Pouteria karsticola Londoño-Ech., 2025

Londoño-Echeverri, Yeison, 2025, New species in Chromolucuma, Chrysophyllum, Pouteria and Pradosia (Chrysophylloideae, Sapotaceae) from the Magdalena and Cauca Rivers basins in Colombia, Phytotaxa 697 (1), pp. 24-46 : 36-39

Pouteria karsticola Londoño-Ech. , sp. nov. ( Figs. 6 , 7 , 8 )

Type:— COLOMBIA. Antioquia. Municipio de Puerto Nare: corregimiento La Sierra, vereda Caño Seco, 250 m al suroriente de La Estrella, 428 m, 6°15'30.77"N, 74°40'55.41"W, 8 April 2013 (fl.), D. Suescún, H. Granada & L. Ríos 1238 (holotype: HUA, accession 190492 [!]).

Diagnosis:— Pouteria karsticola differs from P. bulliformis Jiménez & Pennington (1997: 169) by pedicels and outside of sepals persistently villous, sepals glabrous towards margin (vs. first villous-tomentose, losing the villous indumentum, becoming tomentose, sepals tomentose on entire outer surface), corolla lobes 2.1–2.2 times longer than corolla tube (vs. 1–1.2 times longer than tube), and anther thecae mammiform apically (vs. straight). Furthermore, Pouteria karsticola has shorter petioles 0.7–1.5 cm long (vs. 1.7–3.0 cm long), pedicels 4.0– 7.4 mm long (vs. 4–21 mm long), sepals 2.5–3.1 mm long (vs. 4.0– 4.5 mm long), corolla tube 1.4–1.7 mm long (vs. ca. 3 mm long), anthers 1.4–1.8 mm long (vs. 2.0– 2.5 mm long), and staminodes 1.5–1.8 (–2.5) mm long (vs. 2.5–3.0 mm long).

Treelets or trees 4–23 m tall with white latex. Bark unknown; indumentum reddish brown to gray; buds and branchlets villous-tomentose; cataphylls villous-tomentose; latex white. Leaves alternate, clustered at branch tips, spirally arranged; petiole 0.7–1.5 cm long, canaliculate above, villous-tomentose; blade 8.9–16.5 × 4.6–8.8 cm, broadly elliptic to obovate, basally acute to obtuse and cuneate to slightly rounded, decurrent, apically acute to obtuse and rounded to acuminate, entire, villous-tomentose along primary and secondary veins on both surfaces, sparsely so on the rest of the lower surface, glabrous on upper, glaucous on the lower, bullate; primary vein raised on the lower surface, impressed on the upper; secondary veins 14–21 on each side, raised on the lower surface, impressed on the upper, eucamptodromous; intersecondary occasionally veins present, extending or not towards margin; tertiary veins oblique; margin revolute at base. Fascicles axillar to leaves or large bracts, bearing 1–3 flowers at the time; bracts 0.9–1.2 × 0.4 cm, elliptic, obtuse and acuminate apically, pellicle-like outside, glabrous inside, early caducous; pedicel 4.0– 7.4 mm long (fruiting pedicels ca. 4.3 mm long), persistently villous-tomentose; bracteoles unknown. Flowers 5–6-merous, bisexual; perianth isomerous. Calyx quincuncial when 5-merous; sepals 2.5–3.1 × 1.9–2.3 mm, broadly elliptic to ovate, apically obtuse and rounded to straight, entire, persistently villous and with scattered stalkless trichomes outside, glabrous towards margin and inside; margin erose. Corolla cup-shaped, with scattered stalkless trichomes along tube and lobes base outside, glabrous inside, white; tube 1.4–1.7 mm long; lobes 2.9–3.6 × 2.3–3.3 mm, ovate to broadly so, truncate to cordate basally, obtuse and rounded apically, entire; margin erose. Stamens inserted in the tube apex, isomerous or anisomerous respect to perianth; filaments 0.8–1.0 × 0.2–0.3 mm, linear, glabrous; anthers 1.4–1.8 × 0.4–0.6 mm, lanceolate, glabrous; thecae mammiform apically. Staminodes 5 even in 6-merous flowers, inserted in the corolla lobes sinuses, 1.5–1.8(–2.5) × 0.3 (–1.1) mm, linear to lanceolate (elliptic), glabrous. Disc 0.4–0.5 × 1.9–2.0 mm. Gynoecium 2-locular, 2.7–3.1 × ca. 1.2 mm, conical, densely villous-tomentulose at base; stigma ca. 0.4 × 0.4 mm, glabrous. Fruits ca. 2.1 × 1.3 cm, ellipsoid, rostrate, villous-tomentulose, surface smooth, color unknown. Seeds unknown.

