Aechmea cunhambebensis Leme

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 : 5-7

Aechmea cunhambebensis Leme , s p. nov. ( Fig. 1 A–J )

Diagnosis:––This new species is morphologically similar to Aechmea sumidourensis Leme (2015: 87) , differing from it mainly by its inflorescence narrower (ca. 5 cm vs. 6–7 cm in diameter), with rachis dark winish-purple (vs. greenish), primary branches with fewer flowers (3–5 vs. 4–10 in number per branch), rachis visible (vs. completely hidden by the floral bracts), and smaller flowers (15–16 mm vs. 19–21 mm long).

Type: –– BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro: Parque Estadual de Cunhambebe, Rio Claro, Lídice , trilha para a Pedra Chata , “Vale”, 1,420 m elev., 22º 54’ 07.4” S, 44º 09’ 51.4” W, 30 July 2015, E . Leme 9034 & C . Mendes (holotype RB!) .

Description:–– Plant terrestrial or epiphytic, flowering 60–70 cm tall, propagating by stout, basal shoots. Leaves ca. 20 in number, rosulate, suberect, coriaceous, forming a funnelform rosette; sheath elliptic, 20–23 × 10–11 cm, densely and minutely white lepidote on both sides, abaxially greenish, adaxially purplish-wine colored toward the apex; blade narrowly lingulate, inconspicuously if at all narrowed toward the base, 45–62 × 5–5.5 cm, green, densely white lepidote abaxially with trichomes almost completely obscuring the leaf color, adaxialy densely and inconspicuously white lepidote, apex acute to acuminate, ending in spine ca. 8 mm long, margins densely spinose; spines dark brown, narrowly triangular, flat, 1–3 mm apart, subspreading, straight to antrorse, the basal ones 2–3 mm long, 0.8–1.2 mm wide at the base, the upper ones 0.5–1.5 mm long, ca. 0.5 mm wide at the base. Peduncle erect, ca. 40 cm long, ca. 0.7 cm in diameter, dark winish-purple, densely white lepidote, completely covered by the peduncle bracts and not visible; peduncle bracts narrowly lingulate, acute and distinctly apiculate, 15–21 × 3–4 cm, erect, densely and inconspicuously white lepidote, densely imbricate, distinctly exceeding the internodes and completely enfolding the peduncle, distinctly veined, papyraceous, stramineous, remotely spinulose to entire. Inflorescence (fertile part) subcylindric, once-branched, slightly shorter than to slightly exceeding the leaves, erect, ca. 15 cm long, ca. 5 cm in diameter, rachis 0.5–0.6 cm in diameter, straight, densely white lepidote, dark winish-purple; primary bracts resembling the floral bracts, slightly exceeding the stipes; primary branches ca. 45 in number, polystichously and densely arranged, slightly complanate, subspreading, 2–3.8 × 1.2–2 cm (excluding the petals), bearing 3–5 flowers densely and subdistichously arranged, shortly stipitate; stipes 3–5 × 4–5 mm, stout, densely white lepidote, dark winish-purple; rachis slightly flexuous, dark winish-purple, densely white lepidote; floral bracts partially enfolding the basal portion of the flowers, neither adnate to the rachis above its base nor pouch-shaped, equaling to slightly exceeding the ovary, ecarinate but bearing protruding midnerve toward the apex, broadly subtriangular, dark red, 6–9 × 5–8 mm (including the apical spine), thin in texture, distinctly nerved, densely white lepidote mainly abaxially, bearing fimbriate trichomes at the apical margins, acute, distinctly mucronate, ending in a brown mucro 2–2.5 mm long, entire. Flowers 15–16 mm long (including the petals), odorless, sessile; sepals subquadrate, obtuse and distinctly mucronulate, asymmetrical with the membranaceous lateral wing not exceeding the midnerve, erect, dark red, densely white lepidote, ecarinate, connate at the base for ca. 1 mm, ca. 7 × 4 mm, including the 1.5–1.7 mm long, brown, subspreading apical spine; petals narrowly spathulate, apex rounded and emarginate, 10–11 × 2.5–3 mm, free, whitish near the base and lilac toward the apex, suberect forming a subtubular corolla, without noticeable callosities, bearing at the base 2 sublinear, bifid to dentate appendages, ca. 2.5 × 0.3 mm; filaments ca. 6.5 mm long, slightly complanate, not dilated toward the apex, white, the antesepalous ones free, the antepetalous ones basally adnate to the petals for ca. 4 mm; anthers ca. 3 mm long, dorsifixed slightly below the middle, white, base inconspicuously bilobed, apex apiculate; stigma conduplicate-spiral, subcapitate, white, ca. 1.5 mm long, margins shortly lacerate; ovary suboblong, terete, ca. 5.5 × 3.5 mm, red, densely white lepidote; epigynous tube infundibuliform, ca. 1.5 mm long; placentation central to apical; ovules obtuse. Fruits unknown.

