Bauhinia pentandra ( Bongard 1838: 126 ) Dietrich (1840: 1475)

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 : 160

12. Bauhinia pentandra ( Bongard 1838: 126) Dietrich (1840: 1475) ( Figure 2E , 4D )

= Pauletia pentandra Bongard (1838: 126–127)

Type: — Brazil. Mato Grosso: Cuiabá [“Hab. in subhumidis prope Cuyabá in montium jugo”], February 1827, L. Riedel 864 (lectotype designated here: LE00002280 photograph!; isolectotype: LE00002279 photograph!)

Treelets, shrubs or subshrubs, 1.2–3.5 m tall. Branches armed, extrafloral nectaries absent. Stipules caducous. Leaves unifoliolate, petiole 1.8–4.3 × 0.1 cm; leaf blade 3.5–9.3 × 2.0–6.0 cm, bilobed, base cordate, apex of lobes acute or rounded, leaflets lanceolate, divaricate. Inflorescence axillary, peduncle 0.2–0.3 cm long, floral bracts absent. Flowers 2 per inflorescence; pedicel 1.0– 1.8 cm long; developed floral bud 2.5–5.0 cm long, costate throughout, clavate; hypanthium 1.0– 1.5 cm long, internally glabrous or pubescent; sepals 2.0–4.0 cm long; petals 1.6–1.8 × 0.1–0.2 cm, clawed, linear, apex acuminate; fertile stamens 5, homomorphic, staminodes 5, fertile stamen filaments 1.0–3.0 cm long; gynoecium, stipe 0.7–2.1 cm long, ovary 0.5–1.3 cm long, glabrous, style 0.8–2.5 cm long, stigma clavate. Fruits 8.7–15.5 × 0.8–1.5 cm.

Selected examined material: — Brazil. Mato Grosso: Barão de Melgaço, estrada Porto Espírito Santo – São Luiz , 26 September 2004, (bd., fr.), G. A. Lima Jr 483 & M. Ferreira da Silva ( UFMT) ; Barão de Melgaço, RPPN Sesc Pantanal , 16°35’19”S, 56°16’50”W, 30 May 2015, (bd., fl., fr.), G. Martinelli 18684 et al. ( HUEFS, RB, US) ; Cuiabá , 28 March 1894, (bd.), G. O. A. Malme 1500 ( NY) ; Ibidem , 10 December 1902, (bd.), G. O. A. Malme 1827 ( K) ; Ibidem , April 1911, (bd.), F. C. Hoehne 17241 ( RB) ; Cuiabá , campus da UFMT, 16 April 2003, (bd., fl.), M. Macedo s/n & A. Silva ( UFMT 3313 ) ; Ibidem , 15°36’34.70”S, 56°3’53.80”W, 22 April 2023, (bd., fl.), D. S. Amorim 218 ( UFMT) ; Poconé, Transpantaneira , ca. do km 40, 05 December 1979, (fr.), G. Guarim-Neto 236 ( UFMT) ; Poconé, estrada Transpantaneira , km 51, 16°15’24”S, 56°36’24”W, 06 May 1979, (fr.), M. Macedo 699 et al. ( INPA) ; Poconé, Fazenda Espírito Santo, Sesc Pantanal , 06 May 2004, (bd., fl., fr.), G. A. Lima Jr. 280 & H. Ferreira ( HUEFS, UFMT) ; Poconé, estrada Porto Espírito Santo – São Luiz, RPPN Sesc Pantanal , 26 September 2004, (fr.) G. A. Lima Jr. 509 & M. Ferreira da Silva ( UFMT) ; Poconé, Fazenda Campo Largo , 16°46’57.6”S, 56°45’46.2”W, 02 June 2008, (bd.), R. R. Silva 1750 & J. E. da Silva ( UFMT) ; Poconé, Morro do Caracará, 17°51’02”S, 57°26’53”W, 04 May 2001, (bd., fr.), G. A. Damasceno Junior 2294 et al. ( COR, HUFU, UEC) ; Ibidem , 20 March 2001, (bd.), C. N. Cunha 1406 et al. ( UFMT) ; Santo Antônio de Leverger, Engenho Velho, 24 March 1983, (bd., fr.), L. Carreira 664 et al. ( MG, NY) .

Distribution: This species occurs in Bolivia and Brazil ( POWO 2023). In Brazil, it has confirmed occurrence in the North (TO), Northeast (AL, BA, CE, MA, PB, PE, PI, RN and SE), Central-West (GO, MS and MT) and Southeast (MG and SP) regions (Vaz & Santos 2020). It is distributed in the Caatinga and Cerrado domains ( Vaz & Santos 2023), and in the study areas it is found in ciliary forest, Campo Sujo (grasslands with small shrubs), Campo Alagável (flooding prone fields), slope forests, dry forests, semidecidual seasonal forest, and disturbed areas.

Taxonomic comments: It belongs to Bauhinia sect. Pauletia ser. Pentandrae . B. pentandra can be recognized by its divaricate lanceolate leaflets, with arched margins, clavate floral buds, costate throughout, and glabrous ovary. The specimen from the UFMT campus in the municipality of Cuiabá shows glabrous hypanthium, differently from the other specimens, which show pubescent hypanthium.

Bongard (1838) described Pauletia pentandra based on a specimen from Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil, but he does not mention the collector number of the type specimen or where they were deposited. According to Stafleu (1976, 1983), Bongard’s original collections are housed there. At LE, we found two specimens of Pauletia pentandra, LE 00002279 and LE00002280, with the same locality information of the material used in the description ( Bongard 1838), but these specimens were collected by Riedel in February 1827, with the number 864. According to Stafleu (1976), Riedel’s collections are also housed at LE. We examined these two specimens, and both clearly show the species characteristics, so we chose and here designate as lectotype the specimen LE00002280, as it has more well developed floral buds and fruits in a more advanced stage.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Examples of Bauhinia species found in Baixada Cuiabana. A: Bauhinia longifolia (Bong.) Steud. (D.S. Amorim 219); B and C: Bauhinia malmeana Vaz & Lewis (D.S. Amorim 210 et al.); D: Bauhinia mollis (Bong.) Steud. (D.S. Amorim 211); E: Bauhinia pentandra (Bong.) Dietr. (D.S. Amorim 218); F and G: Bauhinia ungulata L. (D.S. Amorim 204 et al.); H and I: Bauhinia vespertilio S.Moore (D.S. Amorim 214 & A. Melo). Image credits: D.S. Amorim and E. Pessoa.

FIGURE 4. Leaf morphology of species found in Baixada Cuiabana. A: Bauhinia malmeana Vaz & Lewis (D.S. Amorim 210); B: Bauhinia marginata (Bong.) Steud.; C: Bauhinia mollis (Bong.) Dietr.(A. Melo 1899 & A.K. Koch); D: Bauhinia pentandra (Bong.) Dietr. (G.A. Lima Jr. 509 & M. Ferreira da Silva); E: Bauhinia platypetala Burch. ex Benth. (G.A. Lima Jr. 648 et al.); F: Bauhinia pulchella Benth. (B. Wilke 5 et al.); G: Bauhinia ungulata L. (D.S. Amorim 205 et al.); H: Bauhinia vespertilio S.Moore (D.S. Amorim 214).