Distribution and habitat:— Pouteria karsticola is considered endemic to central Colombia, occurring in the Magdalena Valley biogeographical region on the eastern slopes of the Central Cordillera ( Fig. 3 ). It has been collected in the department of Antioquia. Pouteria karsticola inhabits lowland rainforests on karst reliefs, from 192–428 m elev., under “equatorial rainforest” climate (Af).

Phenology:— Flowers observed in April and November; fruits in November.

Etymology:— The epithet “ karsticola ” is composed of the word karst (landscapes associated with calcareous rocky outcrops) and the Latin suffix “cola” (inhabitant), indicating the karst reliefs as the habitat known for Pouteria karsticola .

Preliminary conservation status:— Pouteria karsticola is here proposed under “Endangered” EN category following the criteria B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii) because to its small both AOO and EOO, the few recorded subpopulations and the continuous decline of its habitat quality. Pouteria karsticola has an AOO of 16 km 2, an EOO of 22 km 2, and two known subpopulations. All subpopulations are outside of protected areas, one of them is fully inside of licenses of petroleum extraction and the other is partially inside of limestone mining projects. All subpopulations are located less than 10 km from urban centers. It is recorded from small and fragmented forest patches (<50 km 2) in continuous decline due to agricultural expansion and deforestation in the Magdalena Valley Region ( Sánchez-Cuervo & Aide 2013). Several limestone mining projects surround potential habitat of P. karsticola .

Additional specimens examined:— COLOMBIA. Antioquia. Municipio de Caracolí: vereda La Iraca, 150 m [250 m], 6°17'49.17"N, 74°41'58"W, 7 November 2009 (st.), P. Trujillo & H. F. Salazar 4501 ( HUA). Municipio de Puerto Nare: vereda El Diamante, 150 m [420 m], 6°16'34.67"N, 74°40'50.03"W, 6 November 2009 (fl.), P. Trujillo & H. F. Salazar 4497 ( HUA). Municipio de Puerto Triunfo : corregimiento Puerto Perales, hacienda Cerritos, 192 m, 7°39'30"N, 74°49'7"W, [6°0'22"N, 74°36'38"W], November 2009 (fr.), L. Londoño et al. 861 ( HUA) ; ibid., November 2009 (st.), L. Londoño et al. 954 ( HUA) .

Recognition:— This new species belongs to the aforementioned clade Q of Swenson et al. (2023a). This clade includes most of the species currently placed in Pouteria s.l. but that do not belong to Pouteria s.s. Under the classification by Pennington (1990), P. karsticola falls in P. sect. Franchetella ( Pierre 1890: 24) Eyma (1936: 184) due to its combination of leaf high order venation conspicuous, 5–6-merous perianth, calyx in a single whorl, cup-shaped corolla with tube shorter than the lobes, well-developed staminodes, corolla lobes and staminodes not fringed-ciliate or papillose, included stamens and style, and 2-locular ovary.

