Aechmea marcpignalii Leme, 2025
publication ID |
https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.692.1.1 |
DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16725360 |
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/039E87CD-8629-D06B-95D1-642BFEF7FDC6 |
treatment provided by |
Felipe |
scientific name |
Aechmea marcpignalii Leme |
status |
sp. nov. |
Aechmea marcpignalii Leme , sp. nov. ( Fig. 2 A–J View FIGURE 2 )
Diagnosis:––This new species differs from Aechmea ramusculosa Leme (1995: 111) by the basal primary branches longer (15–26 cm vs. 10–12 cm long), with 10–15 secondary branches (vs. 2–5), flowers smaller (ca. 20 mm vs. ca. 33 mm long), and petals shorter (15–16 mm vs. ca. 27 mm long).
Type: –– BRAZIL. Bahia: Itambé, Catolezinho, Duas Barras , Fazenda Santa Teresinha , 299 m elev., 15° 08’ 12.3” S, 40° 14’ 34” W, November 2010, R GoogleMaps . Reis Jr. & M . Pignal s.n., cult. E . Leme 8460 (holotype RB!) .
Description:–– Plant terrestrial or epiphyte, flowering 120–150 cm high. Leaves 10–15 in number, rosulate, suberect-arcuate, coriaceous, forming a broadly funnelform rosette; sheath broadly ovate, ca. 15 × 11 cm, castaneous toward the base, densely pale castaneous lepidote on both sides; blade sublinear, not narrowed toward the base, 80–100 × 5.5–7 cm, green to yellowish-green, densely white lepidote on both sides, trichomes forming a membrane adaxially, apex cuspidate, soon drying, becoming nigrescent, margins densely (toward the base) to sparsely (toward the apex) spinose; spines dark brown, triangular-uncinate, flat, prevailingly retrorse to sometimes nearly straight, the basal ones 4–6 mm long, 3–5 mm wide at the base, 4–10 mm apart, the upper ones 2–3 mm long, ca. 2 mm wide at the base, 15–25 mm apart. Peduncle suberect, ca. 50 cm long, 1–1.5 cm in diameter, red, white lanate; peduncle bracts narrowly lanceolate, the basal ones cuspidate, the distal ones acuminate, 9–12 × 2–2.5 cm, erect, nerved, the basal ones spinulose toward the apex, the distal ones entire, white lepidote toward the base, exceeding the internodes and enfolding the peduncle, pale rose to stramineous, the basal ones thinly coriaceous, the upper ones papyraceous. Inflorescence 4-times branched, paniculate, equaling the leaves, suberect, ca. 60 cm long (fertile part), ca. 35 cm in diameter at the base, 7–15 cm in diameter near the apex; rachis 5–10 mm in diameter, slightly flexuous to nearly straight, white lanate, red; primary bracts narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, entire, nerved, subdensely and inconspicuously white lepidote toward the base, stramineous, thin in texture, suberect to spreading with the branches, decreasing in size toward the inflorescence apex, 4–12 × 0.6–2 cm, distinctly exceeding the stipes but shorter than the branches; primary branches ca. 30 in number, polystichous, the basal to median ones laxly arranged, the upper ones subdensely to densely arranged, suberect to spreading, distinctly decreasing in length toward the inflorescence apex, the basal ones 15–26 cm long, bearing 10–15 secondary branches densely arranged toward the apex, the median to apical ones 4–10 cm long, bearing 3–6 secondary branches, the branches near the inflorescence apex resembling the secondary branches, sessile; stipes of the primary branches 3–6 × 0.4–0.7 cm, ebracteate, complanate, red, white lanate; rachis of the primary branches straight, white lanate, red; secondary bracts narrowly subtriangular-setiform or sublinear, 15–20 × 2–3 mm, exceeding the stipes but distinctly shorter than the branches, suberect to spreading, white sublanate to glabrous, stramineous, nerved; secondary branches 30–40 mm long, shortly stipitate to usually sessile, 2 to 6-flowered, usually verticillate, bearing 1 to 2 tertiary branches with one of it arising from the same basal node; rachis distinctly geniculate, white lanate, green, internodes 3–5 × 1.5–2 mm; floral bracts equaling the basal portion of the sepals, partially enfolding the ovary, with a subtriangular base 5–6 × 5.5–7 mm, and a spinescent apex, 4–4.5 mm long, green at the base and castaneous toward the apex, thin in texture, entire, nerved, ecarinate, white sublanate at the base to glabrescent. Flowers ca. 20 mm long, odorless, subdensely and distichously arranged, sessile; sepals