Cyathea floribunda (Hook. & Baker) Domin, 1929

Lehnert, Marcus, Tejedor, Adrian, Kessler, Michael, Rodríguez Duque, Wilson D. & Gallego, Luis Fernando Giraldo, 2025, A reassessment of the Neotropical Cyathea pungens complex (Cyatheaceae), European Journal of Taxonomy 988, pp. 1-57 : 12-15

Cyathea floribunda (Hook. & Baker) Domin

Fig. 4

Cyathea floribunda (Hook. & Baker) Domin ( Domin 1929a: 262) . – Alsophila floribunda Hook. in Hook. & Baker (Hooker & Baker 1874: 458) . – Trichipteris floribunda (Hook. & Baker) R.M.Tryon ( Tryon 1970: 45) .

– Type: PERU • San Martín, Prov. San Martín, Mt. Campana ; Aug. 1855 (isolectotypes Dec. 1855); R. Spruce 4715; lectotype: K [ K000227562 ]!, designated by Lehnert 2016; isolectotypes: K [ K000227563 ]!, W [ W-Rchb. 1889-0198979 ]!. Excluded syntypes are discussed below.

Alsophila bulligera Rosenst. ( Rosenstock 1928: 57) . – Cyathea bulligera (Rosenst.) Domin ( Domin 1930: 101) . – Trichipteris bulligera (Rosenst.) R.M.Tryon ( Tryon 1970: 45) .

– Type: BOLIVIA • La Paz, Prov. Larecaja, San Carlos ( Mapiri Region ); 850 m a.s.l.; 30 Mar. 1927; O. Buchtien 288; lectotype: S [ S-R-199 ] image!, designated by Lehnert 2016; isolectotypes: GH [ 01100756 ]!, NY [ 00148642 ]!, US [ 01100756 ]!.

Etymology

The epithet refers to the abundant sori, which used to be likened to flowers or fruits.

Selected material studied

ECUADOR – Prov. Morona-Santiago, Cantón Gualaquiza • Off main road south of Cualaquiza, at turn-off to Bomboiza ; 3.45° S, 78.55° W; 800 m a.s.l.; 8 Feb. 1993; A. Fay & L. Fay 4219; MO. – Prov. Zamora-Chinchipe, Cantón El Pangui • Campamento Shaime (Shaimi) along Río Nangaritza , trail to the oil bird cave (“cueva de los tayos”); 4°19′ S, 78º40′ W; 950–1050 m a.s.l.; 6 Nov. 2004; M. Lehnert 1524; GOET, QCA, UC .

PERU – Amazonas, Prov. Bagua • Aramango, above Nueva Esperanza ; 5.3558333° S, 78.3733334° W; 1271 m a.s.l.; 1 Nov. 2012; H. van der Werff, L. Valenzuela G., G. Shareva M. & A. Reyes Barrantes 24820; MO, UC. – Junín, Prov. Junín • Pichis Trail , Yapas ; 10.834° S, 75.210° W; 1350–1600 m a.s.l.; 28 Jun. 1929; E.P. Killip & A.C. Smith 25536; NY, US. – San Martín, Prov. Rioja • Along road Rioja-Pedro Ruiz , in area with limestone; 5.674° S, 77.676° W; 1170 m a.s.l.; 23 Mar. 1998; H. van der Werff, B. Gray, R. Vásquez & R. Rojas 15511; MO, NY, UC . • Tarapoto ; 1855–1856; R. Spruce 4724; E, K .

BOLIVIA – Cochabamba, Prov. Carrasco • 149 km antigua carretera Cochabamba-Villa Tunari ; 17.117° S, 65.567° W; 1000 m a.s.l.; 31 Aug. 1996; M. Kessler 7993 with J. Gonzales; T. Krömer, A. Acebey, B. Hibbits, & M. Sonnentag; LPB, UC . – La Paz, Prov. Franz Tamayo • Calabatea , 44 km SW of Apolo, ca 10 km S of Correo , drainage of Rio Yuyo , Transect 1; 14°55′ S, 68°20′ W; 1500–1550 m a.s.l.; 4 Jun. 1990; A. Gentry & St.G. Beck 70926; LPB, MO .

