Alstroemeria urubiciensis L.P.Felix & M.Guerra, 2025

Nascimento, Jéssica, Nollet, Felipe, Guerra, Marcelo & Felix, Leonardo P., 2025, Morphological and karyotypic characterization of Alstroemeria urubiciensis (Alstroemeriaceae): a new species from Santa Catarina, Brazil, Phytotaxa 687 (2), pp. 278-286 : 281-284

Alstroemeria urubiciensis L.P.Felix & M.Guerra sp. nov. ( Figs 3 – 5 )

Type:― BRAZIL. Santa Catarina: Urubicí, Rodovia Br 475, 27 o 57 ʼ 32.9 ˮS, 49 o 40 ’ 40,2 ” W, 896 m, 28 Nov 2021, Felix & Guerra 19355 (holotype: EAN; isotypes: IPA, MBM) .

The new species resembles Alstroemeria cunha Vellozo (1825: 131) due to the size of the vegetative parts, exhibiting membranous leaves distributed along the stems, and flowers with slightly concave outer and inner tepals, as well as its occurrence in humid forests. However, the new species is distinguished by its yellow-green flowers, with outer tepals bearing numerous longitudinal vinaceous lines, papillate basally; red-orange flowers of A. cunha lack vinaceous lines and papillae at the base.

Perennial herbs, erect, 40−150 cm in height, with a horizontal rhizome and elongated tuberous roots, greyish brown; stems cylindrical, green to brownish, glabrous, sometimes sulcate. Leaves of the vegetative stems resupinate, concentrated in the distal third of the stems; the lower leaves smaller and sparser, resupinate or not, glabrous, lanceolate, attenuate base, decurrent, acute apex, 1.0−2.0 × 5.5−8.0 cm; the middle leaves larger, glabrous, lanceolate, attenuate base, decurrent, acute apex, 3.0−4.0 × 7.0−11.0 cm; the upper leaves smaller, glabrous, elliptical, decurrent base, obtuse apex, 0.7−1.0 × 2.3−3.0 cm; leaves of the reproductive stems more sparse, with highly variable size in the same and different fertile stems, distributed mainly in the middle third of the stems, gradually decreasing or absent as they approach the inflorescence and the base of the plant, linear to oblong-lanceolate, resupinate or not, glabrous on both sides, slightly prominent veins, long attenuate base, acute apex; the middle-third leaves better developed, larger, lanceolate, elliptical, and more rarely spatulate, 1.5−3.5 × 10.0−15.0 cm. Inflorescences simple, umbelliform cymes, glabrous, sulcate pedicels, narrowed basally, 4.0− 5.5 cm long at flowering; leaf-like bracts, glabrous, slightly prominent veins, elliptical, membranous, flat to strongly wavy surface, long attenuate base, entire margin, 0.5−2.5 × 3.5−8.0 cm; bracteoles absent. Floral buds green at the base and apex, ridged; flowers open, odourless, campanulate, yellow-green, 2.5−4.0 cm long; outer tepals slightly cucullate, obovate, cuspidate apex, decurrent base, internally papillate, crenulate distal margin, entire median and proximal margins, yellow-green in the proximal median portion and along the entire margin; distal median portion green, with longitudinal vinaceous lines, the upper tepals 0.8−1.3 × 2.8−3.5 cm, the lower tepals 0.9−1.1 × 3.2−3.8 cm; inner tepals obovate, cuspidate apex, entire margin, glabrous base, mainly yellow-green, the upper tepals 0.7−1.3 × 3.2−3.7 cm, the lower tepals 0.7−1.0 × 2.8−3.2 cm; stamens included, filaments laminar, glabrous, forming a set of three larger and three slightly smaller, 2.8−3.6 cm; stigma included, cylindrical style, glabrous, 2.5−3.2 cm. Capsule not observed.

Distribution:— Known only from the locality where the type specimen was collected, in the rural area of Urubici Municipality, Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil ( Fig. 5).

Habitat:— Edge of a montane ombrophilous forest in the Atlantic Forest phytogeographic domain. Although efforts to collect more specimens in this location and montane forest formations in other states of the region are necessary, this restricted distribution suggests a strong endemism for this species.

Etymology:— Derived from the name of the municipality where the type material was collected.

Conservation:— Known from a single population in an area of less than 10 km ² (B1a, B2a) with about 20 mature individuals (D) in an unprotected area. These characteristics lead to the species being considered critically endangered (CR), according to IUCN criteria (2022).

Notes:— A predominantly green colour is a relatively rare characteristic in Alstroemeria . However, for Brazil, there is a record of at least one other species with greenish flowers, A. viridiflora Warming (1872: 118) . This species can be easily distinguished from A. urubiciensis by its more robust stature, reaching one to two meters in height, presence of leaves distributed throughout the vegetative stem (concentrated in the upper third in A. urubiciensis ) and flowers with reddish or pink tepals with a green apex (flowers with yellow-green tepals and green apex in A. urubiciensis ). Additionally, A. viridiflora is exclusively distributed in the Cerrado phytogeographic domain, occurring in open Cerrado at the edges of riparian forests in the states of Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and the Federal District ( Assis 2002; Assis et al. 2022), whereas A. urubiciensis is known only from a population in the mountain forest of Santa Catarina State.

At least three other Brazilian species of Alstroemeria show some green coloration in their flowers: A. psittacina Lehmann (1826: 17) , A. longistaminea Mart. in Linné et al. (1829: 739), and the recently described A. maranhensis M.C.Assis & A.W.C.Ferreira in Ferreira et al. (2024: e20230162). Among these, only A. psittacina is reported for the southern region of Brazil, although that species differs by having predominantly reddish flowers, non-papillate bases of the outer tepals and entire margins. The other two species are restricted to the Northeast Region, with A. maranhensis occurring exclusively in Cerrado vegetation ( Ferreira et al. 2024), whereas A. longistaminea is found in anthropized environments, Caatinga vegetation, rocky outcrops and rupestrian fields (Assis et al. 2025). Table 2 presents the characteristics of the species closely related to A. urubiciensis .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Vegetative and reproductive parts of Alstroemeria urubiciensis.A. Vegetative branch. B. Reproductive branches with flowers at different anthesis stages. C. Detail of fertile branch with flower buds and flowers at anthesis. D. Detail of the inflorescence showing flowers, flower buds, and inflorescence bracts.

FIGURE 4. Details of leaves (A–F) and flowers (G–H) of Alstroemeria urubiciensis.A–C. Leaves from the fertile branch. D–E. Leaves from the vegetative branch. A, D. Lower leaves. B, E. Middle leaves. C, F. Upper leaves. G. Flower with green predominant on the outer parts and tepal tips, and yellow on the inner middle parts. H. Outer and inner tepals in yellowish green, with the smaller lower inner tepal. I. Stamens forming a larger and a smaller set.