Grias cryptica Cornejo, 2025

Cornejo, Xavier & Prance, Ghillean T., 2025, Three new species of Grias (Lecythidaceae) from Colombia and Ecuador, Phytotaxa 684 (2), pp. 289-297 : 292-294

2. Grias cryptica Cornejo , sp. nov. ( Fig. 2 )

New species of Grias , similar to G. multinervia Cuatrec. , but differs by the leaf blades with fewer lateral veins (45–50 vs. ca. 86) and green to dark punctations abaxially when fresh (vs. red punctations abaxially), and bark not transversely sulcate (vs. bark transversely sulcate). It is also similar to G. angustipetala Cornejo & S.A. Mori (2012: 319) , but the new species differs from the latter by the fruit shape (ellipsoid to obovoid vs. subglobose) and molecularly ( Vargas et al. 2024).

Type: — ECUADOR. Esmeraldas: Reserva Ecológica Cotacachi-Cayapas, Charco Vicente , 0°43′N 78°53′W, 50 m, 24 Mar 2010 (fr), X. Cornejo & C. Medina 8225 (holotype: NY-01922294 !; isotypes: GUAY!, K!) .

Pachycaulous, unbranched, understory trees, ca. 5 m tall × 8 cm dbh, the trunk cylindric to base. Bark mostly smooth, blackish-dark brown, with abundant lenticels. Stem-bearing leaves 15–30 mm diam. at lowest leaf attachment. Mature leaves clustered at apices of trunk or stems; petioles absent or scarcely developed, the midrib or short petiole hemispherical to suborbicular in cross section at base of leaf; laminas oblanceolate to oblanceolate-spathulate, 100– 150 × 20–30 cm, coriaceous, adaxially glabrous, dark green and abaxially minutely puberulous on midvein of fresh leaves, pale green, the trichomes not easily seen in dried specimens, green to dark punctate, the base long tapering, the margins entire, the apex narrowly to broadly obtuse and shortly acuminate; venation brochidodromous, the midrib narrowly carinate for most of length adaxially, longitudinally multi-sulcate abaxially when dry, the lateral veins 40– 50 pairs, 1.4–2.5 cm apart in mature leaves, adaxially plane to slightly impressed, abaxially salient, ± subrounded, the tertiary veins inconspicuous to prominulous, percurrent, joining secondaries at ca. 90° angles, the higher order venation inconspicuous. Inflorescences cauline from middle part of trunk, solitary flower (judging by the solitary fruit without peduncle nor additional pedicel scars at base of pedicel, and the pedicel directly attached to trunk, see Fig. 2 B ). Flowers unknown. Fruiting pedicel 5–10 mm long; fruit ellipsoid to obovoid, ca. 7–9 × 4.5–5.5 cm, brown at maturity, the base cuneate, the apex broadly obtuse and truncate, the sepals not persistent; mesocarp 4–7 mm thick, light green; endocarp 5–6 × 3 cm.

Discussion: —In the original publication of Grias angustipetala (op. cit.), the description of the flowers was based on the type collection ( Clark 7103) that comprises only leaves and flowering material. The fruits were not gathered in the same collection nor from the same individual. In the same work, specimens with fruits were added to the concept of the species as paratypes based on the similar leaves and the same distribution pattern. Based on information from the field and herbaria, the fruits were described as ¨ellipsoid to obovoid¨ (op. cit.; see also ¨fruits brown, elliptic to obovate…¨ fide Cornejo & Medina 8225). Grias angustipetala is the only species in the genus with pinkish-white to bright pinkish-red flowers. The color of the flowers was originally described as ¨white or cream to bright pinkish-red at anthesis¨ and, although the label of the type collection says ¨corolla white¨ and this is the only record with that color, a field image provided by John Clark of the same collection shows rather pale, pinkish-white flowers ( Cornejo & Mori 2012, Fig. 1 A ). In 2014, a monocaulous tree with large leaves, cauline rose flowers with centrifugally arranged outer stamens and globose to nearly globose fruits was collected in Playa de Oro, in the province of Esmeraldas, NW Ecuador (Cornejo 8653, GUAY, NY). This specimen was a puzzle in the understanding of the circumscription of G. angustipetala , because there is no known species of Grias with globose fruits. The molecular study of Vargas et al. (2024) placed the nine species of Grias analyzed in a monophyletic clade each with full bootstrap support. This included the type of G. angustipetala ( Clark 7103) under the name G. multinervia L338 and also a paratype of G. angustipetala (Cornejo & Medina 8225) LA10 and these turned out to be two well supported sister lineages. Therefore, the molecular study revealed a cryptic species that was hidden under the name G. angustipetala and so this is recognized and formally described here. Furthermore, the cited paratype (Cornejo & Medina 8225) and the type of G. angustipetala do not fit within G. multinervia (see diagnosis, and compare against the transversely sulcate bark of G. multinervia from the field image in the original publication, Cuatrecasas 1951, fig. 6).

Etymology: —The epithet cryptica is composed of the ancient Greek κρυπτός (kruptós) that means hidden or secret, and refers to the fact that because of the aforementioned vegetative similarity the herbarium specimens of Grias cryptica were initially believed to be and identified as Grias angustipetala Cornejo & S.A. Mori. Further field and molecular studies ( Vargas et al. 2024) revealed that this taxonomic novelty was an undescribed cryptic species, hence the name.

Common names: — Ecuador: Pacora (indigenous, Aulestia et al. 17), puri gugj (indigenous, Tipaz 1494).

Habitat and distribution: —An understory tree of mature wet forests, persistent in secondary wet forests, between 50 to 1000 m, in northwestern Ecuador.

Phenology: — Fruiting specimens have been collected in March, June, and July.

Conservation status: — Grias cryptica is known from Reserva Ecológica Cotacachi Cayapas and Reserva Indígena Awá, both located in northwestern Ecuador. This species is here regarded as NT ( IUCN 2022).

Paratypes: — ECUADOR. Esmeraldas. Cantón san Lorenzo, Awá Indígenous Territory, centro Guadualito, 1°15′N 78°40′W, 80 m, 20–29 Jul 1992 (fr), C. Aulestia et al. 17 (MO, QCNE). Sector Sabalera, Reserva Indígena Awá, noreste casa comunal, en orilla de estero, 1°00″ N 78°24′ W, 650–1000 m, 19–28 Jun 1992 (fr), G. Tipaz et al. 1494 (MO, NY, QCNE).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Grias capparidastroides. A. Unicate, Rubiano 221, the COL holotype; B. Reticulate fourth-order veinlets, close up in abaxial view; C. Two long-pedicelled fruits; D. Base of fruiting pedicel and attached bark, note the brown, beige, and creamish-white color of the bark and some circular scars; E. Submarginal brochidodromous, secondary veins, and weakly percurrent tertiaries, abaxial view. (A–E, based on Rubiano 221, the type). Photos by Xavier Cornejo.

FIGURE 2. Grias cryptica. A. Unbranched mature tree held by Chachi ranger Manuel Medina, in the Cotacachi Cayapas Reserve; B. Fruit attached to trunk, note the short pedicel and the blackish-dark brown and mostly smooth bark without transverse grooves; C. Nearly mature fruit, a longitudinal section displaying the light green mesocarp; D. Fruit, apical view; E. Detached leaf blades, adaxial (left) and abaxial (right) surfaces; F. Close up of blade displaying ascending secondary and submarginal brochidodromous veins, abaxial view. (A–F, based on Cornejo & Medina 8225, the type). Photos A–F by Xavier Cornejo.