Description

Trunks 0.5–3 m tall, 4.0–15.0 cm diam., straight to decumbent, covered with old petiole bases, due to these sparsely to strongly aculeate; apices hidden between petioles; adventitious buds absent. Leaves 125– 170 cm long, held with petioles erect to ascending, blades ± planar, weakly arching. Petioles 36–46 cm long, dark yellowish brown to stramineous, basally brown to dark brown, sparsely aculeate, prickles to 2 mm long; aerophores to 20 × 1 mm, in a ± continuous line on each side, inconspicuous in dried material, whitish in fresh material; without remote (aphlebioid) pinnae at the petiole bases; petiole scurf a tomentum of small squamellae 0.2–0.4 mm long, tan with brown parts, brown in general aspect, appearing as small flakes on the epidermis, persistent but easily abraded. Petiole scales 11.0–25.0 × 2.2–3.8 mm, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, tapering to linear tips, straight to falcate, weakly twisted, concordantly bicolorous, shiny dark brown to castaneous, with narrow, often abraded whitish margins, scales not persistent in distal petiole parts, only scattered her and on lower rachis. Blades to 115 × 83 cm, bipinnate-pinnatifid, ovate-elliptic to obovate, chartaceous; dark olive-green adaxially, olive-green abaxially; smaller plants with long petioles and ovate-elliptic blades with 8–10 pinna pairs, basal ones ca ½ the length of longest pinnae, larger plants with short petioles and basally tapering blades with 10–16 pinna pairs, basal ones ca ⅓ the length of longest pinnae, patent to weakly reflexed; pinnae alternate; apices gradually reduced. Leaf axes (rachises, costae and costules) stramineous to yellowish brown on both sides, rachises sparsely aculeate in lower half, otherwise inermous; adaxially with antrorsely curved uniseriate, reddish brown hairs 0.5–1.0 mm long, abaxially with scurf remnants and small, erect curved multicellular hairs to 0.5 mm, costae and costules also with whitish to pale brown bullate squamules, 0.5–1.0 × 0.5 mm with subulate tips, larger flat squamules absent; junctions rachises/costae abaxially weakly swollen, each with an inconspicuous planar pneumathode, dark brown, elliptic, to 2.5–3.0 × 1.5 mm, area around it often black in dried specimens (foliar nectary). Largest pinnae to 41.5 cm long, sessile (appearing stalked if proximal basiscopic pinnule fallen off), pinnae patent to weakly ascending, distally narrowly to broadly green alate, the pinnatifid terminal segment shortly decurrent into the costae. Largest pinnules 45–60 × 11–14 mm, linear-oblong, incised to ¾ of their width (usually 2 mm between sinuses and costules), sessile, bases truncate to weakly cuneate, tips obtuse to long acute (rarely attenuate), largest segments 9.0 × 3.0–4.0 mm, oblong, patent to ascending, distally weakly falcate, with entire to weakly dentate margins, tips rounded to obtuse; basal segments subopposite, the lowest ones not remote from each other, sinuses narrowly triangular to elliptic, acute, to 1.0 mm wide, sometimes closed; veins prominent abaxially and adaxially, midveins adaxially ridged, veins ending in cartilaginous segment margins; midveins yellowish brown abaxially and adaxially, lateral veins yellowish to greenish brown or blackish, glabrous adaxially except for occasional single hairs on the midveins, abaxially with some pale bullate squamules and short multicellular hairs on midveins, absent between the veins; sterile and fertile veins simple. Sori 0.8–1.0 mm diam., medial to supramedial (sometimes appearing submarginal when sori still complete), parallel to the midveins, indusia absent; receptacles globose to ellipsoid, 0.2–0.3 mm diam.; paraphyses few to numerous, hyaline, tan, shorter than sporangia (0.2–0.5 mm). Spores not examined.

Distribution and ecology

Southern Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia ( Fig. 2B ) at elevations of ca 800–1550 m a.s.l. in the understory of humid mountain forests.

