Dyckia flabellata Leme, 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 : 26-28

Dyckia flabellata Leme , sp. nov. ( Fig. 11 A–M )

Diagnosis:––This new species is closely related to Dyckia estevesii Rauh (1987: 918) , but can be distinguished from it by the inflorescence simple to once-branched at the base (vs. once to twice-branched), flowers longer (17–18 mm long vs. ca. 10 mm long), sepals broader (8–10 mm vs. 2–3 mm wide), and petals broadly obcordate (vs. narrowly lingulate).

Type:— BRAZIL. Mato Grosso: Alto Garças, estrada do meio para o Rio das Garças, ca. 10 km de Alto Garças, próximo da ponte, 631 m elev., 16º 52’ 17.7” S, 53º 24’ 4.0” W, 15 July 2018, W. M . Kranz B-637, fl. cult. E. Leme 9913 (holotype RB!) .

Description:–– Plant terrestrial or saxicolous, flowering ca. 1.65 m tall, propagating by basal shoots. Leaves 12– 17 in number, distichously arranged, thick-coriaceous; sheath subreniform, ca. 4 × 7 cm, castaneous near the base, green toward the distal portion, densely white lepidote, margins spinulose; blade narrowly subtriangular-attenuate, inconspicuously if at all canaliculate, suberect-arcuate, 40–50 × 2.3–3 cm at the base, ca. 4 mm thick near the base, green, opaque, abaxially distinctly and finely nerved, densely white lepidote with trichomes arranged along the nerves, adaxially densely and inconspicuously white lepidote with trichomes arranged along the nerves and not obscuring the leaf color, abaxial and abaxial surfaces slightly if at all contrasting in color, apex long spinescent-caudate, terminating in a pungent spine, margins inconspicuously white lepidote, very laxly spinose; spines 2.5–6 × 2–3 mm at the base, 2–12 cm apart, narrowly triangular, complanate, subdensely and inconspicuously white lepidote toward the base, pale castaneous near the apex, retrorse-uncinate. Peduncle lateral, erect, ca. 115 cm long, 0.6–0.7 cm in diameter, with very inconspicuously and sparsely unifilamentous white trichomes, but appearing glabrous, and a thin inconspicuous layer of white wax, greenish; peduncle bracts inconspicuously white lepidote, distinctly nerved, distinctly shorter than the internodes, the basal ones with a membranaceous, subtriangular-ovate base and a long subtriangular-lanceolate blade, acuminate and spinescent, 30–60 mm long, greenish except for the reddish margins, margins minutely spinulose at the base to crenulate or entire, the upper ones broadly subtriangular, acuminate to acute, stramineous at anthesis, erect, 15–20 × 13–17 mm, inconspicuously crenulate, ecarinate. Inflorescence (fertile part) simple to compound at the base, ca. 50 cm long; primary bracts similar to the upper peduncle bracts, distinctly shorter than the stipes of the branches; primary branches ca. 4 in number (not including the terminal one), laxly arranged, the basal ones with late development, 7–12 cm long, bearing 11–13 laxly arranged flowers, stipes distinct, 2–3 × 0.3–0.4 cm, subterete, orange-red, sparsely and inconspicuous lepidote with unifilamentous whitish to pale castaneous trichomes, but appearing glabrous; terminal branch suberect, ca. 30 cm long, with ca. 35 flowers laxly arranged toward the base and subdensely arranged near the apex, rachis 3–4 mm in diameter, straight, terete, orange-red, sparsely and inconspicuously lepidote with unifilamentous whitish to pale castaneous trichomes, but appearing glabrous; floral bracts contiguous with the flowers, equaling (basal ones) to slightly shorter than the sepals (upper ones), broadly triangular, reddish at the base and stramineous toward the apex at anthesis, 5–7.5 × 8–10 mm, nerved, sparsely and inconspicuously lepidote with unifilamentous whitish to pale castaneous trichomes but soon glabrous, acute to acuminate, margins remotely denticulate-crenulate to entire. Flowers laxly and polystichously arranged, 17–18 mm long, suberect at anthesis, odorless; pedicels inconspicuous, pale orange-yellow, glabrous, 2–2.5 mm long, ca. 6.5 mm in diameter at the apex; sepals suborbicular to subreniform, apex rounded to obtuse-emarginate, ecarinate, convex, 5–6 × 8–10 mm, reddish-orange, sparsely and inconspicuously lepidote with unifilamentous whitish to pale castaneous trichomes, margins entire but with sparsely unifilamentous inconspicuous trichomes; petals symmetric, broadly obcordate, apex obtuse-emarginate, connate at the base for ca. 2 mm in a common tube with the filaments, 13–14 × 13–14 mm, ecarinate, orange, glabrous, margins entire, glabrous, erect at anthesis and forming a tubular corolla 6–8 mm in diameter at the apex. Stamens equaling to slightly exceeding the petals by a fraction of the anthers; filaments complanate, connate for 2–3 mm above the common tube with the petals, 11–12 × 1.5–2.2 mm, pale orange; anthers narrowly ovate-lanceolate, base distinctly bilobed, apex acute, 4–5.5 mm long, strongly recurved at anthesis, slightly exceeding the petals, fixed near the base; pistil ca. 11 mm long, slightly shorter than the anthers; ovary narrowly suboblong, ca. 8 mm long; stigma conduplicate-spiral, blades ca. 2 mm long, orange, margins scalloped; style ca. 1 mm long, pale yellow. Capsules unknown.

