Bauhinia brevipes Vogel (1839: 307)

Amorim, Daniele Dos Santos De & Pessoa, Edlley, 2025, Bauhinia s. s. (Fabaceae-Cercidoideae) from Baixada Cuiabana, Mato Grosso, Brazil: a neglected center of diversity for the genus, Phytotaxa 681 (2), pp. 146-166 : 151-152

2. Bauhinia brevipes Vogel (1839: 307) ( Figure 3A )

Type:— Brazil. Minas Gerais: Pitangui, 18 December 1818, Sellow s.n. (holotype: B, destroyed; photographs at RB and F). Neotype, designated here: — Brazil. Minas Gerais: Felixlândia, 30 km de Felixlândia para Brasília, 19 June 1964, J. M. Pires 57964 ( RB00671850 photograph! isoneotypes: HUEFS000232829 photograph! and NY01404534 photograph!).

Treelets, shrubs or subshrubs, 1–3.5 m high. Branches unarmed, extrafloral nectaries present. Stipules persistent, linear. Leaves unifoliolate, petiole 0.5–1.0 × 0.1–0.2 cm; leaf blade 3.7–15.5 × 3.1–11.7 cm, bilobed, base subcordate to cordate up to truncate, lobe apex obtuse, leaflets elliptic to ovate. Inflorescence terminal, peduncle 0.6–3.3 cm long; rachis 14.5–29 cm long, floral bracts linear, 0.5–1.0 cm long. Flowers 16–32 per inflorescence; pedicel ca. 0.5 cm long; developed floral bud 2.2–2.5 cm long, smooth, clavate; hypanthium 0.8–1.0 cm long, internally glabrous; sepals 1.8–2.3 cm long; petals 1.2–1.5 × 0.2 cm, clawed, elliptic to oblanceolate, apex acuminate; fertile stamens 10, heteromorphic, filaments 0.8–1.7 cm long; gynoecium, stipe 1.2–2.0 cm long, ovary 0.8–1.2 cm long, tomentose, style 0.5–1.1 cm long, stigma clavate. Fruits 7.5–15.3 × 1.0– 2.2 cm.

Examined material: — Brazil. Mato Grosso: BR 364 , Cuiabá – Rosário Oeste, ca do km 60 antes de Jangada, 21 April 1983, (bd.), C. N. da Cunha 942 et al. ( UMFT, MG) ; BR 364 , estrada nova, logo na entrada para Nobres, 22 April 1983, (bd., fl.), C. N. da Cunha 1011 et al. ( UFMT) ; Acorizal, rodovia MT 010 , Rosario Oeste - Cuiabá, 15°08’10.0”S, 56°21’50”W, 22 June 2012, (bd., fl.), L. M. Borges 829 et al. ( SPF) ; Acorizal, rodovia MT 010 , 15°1’51”S, 56°21’44”W, 20 April 2005, (bd., fl.), L. P. Queiroz 10491 et al. ( HUEFS) ; Chapada dos Guimarães, entre Buriti e Rio dos Peixes, 23 March 1983, (bd.), P. Lisboa 3290 et al. ( MG) ; Chapada dos Guimarães, PARNA da Chapada dos Guimarães, 25 February 1985, (bd.), A. T. Oliveira-Filho s/n ( UFMT 4398 ) ; Chapada dos Guimarães, mata de galeria, borda da mata, 15°28’62”S, 55°43’61”W, 18 February 1997, (bd.), A. G. Nave 1009 et al. ( ESA, UEC, UFMT) ; Chapada dos Guimarães, APM reservatório de Manso, 18 April 2001, (fr.), M. Macedo 7675 et al. ( UFMT) ; Cuiabá, Sítio Guimarães, 13 March 2004, (bd., fl., fr.), M. Machado 54 & S. M. L. Martins ( UFMT) ; Jangada, Jangada-Barrado do Bugres , ao longo da MT 246 , km 3, 18 June 1997, (bd., fr.), M. Macedo s/n et al. ( UFMT 25122 ) ; Nobres, área rural ca. 11 km da Vila de Bom Jardim , 14°35’57”S, 55°57’32”W, 03 April 2019, (bd.), J. B. A. Bringel 1549 et al. ( CEN) ; Nobres, Gleba Coqueiral, ca. de 43 km de Nobres, 24 May 1997, (bd., fr.), V. C. Souza 17217 et al. ( ESA, RB, UEC, UFMT) ; Nobres, arredores da fazenda Quebó, ca. de 37 km de Nobres, 14°37’S, 56°00’W, 24 May 1997, (fr.), V. C. Souza 17117 et al. ( ESA, UFMT) ; Nossa Senhora do Livramento , fazenda Rosalina, 22 August 1989, (fr.), M. Macedo 2341 et al. ( INPA) ; Nova Brasilândia, estrada entre Riolândia (Frieira e Marzagão) ca 25 km de Nova Brasilândia, 07 September 1997, (fr.), V. C. Souza 20206 et al. ( ESA, UEC, UFMT) ; Poconé, próximo ao aeroporto, May 1983, (bd., fr.), C. N. da Cunha 1072 et al. ( MG, UMFT) ; Rosário Oeste, fazenda SESC Serra Azul, 14°29’56”S, 55°44’0”W, 27 May 2015, (bd., fl., fr.), G. Martinelli 18563 et al. ( NY, RB) ; Rosário Oeste, estrada Nova Brasilândia – Marzagão, ca. de 65 km de Nova Brasilândia, 09 October 1997, (fr.), V. C. Souza 20475 et al. ( UEC, UFMT) ; Rosário Oeste, Fazenda Nossa Senhora da Conceição , 15°00’0.9”S, 56°18’63.4”W, 22 March 2008, (bd., fl.), R. R. Silva 1748 et al. ( UFMT) ; Rosário Oeste, Chapada do Lobo ( Fazenda Nossa Senhora da Conceição ), 15 May 2011, (fr.), A. L. Prado 9128 et al. ( UFMT) ; Santo Antônio de Leverger , fazenda experimental UFMT, 06 May 1996, (bd., fl.), H. B. N. Borges 35452 ( UEC) ; Santo Antônio de Leverger , Fazenda Miranda, 29 April 2010, (bd.), I. C. Lucena 105 & L. N. Amorim ( UFMT) ; Várzea Grande, Comunidade São Miguel, 01 August 2014, (fr.), J. S. S. Mamede 95 ( UFMT) .

