Bromelia boqueiranensis Leme & J.A. Siqueira, 2025

Leme, Elton M. C., Souza, Everton Hilo De, Till, Walter, Barfuss, Michael H. J., Filho, José Alves Siqueira, Kollmann, Ludovic J. C., Couto, Dayvid R., Fraga, Claudio Nicoletti De, Fontana, André P., Farias-Castro, Antônio S., Fernandes, João B. & Silva, Da, 2025, Twenty Miscellaneous New Species and One New Nothogenus and Nothospecies in Brazilian Bromeliaceae, Phytotaxa 692 (1), pp. 1-60 : 10-12

Bromelia boqueiranensis Leme & J.A. Siqueira , sp. nov. ( Fig. 3 A–E )

Diagnosis:––This new species can be distinguished from the closest relative, Bromelia gurkeniana E. Pereira & Moutinho (1983: 346) by the floral bracts glabrescent or glabrous (vs. densely brown lanate), sepals longer (22–24 mm vs. ca. 15 mm long), and free (vs. connate at the base for ca. 9 mm). It also differs from B. gurkeniana var. funchiana E. Pereira & Leme (1985: 635) by the floral bracts obtuse (vs. acute), distinctly shorter than the sepals (vs. about equaling the sepals), and petals longer (38–40 mm vs. ca. 30 mm long).

Type: –– BRAZIL. Bahia: Santo Sé, Boqueirão da Onça, entre Minas do Mimoso e Campo dos Alegre, Serra da Embaúba , 1,177 m elev., 10º 20’ 05” S, 41º 25’ 11” W, 15 May 2010, E . Leme 8297, J. A . Siqueira Filho & A. P . Fontana (holotype RB!) .

Description:–– Plant terrestrial in sandy soils, propagating by long rhizomes. Leaves ca. 7 in number, arcuate before anthesis and afterwards, thick coriaceous, green except for the inner ones becoming reddish toward the base at anthesis, forming at the base a thick, bulbous-like structure, 8–9 × 4.5 cm deeply sunk in the soil; sheath oblong-ovate, ca. 6 × 3 cm, thick coriaceous, abaxially densely and coarsely castaneous lepidote in the middle with ribbon-like, downwardly curved trichomes, white lepidote toward the distal end, adaxially glabrous; blade linear, attenuate, 75–120 × 0.8–1 cm, not narrowed at the base, strongly canaliculate, densely white lepidote and finely nerved abaxially, glabrous adaxially, apex caudate, margins densely to subdensely spinose at the base and entire for most of its length toward the apex; spines brown, strongly uncinate, complanate, 0.5–1.5 mm long, the proximal ones mostly retrorse, 0.2–0.5 mm apart, the distal ones retrorse, 1–2 mm apart. Peduncle inconspicuous, ca. 2 × 0.8 cm, deeply sunk in the rosette. Inflorescence shortly corymbose, the proximal half sunk in the rosette, densely once-branched, ca. 7 cm long (excluding the petals), ca. 2 cm in diameter in the middle; primary bracts oblong, 3.7–3.8 × 1.7 cm, glabrous except for the brown lepidote apex with fimbriate trichomes, subcoriaceous and stramineous toward the apex, whitish and membranaceous at the base, densely spinose toward the apex with mostly retrorse-uncinate spines, the basal ones with a narrowly subfoliaceous blade, ca. 7 cm long, entire, distinctly exceeding the branches, the upper ones apiculate, shorter than the sepals; fascicles inconspicuous, ca. 3 in number, ca. 2-flowered, inconspicuously stipitate; floral bracts shorter than the sepals, carinate, sublinear-oblong, whitish at the base and stramineous toward the apex, 30–32 × 4.5–5.5 mm, thin in texture, glabrescent or glabrous, nerved, apex obtuse, slightly cucullate, margins entire or inconspicuously denticulate. Flowers ca. 12 in number, 60–70 mm long, slightly fragrant, inconspicuously pedicellate; pedicel stout, ca. 5 × 3 mm, merging into the ovary, subdensely castaneous lepidote with fimbriate trichomes; sepals symmetrical, narrowly suboblong, apex obtuse, entire to inconspicuously denticulate, 22–24 × 5–6 mm, free, carinate toward the apex, cymbiform, nerved, corrugate, wine-purple toward the base and stramineous near the apex, subdensely castaneous lepidote at the base and along the keel, glabrous toward the apex; petals 38–45 mm long, glabrous, dark wine-purple (including the margins) at anthesis, reddish-wine to stramineous afterwards, connate for ca. 23 mm, without any callosities, lobes linear-oblong, rounded, ca. 4 mm wide, subspreading-arcuate at anthesis; filaments forming a common tube with the petals, the antesepalous ones free for 1–1.5 mm above the tube, the antepetalous ones almost completely adnate to the tube; anthers narrowly triangular, ca. 4 mm long, base distinctly bilobed, apex apiculate, dorsifixed at 1/5 to 1/6 of its length above the base; pollen ca. 50 μm, subglobose, sulcate, sulcus without exine elements, with margins well-defined, exine foveolate with tendency to reticulate, muri flat, lumina narrow to broad; stigma conduplicate-spiral, lobes white, crenulate-lacerate, ca. 2.5 mm long; ovary subclavate-cylindrical, nearly terete, ca. 17 × 6 mm, wine-purple, densely brown lepidote with fimbriate trichomes; epigynous tube funnelform, ca. 3 mm long; placentation from apical to near the base; ovules globulose, obtuse. Fruits unknown.