Pouteria karsticola is most similar to P. bulliformis and somewhat also to P. bracteata Pennington (1990: 260) . These species share most of the aforementioned features and besides, the presence of reddish-brown villous indumentum, bullate leaf blades with a similar number of secondary veins, and stamens inserted in the apex of corolla tube. Pouteria karsticola is distinguished from P. bulliformis as indicated in the diagnosis. An additional leaf feature can be useful to distinguish them, although only if fertile specimens are analyzed: P. karsticola has smaller leaf blades 8.9–16.5 × 4.6–8.8 cm (vs. 15.0–33.0 × 9.0–16.0 cm). In sterile individuals of P. karsticola leaf blades are slightly larger, 15.3–23.6 × 7.2–10.3 cm.

Pouteria karsticola differs from Pouteria bracteata by its leaf blades sparsely villous-tomentose on the lower surface (vs. densely so), shorter and early caducous bracts 0.9–1.2 cm long (vs. persistent in flowering, 1.8–2.2 cm long), which are pellicle-like outside and glabrous inside (vs. villous-tomentose throughout), no gradually and basipetally expanded (vs. gradually and basipetally expanded from cataphylls, bracts, stunted leaves to fully expanded leaves), shorter pedicels 4.0– 7.4 mm long (vs. 13–15 mm long), sepals glabrous towards margin (vs. villous-tomentose on the entire outer surface), and smaller fruits ca. 2.1 × 1.3 cm, villous-tomentulose (vs. 4.3–5.0 × 2.7–3.2 cm, glabrous).

Notes:— It could be interesting to confirm the presence of fascicles subtended by bracts across the clade Q, as well as explore its taxonomic relevance. This feature was unique of Pouteria bracteata among American Sapotaceae (1990) and currently it is also known in P. karsticola . Other apparently related species such as P. bulliformis , P. dictyoneura ( Grisebach 1862: 517) Radlkofer (1884: 464) , P. gardneri (Mart. & Miq. in Miquel 1863) Baehni (1942: 233), and P. simulans Monach. in Steyermark et al. (1953: 488) have axillar to ramiflorous fascicles, being the latter subtended by broad scars, perhaps from large and caducous bracts. Pouteria gardneri and P. dictyoneura were closely related in the phylogeny by Swenson et al. (2023a) and Pennington (1990) and Jiménez & Pennington (1997) recognized all these species as closely related.

Finally, as most of the species currently placed in Pouteria , those listed under P. sect. Franchetella by Pennington (1990) will be probably transferred to another genus or genera ( Swenson et al. 2023a). Despite the future need to transfer this species from Pouteria to another (to be recognized) genus, the description of P. karsticola allows its inclusion in systematics studies, and conservation plans for its endangered habitat.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Geographical distribution of Chromolucuma pentagona Londoño-Ech., Chrysophyllum caucanum Londoño-Ech., Pouteria karsticola Londoño-Ech. and Pradosia tomentirostris Londoño-Ech.

FIGURE 6. Field photographs:A–D Chrysophyllum caucanum Londoño-Ech.; A. Bark, B. Flowers, lateral view, C. Flowers, upper view, D. Immature fruit; E–F Pouteria karsticola Londoño-Ech.; E. Flowering branchlet, F. Flower, upper view. (A, D from Londoño et al. 292; B–C from Londoño et al. 286; E–F from the holotype. A–D by Y. Londoño; E–F by Diego Suescún.).

FIGURE 7. Holotype of Pouteria karsticola Londoño-Ech. (HUA).

FIGURE 8. Illustration of Pouteria karsticola Londoño-Ech.: A. Fruiting branch, B. Fruit, C. Fascicles subtended by both, leaves or large bracts, D. Flora bud, showing outer sepal glabrous towards margin at left, E. Pedicel and calyx, showing persistent villous indumentum and outer sepals glabrous towards margin, F. Flower with calyx manually open, lateral view, G. Flower inside, showing gynoecium, stamens and staminodes, H. Detail of anther, showing theca apex mammiform. (A–B from Londoño et al. 861; C–D from the holotype; E–H from Trujillo & Salazar 4497.).