Calea roqueana V.R.Bueno, Prata-Silveira & Bentes, 2025

Bueno, Vinícius R., Bentes, Marina Soares, Ramos, Renato, Zavatin, Danilo A. & Prata-Silveira, Ananda, 2025, Three new species of Calea (Asteraceae, Neurolaeneae) from the sky islands of the Espinhaço Range, Phytotaxa 689 (2), pp. 185-203 : 189-193

Calea roqueana V.R.Bueno, Prata-Silveira & Bentes , sp. nov.

Type:— BRAZIL. Minas Gerais: Monte Azul, Pico da Formosa , 15°13’23.0”S, 42°48’43.4”W, 30 June 2023 (fl., fr.), D. A. Zavatin, F. R. Sousa & S. B. Anjos 1872 (holotype: BHZB!; isotype SPF!). ( Figs. 3 , 4 )

Diagnosis:— Calea roqueana is morphologically close to C. repanda , but it is distinguishable from the latter by the sessile leaves (vs. petiolate leaves), peduncle 1.2–5.5 cm long (vs. 0.45–0.7 cm), two outermost series of phyllaries foliaceous (vs. scarious with apex foliaceous), paleae 13–13.9 mm long (vs. 8.2–9.6 mm), and cypselae 3.8–4.6 mm long (vs. 3.0– 3.2 mm).

Shrubby habit, erect, slightly branched, 0.45–0.6 m tall. Stems castaneous, cylindrical, non-striate, often striate, densely tomentose or densely pilose, often pilose, internodes 0.78–6.25 cm long. Leaves decussate, sessile; blades 1.35–3.86 × 0.65–3.49 cm, wide ovate or suborbiculate, sometimes narrow ovate or very wide ovate or orbiculate, base subcordate to rounded, apex obtuse, rarely rounded, venation acrodromous basal, margin crenate-serrate, slightly revolute; abaxial densely pilose to sparsely pilose, often sparsely hirsute, veins densely pilose, densely glandular-punctate, often glandular-punctate, adaxial surface pilose to sparsely pilose, eglandular; coriaceous, green, concolorous. Capitulescence cymose, axis 0–0.75 cm long, branching to 2 nd order ramifications, 2–4 secondary stems, sometimes monocephalous; peduncle 1.2–5.5 cm long, densely pilose, often densely hirsute, eglandular. Capitulum heterogamous, radiate, involucrum wide cylindrical, often campanulate (6.5–) 12.1–14.4 × 8.1–16.6 mm, 7-seriate; two outermost series of phyllaries olivaceous, foliaceous, inconspicuously striate, apex obtuse, margin entire, green, densely pilose or puberulous; first series blade 6.6–7 × 4.5–4.7 mm, wide elliptic, margin revolute, densely glandular-punctate or glandular-punctate, margin revolute, 2-striate; second series blade 5–5.8 × 5.2–5.4 mm, orbiculate or panduriform, sparsely glandular-punctate, margin revolute apically, 4–6-striate; third series yellowish green to green, scarious or scarious with apex foliaceous, blade 7.1–7.7 × 5.2–5.8 mm, ovate to wide ovate or panduriform, apex obtuse, margin entire, densely ciliate, revolute apically or flat, glabrescent, apex glandular-punctate or eglandular, 8–12-striate; two intermediate series yellowish green to pale yellow, scarious, blade ovate, sometimes narrow ovate, apex rounded, margin entire, whitish-green, flat, glabrous, conspicuously striate; fourth series blade 7.5–7.8 × 5.4–5.7 mm, 10–12-striate; fifth series blade 8.5–10.2 × 5.2–5.4 mm, 10–12-striate; two innermost series yellowish green to pale yellow to translucid, blade scarious, margin entire, pale yellow, flat, glabrous, conspicuously striate; sixth series blade 10.2–11.9 × 4.2–5.5 mm, oblong, apex rounded, 10–13-striate; seventh series blade 12.5–14 × 3.5–3.7 mm, oblong or narrow oblong, apex obtuse, 8–10-striate. Receptacle convex, holopaleaceous, paleae 13–13.9 × 2.4–2.5 mm, oblanceolate, concave, apex obtuse, yellow. Ray florets 5–9, pistillate, corolla liguliform, 15.9–18.8 mm long, tube 4–4.4 mm long, limb 11.9–14.4 × 5–5.1 mm, wide oblanceolate to oblong, apex 3–4-lobulate, 4–5 veins, yellow, abaxial surface densely glandular-punctate to glandular-punctate, adaxial surface glabrous; style arms 1.1–1.2 mm long, yellow. Disc florets 35–40, bisexual, corolla tubulose, 6.1–7.5 mm long, tube 1.3–2.3 mm long, lobes 1–1.6 mm long, yellow, glabrous or sparsely glandular-punctate; anthers 2.4–3.5 mm long, apical anther appendages ovate, yellow; style arms 0.9–1.7 mm long, linear, yellow. Cypselae 3.8–4.6 mm long, black, obconic, ray cypselae 3-angled, disc cypselae 4-angled, glabrous, ribs puberulous to densely puberulous; pappus 8–11 scales, monotypic, polylength, free, uniseriate, shorter scales 2.8–3.6 mm long, medium scales 3.2–4.5 mm long, longer scales 4.2–5.3 mm long, linear, apex acuminate, margins entire, erose.