Remarks

Excluded syntypes of Alsophila floribunda belong to following species:

Cyathea dombeyi : B [B 20 0000122]!, BM [BM000777032 p.p. (mix with C. pungens ): “In montibus secus flumen Mayo, prope Tarapoto; Jul.–Aug. 1856 ”] image!, P [P00642346 p.p. (mix with C. pungens )]!, P [P00642351]! (with scales on rachis) Ɨ rounded segments, pointed pinnules, indument flakey, flat.

Cyathea pungens : BM [BM000777031, BM000777032 p.p. (mix with C. dombeyi ), BM000777346: “In montibus secus flumen Mayo, prope Tarapoto; Jul.–Aug. 1856 ”] image!, P [P00642346 p.p. (mix with C. dombeyi ): “Julius 56”]!, P [P00642349: “In montibus secus flumen Mayo, prope Tarapoto; Jul.–Aug. 1856 ”]!, P [P00642350]!, W [W-Rchb. 0053380: “ 4715 var, in monte Campana pr. Tarapoto, (…) Aug. 56”]! Ɨ pointed, sessile pinnules, hardly any indument.

Cyathea pycnocarpa : “ 4715 forma pygmea , in m. Pingullu-Urku [ca 6.356° S, 76.688° W, ca 800–1500 m a.s.l.], Aug. 56”; P [P00642347, P00642348]! Ɨ with pale sub-bullate squamules in rachis axil, lower costules with dark brown bullate and flat squamules, the larger ones with white margins; petiole scales with relatively wide white margins, dark brown teeth scattered.

The isolectotype has the original label by Spruce stating “I have not seen this growing; two imperfect fronds were brot. [sic] me - they seemed to have been about 4 feet long”. The amount and variation of the existing material suggests that Spruce has used more than these two original leaves.

Described by Hooker as having sessile blunt pinnules incised ⅓–½, medial sori and abundant minute pale scales on the veins and rachis abaxially. The excluded type material differs in one or more of these characters: Cyathea pycnocarpa has almost subentire pinnules; Cyathea dombeyi has such deeply incised pinnules but with tapering tips and the squamules below are not as notably pale as in C. floribunda . This mixture probably answers the question how Spruce managed to generate so many duplicates of each number. In this particular case, the different collection dates and localities are clear indicators that several individuals were combined under one catalogue number.

The type material of the synonym Alsophila bulligera lacks the petiole (as does that of Alsophila floribunda ) but at least enough material is present to indicate a tapering blade base and a more or less gradually reduced blade apex. The type collections of both names appear very differenct at first glance, because most pinnules in A. floribunda are remote from each other whereas those of A. bulligera are close, with almost no gap between them. In pinnule length and distance as measured from costule to costule, however, both types are very similar. Fertile pinnules tend to be narrower than sterile ones in this taxon, and the different appearances stem from the fact that the material of A. floribunda is fully fertile, and that of A. bulligera predominantly sterile.

Figures

Fig. 4. Cyathea floribunda (Hook. & Baker) Domin. A. Type of Alsophila bulligera Rosenst.; showing weak dimorphism between fertile (left) and sterile (right) pinnules (O. Buchtien 288, lectotype S-R-199; © Swedish Museum of Natural History. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://herbarium.nrm.se/specimens/S-R-199). B. Type of Alsophila floribunda Hook. & Baker, representing a fully fertile leaf (Spruce 4715, lectotype K000227562; © The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. CC BY-NC 4.0. https://plants.jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.k000227562). Note that the length of the pinnules and the distances between the costules are roughly the same in both specimens.

Fig. 2. Distribution of taxa of the Cyathea pungens complex except C. pungens (Wild.) Domin s. str. A. Cyathea dombeyi (Desv.) Lellinger (blue triangles), C. pycnocarpa (Kunze) Domin (green dots), C. squamata (Klotzsch) Domin (black squares), C. werffii R.C.Moran (magenta dots). B. Cyathea floribunda (Hook. & Baker) Domin (black squares), C. klotzschiana Domin (black dots), C. oblonga Domin (orange diamonds), C. pastazensis (Hieron.) Domin (blue triangles), C. praecincta (Klotzsch) Domin (green dots); note that the ranges of C. klotzschiana in the north and C. floribunda in the south do not overlap but are separated by C. pastazensis.