Distribution and habitat:–– Dyckia flabellata is a saxicolous species found on more or less flat rock outcrops in fragments of Cerrado vegetation (fig. 11 A), about 630 m elevation, near the city of Garças, Mato Grosso state, central Brazil. It forms small populations composed by densely grouped individuals, being visually characterized by the flabellate leaf rosette (fig. 11 B–C).

The region where this new species was found is dominated by intense agricultural and cattle raising activities that, besides mineral exploration, constitute a human pressure that makes the future survival of the current known population of Dyckia flabellata uncertain.

Etymology:––The name of this new species is a reference to the distichous arrangement of its leaves, based on the Latin adjective flabellatus, meaning “fan-shaped”.

Distinctive characters:—The genus Dyckia Schultes & Schultes f. (1830: 194) comprises 181 species (Gouda et al. cont. updated) but only four of them share leaves totally or in part distichously arranged and forming somewhat laterally flat “rosettes”, with plants being more or less prostrate.They are D. estevesii , D. mauriziae Esteves & Hofacker (Pereira & Hofacker, 2011: 39) , D. mirandiana Leme & Z.J.G. Miranda (2009: 75), and D. pottiorum Leme ( Leme et al. 2012: 26) .

Dyckia flabellata is the fifth known species of the genus with distichous leaf arrangement. Most of these distichous-leaved species are found in the state of Goiás ( D. estevesii , D. mauriziae , and D. mirandiana ), except for D. pottiorum from Mato Grosso do Sul state and this new species from the state of Mato Grosso, all in central Brazil. Their populations are distant from each other, in straight line, from 380 km to 1,000 km, with exception of D. flabellata and D. estevesii , with a geographically closer range, being apart from each other by 180 km in straight line.

Despite sharing the same leaf conformation, these species are not necessarily close relatives, and so the evaluation of potential new species requires an extra-carefull study in order to avoid the almost irresistible tendency to only compare it with known species that share such a distinctive attribute ( Leme et al. 2012). Even considering this fact, the morphological relative of Dyckia flabellata is D. estevesii due to its size when in bloom, its tubular corolla, and the stamens equaling to slightly exceeding the petals by a fraction of the anthers. However, D. flabellata differs from it by the thick-coriaceous leaves (vs. slightly succulent), inflorescence simple to once-branched (vs. once to twice-branched), flowers longer (17–18 mm long vs. ca. 10 mm long), floral bracts larger (5–7.5 × 8–10 mm vs. ca. 2 × 2 mm), flowers more densely arranged, sepals broader (8–10 mm vs. 2–3 mm wide), petals broadly obcordate (vs. narrowly lingulate), and filaments connate for 2–3 mm above the common tube with the petals (vs. free above it).

The erect petals of Dyckia flabellata forming a tubular corolla, with exserted stamens and anthers distinctly visible, makes it clearly distinct from D. mauriziae and D. pottiorum which have suberect petals forming a subcampanulate corolla, with included stamens not distinctly visible over the petals. On the other hand, despite having tubular corolla and exserted stamens, D. mirandiana presents striking morphological differences in relation to D. flabellata , like its distinctly shorter size when in bloom (20–25 cm high), the leaf blades with much smaller marginal spines (0.5–1 mm long), the inflorescence strongly curved, flowers distinctly fragrant, sepals dark purplish-wine with an acuminate apex, and petals yellow with apiculate to subacute apex.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Dyckia flabellata (Kranz B-637): A. General view of the rocky outcrops in Cerrado Vegetation at the type locality. B–C. Saxicolous habit of a small group of plants at the type locality. D. Distichous leaves forming a flabellate rosette. E. Habit of a flowering specimen in cultivation. F. Inflorescence. G. Flowers. H. Distal portion of the corolla and anthers. I. Sepals. J. Floral bract. K. Adaxial view of the anther. L. Abaxial-lateral view of the anther. M. Petal and stamens. A–C. Photos W. Kranz. Bar = 5 mm (G). Bars = 2 mm (I–M).