Etymology:—The epithet “ roqueana ” was given in honor of Dr. Nádia Roque (1970–2024), who was a biologist with master and doctorate degrees in Botany. She was a professor at the Universidade Federal da Bahia (Federal University of Bahia— UFBA) and served as curator of the ALCB herbarium ( Thiers 2025) for 11 years, in the vascular plants section. In addition to being a professor, she supervised undergraduate, master›s, and Ph.D. students at the Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (State University of Feira de Santana) and at UFBA, focusing on Systematics and Floristics research of Angiosperms, mainly Asteraceae . She was also a CNPq research productivity fellow and collaborated on projects with researchers from the Smithsonian Institution ( United States of America), Museo de La Plata ( Argentina), and Instituto de Biociências ( Brazil). Nádia Roque was a prolific researcher with more than 100 articles published, three books organized or authored, 20 books chapters, and 36 new species described. As a collector, N. Roque made more than 5400 collections, and even the first collection of C. roqueana was made by her.

Distribution, habitat and phenology:— Calea roqueana occurs in the south of Bahia and north of Minas Gerais, states of Brazil ( Fig. 5 ). This new species grows in campo rupestre areas ( Miola et al. 2021) associated with sandy soils and rock outcrops at elevations around 1300–1350 m a.s.l. The specimens were collected from June to August with florets and fruits.

Conservation Status: — Among the taxonomic novelties of this study, C. roqueana is the only species that does not have records of occurrence within protected areas. The records found for C. roqueana are approximately 55 kilometers apart, which is an extremely considerable distance,considering that the species occurs along the high areas of the Northern Espinhaço. Although apparently contiguous, the mountain range presents a mosaic of different phytophysiognomies (cerrado, dry forest, caatinga, rocky fields, rocky outcrops, among others), with different soil types, comprising a set of mountain ranges, interrupted by embedded valleys. Thus, the environments where the species occurs are disjointed, with the occurrence of only two subpopulations being indicated, even though the collection efforts are increasing in the evaluated region. Therefore, it was impossible to assess the Extent of Occurrence ( EOO), only the Occupation area ( AOO, 8 km 2). As indicated for other new species in the region ( Zavatin et al. 2023), the main impacts are clean energy projects implemented or under environmental licensing (wind and solar) and minings of quartzite stone for building coatings. Considering the distribution aspects and existing threats, the Critically Endangered ( CR) status is indicated using the B 2b(ii,iii,iv,v) and D criteria.

Paratypes: — BRASIL. Bahia: Licínio de Almeida, Serra Geral, trilha para o riacho de areia, 14°45’33.0”S, 42°34’34.0”W, 07 August 2014, (fl., fr.), N. Roque, M. L. Guedes, A. Gandara & L. Campos 4479 ( ALCB 115554). Minas Gerais, Monte Azul, montanha ao sul da cidade, 15°13’23.0”S, 42°48’43”W, 11 June 2022, (fl., fr.), M. L. Brotto & R. R. Voltz 5081 ( MBM 438912).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Calea roqueana sp. nov. (Neurolaeneae, Asteraceae). A. Flowering branch. B. Leaf with serrate margins, adaxial surface. C. Capitulum with ray florets removed to show involucre, paleae and disc floret arrangements. D. Phyllary of the first series. E. Phyllary of the second series. F. Phyllary of the third series. G. Phyllary of the fourth series. H. Phyllary of the fifth series. I. Phyllary of the sixth series. J. Phyllary of the seventh series. K. Ray floret with pappus removed to show the tube floret. L. Disc floret with pappus removed to show the tube floret. M. Cypsela with polylength pappus scales.A–M drawn from D. A. Zavatin et al. 1872 (BHZB); A–M: millimeter scale. Illustration by Débora Dalzotto.

FIGURE 4. Calea roqueana sp. nov. (Neurolaeneae, Asteraceae). A. Flowering branch. B. Magnification of the teeth. C. Magnification of the glandular-punctate trichomes. D. Capitulum in frontal view. E. Old capitulum in frontal view. F–H. Capitulum in lateral view. I. Radiate floret. J. Disc flore. K. Cypsela. Image authorship: Danilo A. Zavatin.

FIGURE 5. Occurrence map of Calea roqueana (Neurolaeneae, Asteraceae) in Brazil. Figure by: Renato R. Silva.