Chromolucuma pentagona 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 : 26-31

Chromolucuma pentagona Londoño-Ech. , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1 , 2 )

Type:— COLOMBIA. Antioquia. Municipio de San Luis: quebrada La Cristalina , sector NW, 470–580 m, 6°0'0"N, 74°45'0"W, 4 December 1986 (bud & fl.), J. G. Ramírez & D. Cárdenas 222 (holotype: JAUM, accession 020623 [!]; isotype: MO barcode 1967040 [n.v.]) .

Diagnosis:— Chromolucuma pentagona differs from C. cespedesiiformis Morales (2012: 108) by leaves with 22–37 pairs of secondary veins (vs. 16–19 pairs), cauliflorous to ramiflorous fascicles (vs. axillary), shorter pedicels 6–11 mm long (vs. 11–15 mm long), stamens inserted in the middle of the corolla tube (vs. in the base), and longer staminodes 1.6–1.8 mm long (vs. 0.8–1.2 mm long).

Trees 8–30 m tall with hyaline, whitish, cream or yellowish latex. Bark unknown; indumentum reddish brown to gray; buds and branchlets tomentulose to pellicle-like, glabrescent; stipules 14.0–34.0 × 4.9–8.2 mm, ovate to narrowly lanceolate, acute and straight apically, entire, tomentulose to pellicle-like, glabrescent; margin usually involute. Leaves alternate, evenly spaced along branches, spirally arranged; petiole 2.1–5.7 cm long, canaliculate above near leaf blade, pellicle-like, glabrescent; blade 21.5–49.0 × 6.5–12.3 cm, oblanceolate, basally acute to rarely obtuse and cuneate to rarely rounded, slightly decurrent, apically acute to slightly obtuse and often acuminate, entire, pellicle-like along primary and secondary veins on both surfaces, as well as some scattered trichomes on the blade, glabrescent on the upper surface; primary vein raised on the lower surface, flat to slightly impressed on the upper; secondary veins 22–37 on each side, raised on the lower surface, flat on the upper, eucamptodromous; intersecondary veins often present, not extending towards margin; tertiary veins oblique; margin slightly revolute. Fascicles ramiflorous or cauliflorous, occasionally persistent and developing into short scaly shoots up to 11 mm long, bearing 2–5 flowers at the time; bracts and bracteoles 1.9–2.4 × 1.6–2.1 mm, ovate, acute and straight to short-acuminate apically, tomentulose to pellicle-like outside, glabrous inside, persistent in flowering; pedicel 6–11 mm long (fruiting pedicels unknown), tomentulose to pellicle-like. Flowers 5-merous, bisexual. Calyx quincuncial; sepals 2.9–3.6 × 1.9–3.2 mm, broadly ovate to elliptic, acute to obtuse and straight apically, entire, tomentulose to pellicle-like outside, ciliolate, glabrous towards margin in inner ones, glabrous inside, occasionally tomentulose or with some scattered trichomes at apex. Corolla dome-shaped, glabrous throughout, papillose towards apex on both surfaces, cream colored; tube 1.5–1.6 mm long; lobes 2.5–2.9 × 1.8–2.3 mm, ovate to nearly orbicular, obtuse and rounded apically, entire; margin papillose. Stamens inserted in the middle of corolla tube; filaments 2.2–2.5 × 0.2–0.3 mm, linear, glabrous; anthers 0.8–0.9 × 0.5–0.6 mm, ellipsoid, glabrous. Staminodes inserted in the corolla lobes sinuses, 1.6–1.8 × 0.4–0.5 mm, lanceolate to linear, papillose throughout, basally adherent to corolla. Gynoecium 5-locular, ca. 3.8 × 2.0 mm, narrowly conical, villous-tomentulose at base; stigma minutely 5-lobate. Fruits 5-seeded, 4.0–5.5 × 5.6–6.1 cm, spheroid, 5-angled transversely with edges rounded in sicco, depressed at center basally and apically, tomentulose to pellicle-like, longitudinally slightly ridged. Seeds 3.7–4.2 × 2.3–2.4 cm, ellipsoid, not laterally compressed, glabrous; testa rough, dull, reddish brown; seed scar adaxial, 3.6–3.7 × 2.6–2.8 cm, broadly elliptic; cotyledons plano-convex; radicle included; endosperm absent.

Distribution and habitat:— Chromolucuma pentagona is considered endemic to central Colombia, occurring in an area between Andes and Magdalena Valley biogeographical regions on the eastern slopes of the Central Cordillera ( Fig. 3 ). It has been collected in the department of Antioquia. Chromolucuma pentagona inhabits lowland rainforests on karst reliefs from 470–1000 m elev., under “equatorial rainforest” climate (Af).

Phenology:— Flowers observed in June, October and December–January; fruits in March, June and August.

Etymology:— The epithet “ pentagona ” is composed of the Greeks “penta” (five) and “gonos” (angle); referring to the fruit being 5-angled in transection when dry, one of the useful features to distinguish Chromolucuma pentagona from C. rubriflora Ducke (1925: 160) , with which the new species was previously confused.

Common names:— “Caimo blanco”.

Preliminary conservation status:— Chromolucuma pentagona is here proposed under “Endangered” EN category following the criteria B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii) because to its small both area of occupancy (AOO) and extent of occurrence (EOO), the few recorded subpopulations and the continuous decline of its habitat quality. Chromolucuma pentagona has AOO of 20 km 2, an EOO of 232 km 2, and three known subpopulations. One subpopulation is fully inside a protected area, another is only partially inside of another protected area, giving some 33% of its occurrences being in protected areas. All subpopulations are located less than 10 km from urban centers. This species is recorded from small and fragmented forest patches (<50 km 2), which are in continuous decline due to agricultural expansion and deforestation in the Magdalena Valley Region ( Sánchez-Cuervo & Aide 2013). Several limestone mining projects surround potential localities of C. pentagona .