Distribution and habitat:–– Bromelia boqueiranensis is a terrestrial species living in sandy soils in areas covered by high altitude Caatinga vegetation (fig. 3 A), intermingled by rocky outcrops sheltering Rupestral Fields, in the county of Santo Sé, Bahia state, in a vast Caatinga area in northeastern Brazil known as Boqueirão da Onça, between the localities of Minas do Mimoso and Campo dos Alegre , in a hill called Serra da Embaúba, 1,177 m elevation. It grows deeply sunk in the sandy soil (fig. 3 B), being hard to remove, forming sparse groups of plants that spread vegetatively by means of long underground rhizomes.

Etymology:––The name of this new species is a reference to the area where it was discovered, in Boqueirão da Onça, the largest continuous area of Caatinga vegetation, recently transformed in a National Park. The area protects the largest population of jaguar (“onça” in Portuguese) in the Caatinga biome, besides many other endangered species of the fauna and flora.

Distinctive characters:— Bromelia boqueiranensis is morphologically related to B. gurkeniana , which is a species originally described from the Amazon region of Rio Gurupi, Pará state. This relationship arises from its linear leaf blades and the shortly corymbose inflorescence sunk in the rosette. However, this new species differs by its central leaves becoming reddish at anthesis (vs. green), floral bracts glabrescent or glabrous (vs. densely brown lanate), sepals longer (22–24 mm vs. ca. 15 mm long), free (vs. connate at the base for ca. 9 mm), and petals dark winish-purple (vs. white).

When compared to B. gurkeniana var. funchiana , this new species differs by the leaf blades with retrorse basal spines (vs. antrorse), floral bracts obtuse (vs. acute), distinctly shorter than the sepals (vs. about equaling the sepals), glabrescent or glabrous (vs. brown lanate near the apex), petals longer (38–40 mm vs. ca. 30 mm long), and the antepetalous filaments almost completely adnate to the petals (vs. free for ca. 3 mm above the common tube with the petals).

Bromelia gurkeniana var. funchiana inhabits the Caatinga vegetation of Chapada Diamantina, in the county of Palmeira, Bahia state, about 300 km distant in straight line from the county of Santo Sé, in the São Francisco valley, Bahia state, near the border with Pernambuco, where this new species was found.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Bromelia boqueiranensis (Leme et al. 8297): A. General view of the habitat. B. Specimens on sandy soil at the type locality. C. Habit. D. Details of the inflorescence. E. Longitudinal section of the stem.