Viridantha minuscula Hern.-Cárdenas, Espejo & López-Ferr., sp. nov.
Creators: name: Hernández-Cárdenas, Rodrigo Alejandro
name: Espejo-Serna, Adolfo
name: López-Ferrari, Ana Rosa
name: Viccon-Esquivel, José
name: Sandoval-Mata, Tecoatlayopeuh Nelly
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Poales
Bromeliaceae
Viridantha
Viridantha minuscula

description: Viridantha minuscula Hern.-Cárdenas, Espejo & López-Ferr., sp. nov. (Figs. 1, 2, 3B, 3B 1. Table 1)
The new species is similar to Viridantha lepidosepala but differs in the size of the leaf blades (4–5 × 0.3–0.4 vs. 7–12 × 0.5–0.8 cm), in the characteristics of the peduncle (conspicuous vs. inconspicuous, 1–1.5 vs. 3–4 mm diameter), in the length of the peduncle bracts (shorter than the inflorescence vs. longer than the inflorescence), and in the length of the petals (2.5–2.8 vs. 1.5–2.5 cm).
TYPE:— MÉXICO. Guanajuato: municipio de San Miguel de Allende, El Charco del Ingenio (20°55′09.68″N, 100°43′44.78″W), 2,000 m, January 3, 2023, R. Hernández-Cárdenas, J. Viccon-Esquivel & S. Lara-Godínez 2648 (holotype UAMIZ!, isotypes MEXU!, WLM!).
Plants saxicolous, flowering 6–8 cm tall, 7–8 cm in diameter; rosettes short caulescent, irregular in outline, forming clumps of many rosettes. Leaves 13–16, shorter than or equal to the inflorescence; sheath yellow green, pale brown when dry on both surfaces, very widely ovate, 8–10 mm long, 8–10 mm wide, glabrous at the base and lepidote distally on both surfaces; blade densely grey lepidote, very narrowly triangular, 4–5 cm long, 3–4 mm wide, attenuate, divaricate to ascending. Inflorescence pedunculate, erect, simple; peduncle conspicuous, green, pale brown when dry, 1–2 cm long, 1–1.5 mm in diameter, glabrous; peduncle bracts similar to the leaves but reducing in size distally, shorter than the inflorescence, densely grey lepidote. Spike red rose, pale rose when dry, flattened, narrowly elliptic, 2.5–3 cm long, 8–10 mm wide, 2–4 flowered; floral bracts red rose at the apex, yellow green towards the base, pale rose when dry, ovate when extended, 1.5–2 cm long, 6–8 mm wide, apex acute to acuminate, slightly nerved, carinate at the apex, glabrous adaxially, lepidote abaxially. Flowers distichous, erect and appressed to the rachis; sepals redrose at the apex, yellow green towards the base, narrowly ovate, 1.2–1.5 cm long, 4–5 mm wide, apex acuminate, the two adaxial ones carinate, free, glabrous adaxially, scatteredly lepidote abaxially; petals white in its basal half, dark green in its apical half, narrowly oblong, 2.5–2.8 cm long, 3–4 mm wide, apex rounded to obtuse; stamens all equal; filaments white, filiform, 1.7–2 cm long; anthers pale green, pale brown when dry, 3–4 mm long; ovary green, pale green when dry, ovoid to globose, 3–5 mm long, 3–4 mm in diameter; style white, pale green when dry, 1.5–2 cm long; stigma branches green. Capsules unknown.
Distribution and habitat: — Viridantha minuscula is known so far from the municipality of San Miguel de Allende in Central Guanajuato (Fig. 1), in the biogeographic province of Chihuahuan Desert, were it grows on vertical rock walls predominated by xerophilous scrub vegetation with the presence of Tillandsia recurvata (Linnaeus 1753: 287) Linnaeus (1762: 410) and species of Bursera, Cactaceae, Fabaceae, and Poaceae. There is a ravine that crosses the zone of the Botanic Garden El Charco del Ingenio and on the side walls of this ravine V. minuscula plants grow at elevations between 1,990 and 2,020 m a.s.l. The new species blooms from January to February.
Etymology: —The specific epithet refers to the small size of the plants of the new species.
Paratypes: — MÉXICO. Guanajuato: municipio de San Miguel de Allende, El Charco del Ingenio, December, 2004, F. Rodríguez s.n. (IEB!, WLM!); El Charco del Ingenio, September 2005, M. Mendoza s.n. (IEB!).
Observations: —The new species is characterized by the small size of the plants (6–8 × 7–8 cm), the clumps of many rosettes, the size of the leaf sheath (8–10 × 8–10 mm) and the leaf blade (40–50 × 3–4 mm), the size of the peduncle (10–20 × 1–1.5 mm), the size of the spike (25–30 × 8–10 mm), the length of the floral bract (1.5–2 cm), and the length of the petals (2.5–2.8 cm). Viridantha minuscula shares some similarities with V. tortilis including the shortly caulescent and irregular rosettes and the leaf blade orientation (divaricate to ascending). However, V. minuscula differs from V. tortilis in the size of the rosettes (6–8 ×7–8 vs. 15–23 × 15–20 cm), in the size of the leaf sheaths (0.8–1 × 0.8–1 vs. 1.5–2.5 × 1–1.5 cm), in the length of the leaf blades (4–5 vs. 10–18 cm), in the length of the peduncle (1–2 vs. 6–17 cm), and in the size of the spikes (2.5–3 × 0.8–1 vs. 3–4 × 1–1.5 cm), see also Table 1 and Figure 3.
description: Published as part of Hernández-Cárdenas, Rodrigo Alejandro, Espejo-Serna, Adolfo, López-Ferrari, Ana Rosa, Viccon-Esquivel, José & Sandoval-Mata, Tecoatlayopeuh Nelly, 2023, Viridantha minuscula (Tillandsioideae; Bromeliaceae), a new species from Guanajuato, Mexico, pp. 1-7 in Phytotaxa 607 (1) on pages 2-5, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.607.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8212141