Distribution: This species occurs in Bolívia and Brazil ( POWO 2023). In Brazil, its occurrence is confirmed in the North (RO and TO), Northeast (BA and PI), Central-West (GO, MS and MT), and Southeast (MG and SP) regions ( Vaz & Santos 2023). It is found in the Amazon Forest, Caatinga and Cerrado domains ( Vaz & Santos 2023), and in the study area it is recorded in physiognomies such as Cerradão (xeromorphic forest), Cerrado stricto sensus, gallery and ciliary forests, calcareous rock outcrops, hills with iron-rich soils and pastures.

Taxonomic comments: This species belongs to Bauhinia sect. Pauletia ser. Cansenia . Bauhinia brevipes differs from B. ungulata by the adaxially pilose leaf blades, giving a velvety, smooth-to-touch aspect to the leaves, adaxially prominent venation with villose indument (in B. ungulata , the indument is short, sparsely pubescent and the venation is not prominent), linear stipules and floral bracts, and setose floral bud apex (in B. ungulata , the stipule and floral bract are ovate or lanceolate and the floral bud apex is reentrant). According to Vaz and Tozzi (2003a), B. brevipes forms a complex with B. ungulata , with the main overlapping characters being the claviform floral bud, internally glabrous hypanthium and staminal column with tufts of ferruginous trichomes internally and pilose externally, and elliptic petals.

Vogel (1839) described Bauhinia brevipes based on a specimen from Minas Gerais, Brazil. In the original description, he uses a specimen collected by Sellow in Pitangui but does not indicate where the type material was deposited. Most of Sellow’s collections were deposited in the herbarium B, which was bombed in 1943, leading to the destruction of 10,000 specimens from this collector ( Stafleu & Cowan 1985). We studied specimens from the surroundings of Pitangui, MG, and found specimens RB00671850 and BHCB065571. We concluded that the sample RB00671850, which has two other duplicates deposited at HUEFS and NY, represents well the taxon, as it is possible to observe open leaves, stipules, developed floral buds and bracteoles; thus, we here designate it as a neotype.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Leaf morphology of species found in Baixada Cuiabana. A: Bauhinia brevipes Vogel (M. Macedo s.n. et al.); B: Bauhinia caloneura Malme (V.C. Souza 20022 et al.); C: Bauhinia cheilantha (Bong.) Steud. (F.F. Xavier s.n.); D: Bauhinia cupulata Benth. (M. Macedo 4643 & J. Urbano); E: Bauhinia curvula Benth.(R.R. Silva s.n. & C. Spiller); F: Bauhinia longifolia (Bong.) Steud.(D.S. Amorim 219).