Werauhia swartzii Kessous
Creators: name: Kessous, Igor M.
name: Costa, Andrea F.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Liliopsida
Poales
Bromeliaceae
Werauhia
Werauhia swartzii

description: 4.2 Werauhia swartzii (Baker) Kessous & A.F.Costa, comb. nov. (Fig. 9)
Basionym: — Tillandsia swartzii Baker (1888: 12). Type: — JAMAICA. Without exact locality. Swartz s.n. (holotype BM #923958!, isotype S! #S-R-10050).
≡ Vriesea swartzii (Baker) Mez (1935: 400).
= Tillandsia paniculata Sw. ex Baker (1888: 12). nom. illeg. et nud. pro syn.
Description:—Plant terrestrial, flowering ca. 1.3 m high. Leaves ca. 25 in number, forming an infundibuliform rosette; sheath oblong-obovate, 11−16 × 7.5−10 cm, densely lepidote on both surfaces; blade linear-oblong, triangular attenuate toward the apex, 35–51 × 4–5 cm, apex acute, green, sparsely lepidote on both surfaces. Inflorescence compound, once-branched, ca. 60-flowered, ca. 70–110 cm long, very lax, erect; peduncle erect, ca. 30 cm long, 6.5–8 mm in diameter, glabrous; peduncle bracts the lower ones foliaceous and imbricate, suberect to erect, the upper narrow and exposing the peduncle in part distally, triangular-lanceolate, ca. 10 × 1.2 cm long, glabrescent to sparsely lepidote; main axis slightly sinuose, ca. 70 cm long, 4–7 mm in diameter, glabrous; primary bracts deciduous in some branches, lanceolate (lower ones) to narrowly ovate (upper ones), ca. 70 × 8.5 mm (lower ones) and ca. 15 × 5 mm (upper ones), glabrescent to sparsely lepidote on both surfaces; spikes 10–20 in number (including the terminal one), 10–30 cm long, in an angle of 30–70º to the main axis, then arching to horizontal, 2–6 flowered and with a sterile bract at the apex; stipe 16–20 cm long, ca. 2 mm in diameter, with a sterile bract at the base; rachis sinuous, 5–12 cm long, ca. 1.5 mm in diameter. Floral bracts ovate, obtuse, 10–10.5 × 6–7 mm, ecarinate, much exceeded by the sepals, lepidote on both surfaces. Flowers distichous, suberect, downward secund, 27–32 mm long, 10–15 mm apart; sepals narrowly oblong-elliptic, 16–17 × 4.5–6.2 mm, free, ecarinate, symmetric, glabrous; petals narrowly oblong-ovate, ca. 35 × 10 mm, off-white to smoky-cream, each with a purplish strip in center, free; petal appendages ca. 5 × 2 mm, adnate to the base of petals for 4.4 mm, entire, reduced dactyloid (one-fingered), with free lobe rounded (except the finger); stamens equaling the corolla; filament ca. 23 mm long, complanate; anther dorsifixed near the base, ca. 7 × 1 mm, erect, incurved; ovary conical, ca. 6.2 × 3.5 mm; style ca. 23 mm long; stigma cupulate, exceeding the anthers. Fruits fusiform, suberect ca. 2.3 cm; seeds unknown.
Distribution: —This species occurs in northern Jamaica, 370–762 m above sea level.
Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes: —Downward-secund flowers as observed in this taxon are often observed in Werauhia species with compound inflorescences, such as W. gigantea (Mart. ex Schult. f.) Grant (1995a: 31) and W. sanguinolenta (Linden ex Cogn. & Marchal) Grant (1995a: 35), although in some members of Vriesea as well. Beside this characteristic present in both genera, V. swartzii has dactyloid (one-fingered) petal appendages (Fig. 9C), a cupulate stigma (Fig. 9D), and free petals, which lead us to propose this new combination in Werauhia. In addition, this taxon is restricted to Jamaica in the West Indies, one of the centers of diversity of Werauhia. The name Tillandsia paniculata Sw. ex Baker is a nomen nudum and pro synonymo, not previously described and only cited (not accepted) as a synonym by Baker (1888) (Art. 38 of the Shenzhen code, Turland et al. 2018).
Etymology: —The specific epithet “ swartzii ” refers to the type collector, Olof Swartz (1760–1818).
Representative Specimens Examined: — JAMAICA: Rio Minho Valley, 3 March 1910, Harris 10885 (NY); St. Ann; Jamaica; on road to Grier Mount, Mt. Diablo, 24 March 1967, fl., Read 1850 (US); Trelawny, on limestone ridge above the Donkey trail, 1 mile N of Burnt Hill intersection. 26 May 1960, past fl. Read 1920 (US).
description: Published as part of Kessous, Igor M. & Costa, Andrea F., 2023, Novelties in " incertae sedis " Vriesea (Bromeliaceae: Tillandsioideae): Redescriptions, new combinations and nomenclatural revision, pp. 71-101 in Phytotaxa 585 (2) on pages 94-96, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.585.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7681555