca. 65 cm long), with margins densely spinulose throughout (vs. entire except for its serrate distal end), shorter sepals (ca. 12 mm vs. 17–20 mm), which are shorter connate at the base (for 5–6 mm vs. 8–12 mm), and narrower sepal lobes (ca. 2.5 mm vs. 3–4 mm wide).
The distinctly caulescent habit of C. flesherii recalls some morphological resemblance with C. reptans Leme & Siqueira (2006: 287), which is endemic to the Atlantic Forest of the northeastern state of Pernambuco, north of São Francisco river. Differences of this new species are: leaf blades with margins slightly undulate (vs. strongly undulate) and bearing smaller spines (ca. 0.3 mm vs. 0.5–1 mm long), floral bracts equaling 2/3 of sepals length (vs. equaling 1/2 of sepals length), sepals shorter connate at the base (for 5–6 mm vs. 8–9 mm) with acute lobes (vs. acuminate), sparsely lepidote (vs. glabrous), and petals obtuse-emarginate (vs. acute to subacute).
Despite imperfectly known due to the lack of data of some of its floral parts (e.g., petals), C. ubairensis Ramírez (1998: 221), originally collected in the county of Ubaíra, Bahia, is another putative relative. However, C. flesherii differs from it by its shorter stem (20–25 cm long vs. to ca. 123 cm long), leaf blades adaxially inconspicuously and sparsely white lepidote to glabrous (vs. subdensely lepidote adaxially), inflorescence with a higher number of flower fascicles (ca. 5 vs. 1–3 in number), floral bracts entire or nearly so (vs. serrate), and sepals entire or inconspicuously crenulate (vs. minutely serrate).
description: Published as part of Souza, Everton Hilo De & Leme, Elton M. C., 2021, New Cryptanthus species (Bromeliaceae: Bromelioideae) from the State of Bahia, Brazil, pp. 179-191 in Phytotaxa 523 (2) on pages 181-184, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.523.2.5, http://zenodo.org/record/5585452