Bauhinia cheilantha ( Bongard 1838: 120 ) Steudel (1840: 191)

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 : 153-154

4. Bauhinia cheilantha ( Bongard 1838: 120) Steudel (1840: 191) ( Figure 3C )

= Pauletia cheilantha Bongard (1838: 120)

Type:— Brazil. Mato Grosso: Cuiabá [“in fruticetis prope Cuyabá”], January 1827, L. Riedel 773 (lectotype: LE 00002263, photograph! designated by Vaz 2011).

Shrub, ca. 3m tall. Branches unarmed, extrafloral nectaries present. Stipules persistent, falciform. Leaves unifoliolate, petiole 1.3–2.5 × 0.1–0.2 cm; leaf blade 7.0–9.5 × 5.8–8.3 cm, bilobed, base cordate to subcordate to truncate, apex of lobes obtuse, leaflets elliptic. Inflorescence terminal, peduncle 1.0– 1.5 cm long; rachis 13–27 cm long, floral bracts lanceolate, 0.6–1.0 cm long. Flowers 16–20 per inflorescence; pedicel 0.5–2.3 cm long; developed floral bud 2.5–4.5 cm long, costate, costae sinuous, clavate; hypanthium 0.5–1.0 cm long, glabrous internally; sepals 1.8–3.5 cm long; petals 1.9–3.5 × 0.5 cm, clawed, obovate, apex obtuse, with glandular trichomes; fertile stamens 10, heteromorphic, filaments 0.7–1.5 cm long; gynoecium, stipe 0.8–2.0 cm long, with glandular trichomes, ovary 1.0– 1.5 cm long, villose, style ca. 0.5 cm long, stigma capitate. Fruits ca. 16.5 × 1.0 cm.

Examined material: — Brazil. Mato Grosso: Cuiabá, rio dos Peixes, Fazenda São Pedro, 15 March 1982, (bd., fr.) J. A. Nince 27 ( UFMT) ; Estrada para o rio Cuiabá–Nossa Senhora da Guia , 18 March 2004, (bd., fl.) F. F. Xavier s/n ( UFMT 38287 ) ; Poconé, Rodovia Transpantaneira ( MT 060 ) que liga Poconé a Porto Jofre, 28 January 1989, (bd.), A. M. S. F. Vaz 597 ( RB) .

Distribution: This species occurs in Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil ( POWO 2023). In Brazil, it is distributed in the Northeast (AL, BA, CE, MA, PB, PE, PI, RN, and SE), Central-West (MT and MS) and Southeast (MG and SP) regions ( Vaz & Santos 2023). It is found in the Caatinga and Cerrado domains ( Vaz & Santos 2023), and in the study area it is seen in vegetations such as ciliary forest and seasonally flooded areas.

Taxonomic comments: It belongs to Bauhinia sect. Pauletia ser. Cansenia . Its main characters are the falciform stipules (called crescent-shaped (“semilunar”) in Vaz e Tozzi (2003a), and the capitate stigma. Additionally, it has ovoid extrafloral nectaries, clavate buds with sinuous costae in the apex, obovate petals with obtuse apex and glandular trichomes, internally and externally tomentose staminal column, and villose ovary with glandular trichomes in the stipe. Bauhinia cheilantha is part of the B. cheilantha complex described by Vaz & Tozzi (2003a), along with B. acuruana Moricand (1840: 77) and B. subclavata Bentham (1870: 188) . These species share characteristics such as the petal with glandular trichomes, staminal column internally and externally hirsute, and clavate bud that varies from costate to narrowly winged, with sinuous wings or costae ( Vaz & Tozzi 2003a).

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).