Bauhinia curvula Bentham (1870: 194)

Amorim, Daniele Dos Santos De & Pessoa, Edlley, 2025, Bauhinia s. s. (Fabaceae-Cercidoideae) from Baixada Cuiabana, Mato Grosso, Brazil: a neglected center of diversity for the genus, Phytotaxa 681 (2), pp. 146-166 : 155

6. Bauhinia curvula Bentham (1870: 194) ( Figure 3E )

Type:— Brazil. Goiás: Goiás Velho, “in campis prope Goyaz”, 1841, M. A. Weddell 2590 (lectotype: K000264665 , photograph!; isolectotype: P00798565 , photograph!, designated by Vaz & Tozzi 2003a) .

Shrubs, 1.0– 1.5 m tall. Branches unarmed, extrafloral nectaries present. Stipules caducous, not observed. Leaves bifoliolate, petiole 0.8–1.7 × 0.1 cm; leaf blade 2.1–5.0 × 1.1–1.7 cm, base cordate, apex of leaflets rounded, convergent, leaflets oblong to ovate-elliptic. Inflorescence terminal, peduncle 0.5–1.3 cm long; rachis 3.5–19.2 cm long, floral bracts reduced to a mucron or scale-like, 0.1 cm long. Flowers 8–26 per inflorescence; pedicel 1.2–2.7 cm long; developed floral bud 3.4–9.0 cm long, smooth, tubular; hypanthium 0.8–1.8 cm long, tomentose internally in the apical portion and basally glabrous, sepals 3.1–6.6 cm long; petals ca. 1.8 × 0.05 cm, clawed, linear, apex acuminate; fertile stamens 10, heteromorphic, filaments of fertile stamens 2.5–4.0 cm long; gynoecium, stipe 1.7–2.5 cm long, with sparse glandular trichomes, ovary 0.8–1.0 cm long, with glandular trichomes, style 1.1–1.8 cm long, with glandular trichomes, stigma clavate. Fruits 7.0–12.4 × 0.9–1.1 cm.

Examined material: — Brazil. Mato Grosso: Nobres, ca. de 30 km NE de Nobres , BR 242 , 19 May 1997 (fr.), V. C. Souza 16422 et al. ( ESA, UFMT) ; Nobres , 26 km ENE de Nobres, 24 May 1997, (bd.), V. C. Souza 17245 et al. ( ESA, HUEFS, RB, UFMT) ; Rosário Oeste , 07 October 1997, (fr.), V. C. Souza 20263 et al. ( ESA) .

Additional examined material: — Brazil. Mato Grosso: Alto Boa Vista, fazenda Suiá-Miçu, 11°41’51.4”S, 51°25’40.8”W, 22 March 1997, (bd.), V. C. Souza 14919 et al ( ESA, RB, UFMT) ; Nova Marilândia, Fazenda Safra, 14°13’59.0”S, 57°01’07”W, 29 September 2007, (fr.), R. R. Silva 1501 & G. F. Soares ( UFMT) ; São Félix do Araguaia, estrada entre a Vila de Pontinópolis e a Serra dos Magalhães, 11°33’39.4”S, 51°13’00.7”W, 21 March 1997, (bd., fl., fr.), 21 March 1997, V. C. Souza 14789 et al ( ESA, HUEFS, RB, UFMT) ; Sapezal, Bacia do rio Juruena , 02 February 2008, (bd., fl.), R. R. Silva s/n & C. Spiller ( UFMT 38142 ) .

Distribution: This species is ditributed in Bolivia and Brazil ( POWO 2023). In Brazil, its occurrence is confirmed in the North (TO), Central-West (DF, GO, MS and MT) and Southeast (MG) regions ( Vaz & Santos 2023). It is found in the Amazon Forest and Cerrado domains ( Vaz & Santos 2023), in open fields, Cerradão, savanna parkland, and alluvial forest.

Taxonomic comments: The species belongs to Bauhinia sect. Pauletia ser. Cansenia . Bauhinia curvula can be recognized by the bifoliolate leaves or leaves with leaflets connate for less than a fourth of the total length, oblong to ovate-elliptic, with curved leaflets with convergent apices (the main characters that differentiate it from B. pulchella ), leafy bracts reduced to a mucron or scale-like, petals with acuminate apices and ovary with glandular trichomes. It shares with B. pulchella the same type of floral bud (tubular, smooth) and petals (linear), internally distally tomentose and basally glabrous hypanthium and the golden-yellow indumentum of the hypanthium. According to Vaz e Tozzi (2003a), it is part of the B. fusconervis Dietrich (1840: 1476) complex, which contains eight species.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Leaf morphology of species found in Baixada Cuiabana. A: Bauhinia brevipes Vogel (M. Macedo s.n. et al.); B: Bauhinia caloneura Malme (V.C. Souza 20022 et al.); C: Bauhinia cheilantha (Bong.) Steud. (F.F. Xavier s.n.); D: Bauhinia cupulata Benth. (M. Macedo 4643 & J. Urbano); E: Bauhinia curvula Benth.(R.R. Silva s.n. & C. Spiller); F: Bauhinia longifolia (Bong.) Steud.(D.S. Amorim 219).