Additional specimens examined:— COLOMBIA. Antioquia. Municipio de San Luis: vereda Altavista, sector cerca al Río Cocorná Sur , 680–720 m, 5°57'23.75"N, 74°51'53.86"W, 5 June 2018 (fl. & im. fr.), J. D. Acosta-Arango et al. 725 ( MEDEL) ; vereda La Josefina, autopista Medellín-Bogotá, sector Río Samaná-Río Claro , márgenes de la quebrada La Salada, 900–1000 m, 6°0'0"N, 74°55'0"W, 24 October 1989 (bud), A. Cogollo & J. G. Ramírez 4328 ( JAUM) ; autopista Medellín-Bogotá, sector Río Samaná-Río Claro , 740 m, [5°56'49.01"N, 74°51'42.73"W], 21 March 1982 (fr.), J. J. Hernández et al. 315 ( HUA) ; ibid., 750 m, [5°57'40.60"N, 74°52'42.11"W], 24 August 1982 (fr.), J. J. Hernández & S. E. Hoyos 467 ( HUA) ; ibid., 740 m, 13 December 1982 (fl.), J. J. Hernández et al. 590 ( HUA) ; quebrada La Cristalina, 17 August 1985 (im. fr.), J. G. Ramírez et al. 39 ( JAUM) ; quebrada La Cristalina, sector NW, 550–700 m, 6°0'0"N, 74°45'0"W, 22 January 1987 (bud & fl.), J. G. Ramírez & D. Cárdenas 359 ( JAUM) ; ibid., 470–700 m, 6°0'0"N, 74°45'0"W, 25 March 1987 (im. fr.), J. G. Ramírez & D. Cárdenas 757 ( JAUM). Municipio de Sonsón: vereda Campo Alegre, cerca de la quebrada San Juan, cabecera del Río Claro , 560 m, 5°46'22.61"N, 74°58'13.64"W, 30 April 2016 (st.), A. Atehortúa et al. 285 ( JAUM) .

Recognition:— This new species belongs to Chromolucuma due to its presence of stipules, yellowish latex, pedicellate flowers, presence of staminodes, and seeds with plano-convex cotyledons. Chromolucuma pentagona is most similar to C. cespedesiiformis and somewhat also C. rubriflora . These species share leaf-like stipules longer than 1 cm long and leaf blades with the lower surface clearly visible, not pellicle-like. Chromolucuma baehniana Monachino (1948: 57) also has stipules longer than 1 cm but the leaf blades are pellicle-like on the lower surface.

Chromolucuma pentagona is distinguished from C. rubriflora by its shorter pedicels 6–11 mm long (vs. 15–37 mm long), shorter sepals 2.9–3.6 mm long (vs. 4.5–5.0 mm long), stamens with longer filaments 2.2–2.5 mm long (vs. ca. 0.5 mm long) and shorter anthers 0.8–0.9 mm long (vs. ca. 1.8 mm long), and 5-locular ovary, developing transversely 5-angled fruits when dry, 5-seeded (vs. 2–3-locular, fruits broadly ellipsoid, 1-seeded).

The papillae on corolla and staminodes supports the hypothesis of Swenson et al. (2023a) that this is possibly diagnostic for Chromolucuma . Additionally, this new species expands the morphological conspectus of Chromolucuma to include 5-seeded fruits.

Notes:— Specimens of Chromolucuma pentagona had been misidentified as C. rubriflora by Pennington & Bernal (2016).

It is worth mentioning that the habit is not distinctive between Chromolucuma pentagona and C. cespedesiiformis . The use of habit to differentiate C. cespedesiiformis by Vasconcelos et al. (2021) was based on a typographical error in the protologue of C. cespedesiiformis , indicating shrubs 2–3 m tall. The isotype of C. cespedesiiformis (R. Aguilar 5731, MO) in Morales (2012) indicated a habit as tree 15 m tall, like to the indirectly emended by Morales (2015).

Regarding neotropical Chrysophylloideae , fascicles that develop into short scaly shoots ( Fig. 2I–J ) had been reported only for Micropholis ( Grisebach 1864: 399) Pierre (1891: 37) by Pennington (1990). Munzinger & Swenson (2015) used the term “burls” for the same feature in Chrysophylloideae from Oceania.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Holotype of Chromolucuma pentagona Londoño-Ech. (JAUM).

FIGURE 2. Illustration of Chromolucuma pentagona Londoño-Ech.: A. Flowering branch showing large stipules and young ramiflorous fascicles, B. Tertiary leaf venation viewed on the lower leaf surface, C. Flower with fallen corolla, D. Corolla outer surface, from bud, E. Portion of corolla, stamen and staminode; outer surface at left, inner surface at center and right, arrows indicating corolla lobes sinus and insertion point of staminodes, F. Corolla lobe apex, showing papillae, G. Calyx (manually opened) and gynoecium, H. Transversal section of ovary showing five locules, I. Old ramiflorous fascicles, J. Three persistent fascicles developing into short scaly shoots, K. Fruit, lateral-upper view at left, upper view at center, longitudinal view showing seeds at right. (A–B from Hernández et al. 590; C, E, F, G, J from Acosta-Arango et al. 725; D, H, I from the holotype; K-left-center from Hernández & Hoyos 467; K-right from Hernández et al. 315.).

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