Distribution and habitat:––This new species grows as a terrestrial or epiphytic species in a high elevation Atlantic Forest area (fig. 1 A), at an elevation of 1,420 m, in the State Park of Cunhambebe, in the locality of Lídice, county of Rio Claro, Rio de Janeiro state, southeastern Brazil. This conservation unit shelter a great extension of low to high elevated areas covered by Atlantic Forest in the southern portion of Serra do Mar, comprising the counties of Angra dos Reis, Mangaratiba , Rio Claro, and Itaguaí.

Aechmea cunhambebensis was found forming dense groups of plants scattered along the final portion of the trail to Pedra Chata, sharing its habitat with Nidularium antoineanum Wawra (1880a: 113) , N. purpureum Beer (1857: 75) , and Wittrockia superba Lindman (1891: 20) , among other bromeliad species.

Etymology:––The name of Aechmea cunhambebensis is a reference to the State Park of Cunhambebe, where it was found.

Distinctive characters:— Aechmea cunhambebensis is morphologically related to A. sumidourensis , its likely closest relative, due to its habit, rosette and leaf conformation, inflorescence structure, and color of the flowers. However, the new species differs from it by its broader leaf blades (5–5.5 cm vs. 3.3–4 cm wide), which have spines more densely arranged (1–3 mm apart vs. 3–6 mm apart), inflorescence narrower (ca. 5 cm vs. 6–7 cm in diameter), with the rachis dark winish-purple (vs. greenish) and visible (vs. completely hidden by the floral bracts), primary branches more densely arranged throughout the rachis (vs. the basal ones more sparsely arranged in comparison with the upper ones), with fewer flowers (3–5 vs. 4–10 per branch), floral bracts smaller (6–9 × 5–8 mm vs. 9–11 × 13–15 mm), broadly triangular (vs. suborbicular), flowers smaller (15–16 mm vs. 19–21 mm long), and petals with sublinear, bifid to dentate basal appendages (vs. narrowly spathulate, rounded and crenulate appendages).

On the other hand, this new species is also related to Aechmea phanerophlebia Baker (1889: 47) . The important morphological differences of A. cunhambebensis are the inflorescence and primary branches with dark winish-purple rachis (vs. rose to reddish), the distinctly smaller flowers (15–16 mm vs. 24–25 mm long), the smaller floral bracts (6–9 × 5–8 mm vs. ca. 10 × 11 mm), sepals shorter (ca. 7 mm long, including the 1.5–1.7 mm long, brown, subspreading apical spine vs. ca. 10 mm long, including the ca. 4 mm long, yellowish-brown, erect or suberect apical spine), asymmetric, with a membranaceous lateral wing not exceeding the midnerve (vs. strongly asymmetric, with the membranaceous lateral wing distinctly exceeding the midnerve to slightly shorter than the apical spine), petals smaller (10–11 × 2.5–3 mm vs. 15–16 × 4.5 mm), anthers shorter (ca. 3 mm vs. ca. 5 mm long), and stigma subcapitate (vs. cylindric), ca. 1.5 mm long (vs. 2.5 mm long).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Aechmea cunhambebensis (Leme 9034 & Mendes): A. General view of the habitat in the Parque Estadual de Cunhanbebe. B. Habit. C, E. Primary branches. D. Inflorescence. F. Floral bracts. G. Flower. H. Petal appendages. I. Sepals. J. Petal and antesepalous stamen. Bars = 5 mm (E–G). Bar = 1 mm (H). Bars = 2 mm (I–J).