Bauhinia pulchella Bentham (1870: 190)

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 : 161-162

14. Bauhinia pulchella Bentham (1870: 190) ( Figure 4F )

Type:— Brazil. Piaui: Oeiras , May 1839, G. Gardner 2150 [lectotype: first step designated by Vaz (2011), second step designated here, K000019450 photograph!; isolectotypes: BM000535629 photograph!, G00388849 photograph!, G00388850 photograph!, GH00061154 photograph!, K000019451 photograph!, K000019465 photograph!, L0329728 photograph!, P00798601 photograph!, P00798602 photograph!, P00798603 photograph!, W0030214 photograph!, W18890018607 photograph!] .

Treelets or shrubs, 1.5–3.5 m tall. Branches unarmed, extrafloral nectaries present. Stipules persistent, ovate. Leaves unifoliolate, petiole 0.7–1.5 × 0.05–0.1 cm; leaf blade 3.1–7.3 × 3.1–7.2 cm, bilobed, base subcordate or cordate to truncate, apex of lobes rounded, leaflets ovate to elliptic. Inflorescence terminal, peduncle 0.2–2.0 cm long; rachis 6.0– 16.5 cm long, floral bracts ovate, 0.05 cm long. Flowers 10–32 per inflorescence; pedicel 0.8–2.0 cm long; developed floral bud 4.5–6.2 cm long, smooth, tubular; hypanthium 0.8–1.3 cm long, apically internally tomentose and basally glabrous; sepals 2.1–5.6 cm long; petals 1.0–2.5 × 0.05–0.1 cm, clawed, linear, apex acute; fertile stamens 10, heteromorphic, filaments 2.1–6.0 cm long; gynoecium, stipe 1.2–2.4 cm long, glabrous, ovary 0.7–1.1 cm long, sometimes with numerous glandular trichomes, style 1.2–3.4 cm long, with glandular trichomes, stigma clavate. Fruits not seen.

Examined material: — Brazil. Mato Grosso: Chapada dos Guimarães, Mata Fria, 08 April 2019, (bd., fl.), B. Wilke 5 et al. ( UFMT) ; km 14, Cuiabá– Chapada dos Guimarães, 25 February 1985, (bd.), A. T. Oliveira-Filho 273 ( UFMT) .

Additional examined material: — Brazil. Mato Grosso: Alta Floresta, Fazenda Estrela, topo da Serra de Apiacás , 21 April 1997, (bd.), V. C. Souza 15273 et al. ( ESA, UFMT, HUEFS) ; Barra do Garças, Fazenda São Luís , 15°56’45”S, 52°01’59”W, 22 March 1997, (bd.), G. F. Árbocz 3538 et al. ( UFMT) .

Distribution: This species occurs in Bolivia and Brazil ( POWO 2023). In Brazil, it is found in the North (PA, RO and TO), Northeast (BA, CE, MA, PE, PI and RN), Central-West (GO, MS and MT) and Southeast (MG) regions ( Vaz & Santos 2023). Bauhinia pulchella occurs in the Amazon Forest, Caatinga and Cerrado domains ( Vaz & Santos 2023), and in the study area it is found in campos rupestres (highland rocky fields) and cerrado lato sensus.

Taxonomic comments: It belongs to Bauhinia sect. Pauletia ser. Cansenia . Bauhinia pulchella is recognized by its bilobed, ovate to elliptic leaf blade, up to 7.0 cm long (in B. curvula the blade is bifoliolate), reddish indumentum in the primary veins, leafy bracts reaching up to 0.05 cm long. According to Vaz & Tozzi (2003a), this species is in the B. fusconervis complex, along with B. curvula , sharing characters such as the tubular floral bud with tomentose indumentum and numerous glandular trichomes, and the internally tomentose staminal column.

Bentham (1870) described B. pulchella based on material collected by Martius, Riedel, Claussen and Pohl in Minas Gerais, Gardner in Piauí, and Martius and Blanchet in Bahia, but he did not indicate which specimen would be the holotype. Vaz (2011) indicated the specimen Gardner 2150 from K as the lectotype, but we located three specimens of this collection at K, thus making a second step lectotypification necessary. We select the material K000019450 and here designate it as lectotype, as it presents a higher number of floral buds, developed hypanthium, and developed stipe and leaf blade.

Figures

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).