subtrapeziform, 7 × 5–6 mm, distinctly asymmetrical with the lateral membranaceous rounded wing distinctly exceeding the midnerve but slightly exceeded by the apical spine, green with whitish spots, subdensely white lepidote, ecarinate, subfree, apical mucro 3–4 mm, castaneous, straight, erect to spreading, to irregularly curved; petals spathulate, 15–16 × 5–5.5 mm, acute, free, white at the base, greenish at the middle and lilac toward the apex, erect except for the slightly suberect apex, at the base bearing 2 narrowly spathulate, lacerate appendages of ca. 3.5 x 1 mm, as well as 2 conspicuous longitudinal callosities slightly shorter than the filaments; filaments 7.5–8 mm long, complanate, dilated toward the apex, white, the antesepalous ones free, the antepetalous ones basally adnate to the petal for ca. 3.5 mm; anthers narrowly oblong-ovate ca. 4 mm long, dorsifixed slightly below the middle, base shortly bilobed, apex narrowed, truncate to slightly bifid; stigma conduplicate-spiral, ellipsoidal, white, margins shortly crenulate-lacerate; ovary broadly obovoid, ca. 5.5 mm long, ca. 6 mm in diameter at the apex, glabrous, green with white spots, white lanate; epigynous tube inconspicuous; placentation apical; ovules caudate. Fruits unknown.
Distribution and habitat:–– Aechmea marcpignalii grows in a low-elevated area, about 300 m elevation, inside a deciduous forest in the Atlantic Forest biome (fig. 2 A), in the locality of Catolezinho, county of Itambé, Duas Barras, Bahia state, northeastern Brazil. The small forest fragment where it was found is located inside Santa Teresinha farm, which is owned by bromeliad and orchid lover, Raymundo Reis Junior. This new species grows as a terrestrial, forming large groups of plants, being sympatric with Cryptanthus bibarrensis Leme (2002: 86) and C. reisii Leme (2002: 87) which were originally discovered in the same region.
Etymology:––The name of this new species honors one of its collectors, the French botanist and taxonomist Marc Pignal, Curator of the National Herbarium of the Muséum National d´Histoire Naturelle of Paris, for his important contribution to the knowledge of Brazilian flora, mainly in Bahia state.
Distinctive characters:—This new species is a member of Aechmea subg. Aechmea , being close related to A. ramusculosa due to its size when flowering, the shape of the inflorescence, sepals, and petals, as well as the color of the corolla. Aechmea ramusculosa was originally described from a near sea level (i.e. coastal) Restinga vegetation in the locality of Copuva (or Copubá), in the county of Nova Viçosa, south region of Bahia. According to the label in the holotype [Hatschbach 48762 & J.M. Silva (MBM!)], A. ramuscolosa has red bracts and lilac flowers, probably meaning that sepals and the well-preserved petals are lilac, giving an important clue on the general color appearance of the inflorescence of this species.
Aechmea marcpignalii morphologically differs from its close relative by its inflorescence 4-times branched (vs. 2 to 3-times branched), primary bracts stramineous (vs. red), the basal primary branches longer (15–26 cm vs. 10–12 cm long), with 10–15 secondary branches (vs. 2–5 in number), rachis distinctly geniculate (vs. slightly flexuous), floral bracts green at the base and castaneous toward the apex (vs. red), flowers smaller (ca. 20 mm vs. ca. 33 mm long), subdensely and distichously arranged (vs. laxly and polystichously arranged), sepals smaller (7 × 5–6 mm vs. ca. 12 × 9 mm), petals shorter (15–16 mm vs. ca. 27 mm long), basal appendages longer (ca. 3.5 mm vs. ca. 2 mm), lacerate (vs. crenulate), and the antepetalous filaments shorter adnate to the petals for ca. 3.5 mm (vs. higher adnate to the petals for ca. 10 mm).
On the other hand, the known populations of this new species are concentrated further inland and in higher areas about 150 km from the ocean and about 330 km in straight line from the known population of A. ramusculosa , at the seaside zone.
R |
Departamento de Geologia, Universidad de Chile |
M |
Botanische Staatssammlung München |
E |
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh |
RB |
Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro |
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
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