Quetzalcoatlia pentandra (Moran) A. Vázquez

Vázquez-García, J. Antonio, Basáñez, Miguel Cházaro, Acevedo-Rosas, Raúl, Rosales-Martínez, C. Santiago, Padilla-Lepe, Jesús, Martínez-González, Rosa E., García-Ruiz, Ignacio, Gutierrez, Byron Gutiérrez, Nieves-Hernández, Gregorio, Guzman, Ramón Cuevas, Shalisko, Viacheslav, Machuca-Núñez, J. Antonio, Hernández-López, Leticia & Muñiz-Castro, Miguel Á., 2025, Quetzalcoatlia (Crassulaceae), high small-scale diversification in western Mexico: a synopsis with four new species, Phytotaxa 695 (2), pp. 207-254 : 235-239

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.695.2.3
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0383FD6B-CE45-E627-E1C1-F9735FCEF8E8
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Quetzalcoatlia pentandra (Moran) A. Vázquez
status

Treatment

Quetzalcoatlia pentandra (Moran) A. Vázquez View in CoL & Rosales, Boletín Nakari 34(2): 39 (2023) ( Figs. 1–3 View FIGURE 1 View FIGURE 2 View FIGURE 3 & 19 View FIGURE 19 ).

≡ Graptopetalum pentandrum Moran , Cactus and Succulent Journal (Los Angeles) 43: 255, Figs. 1–4 View FIGURE 1 View FIGURE 2 View FIGURE 3 View FIGURE 4 (1971).

Type:— Cultivated. MEXICO. Jalisco: Obtained in a small nursery in Guadalajara , January 1970. by F. Boutin & M. Kimnach 2922 (holotype SD!, isotypes HNT!, MEXU!, US!). Native source unknown, grown at the Huntington Botanical Gardens, no. 25082 ; pressed by R. Moran, 12 April 1971.

Diagnostic characters:— Quetzalcoatlia pentandra is unique in the genus by having elongate and slender inflorescence, branches, and pedicels. Its full-sized rosettes “are reminiscent of Pachyphytum [ Graptopetalum ] amethystinum ” ( Rose 1905: 11) Walther (1931: 12) in having obovate to broadly oblanceolate leaves, each contracted at the base to a narrow attachment, and the lavender shading of the leaves, but differs from the latter in having thinner stems and leaves, which usually are relatively wider.

Description (from protologue):—Suffrutex erect, decumbent, 19.0–24.0 cm tall, caulescent; stems up to 5.0–15.0 × 0.3–0.6 cm, at first erect, rather woody and strong, smooth, dull green but heavily glaucous; leaf scars 1.5–2.0 mm wide, 1.0 mm high, with a single vascular bundle scar, bumped and tan; rosettes 3.0–9.0 × 6.0–8.0 cm wide, irregular, lax, of ca 15–36 rather scattered leaves, with internodes to 1.5 cm long, distally more crowded. Leaves 3.0–4.0(–5.5) × 1.5–2.3 cm × 1.5–2.3 cm, 5.0–8.0 mm thick, mostly obovate and obtuse to rounded, the lower ones sometimes broadly oblanceolate and somewhat reflexed, adaxially flattened, abaxially rounded, at first blue-glaucous, somewhat tinged with lavender, deciduous after withering; margins obtuse; base 6.0 mm wide and 5.0 mm thick, cuneate, contracted to a narrow attachment; apex mostly obtuse, or rounded or truncated, submucronate. Inflorescences 20.0–35.0 cm long; flowers per full-sized inflorescence 31–36, on 3 alternate secondary axes (branches), each branch spaced 2.3–3.0 cm; primary branches, primary axis arising 2.0–8.0 cm below the stem apex, supra-axillary, 2.5–3.0 mm thick at the base, slender, spreading, with 14–17 leaves in the 8.0–15.0 cm below the inflorescence but mostly crowded at or near the base; basal bracts ca. 1.0– 1.5 cm long, nearly as wide, 5.0–6.0 mm thick, or the lower to 35.0 mm long and 15.0 mm wide, mostly lenticular, obtuse, spreading perpendicular to the stem, turning gradually into much smaller and relatively narrower bracts above; branches 3–4, simple or bifurcate, 10.0–15.0 cm long and less than 1.0 mm thick, each with 3–11 flowers; The basal branch with 3–11 flowers; pedicels mostly 1.8–2.3 cm long, 1/3 thick, slightly thicker above. Flowers pentamerous, 10.0–11.0 mm long unopened, 17.9–18.1 mm in diameter, erect; calyx 4.0–4.5 × 4.5–5.0 mm, cup-shaped, glaucous, the disk 3.0– 3.5 mm wide; calyx lobes nearly equal, 3.5–4.0 × 1.5 mm, 0.5 mm thick, narrowly ovate, subacute, appressed to the corolla; corolla yellowish white marked with dark red; corolla tube 3.0–3.5 × 4.0 mm, proximally yellowish-white; corolla lobes ca. 6.9–7.0 × 1.7–1.75 mm, triangular, acute, ventrally low-papillose and almost solid dark red in the distal half, with a transversal-stripe below but adaxially with only scattered uncolored cells, mostly near the margins; nectaries bright yellow, 0.4 × 0.9 mm, 0.3 mm thick, truncate above, the secretory face ± normal to the floral axis, obtusely lunate; stamens 5, antesepalous, at first erect, in age reflexed between the petals; filaments 8.0 mm long from the corolla base, 0.3 mm wide and 0.5 mm thick, adnate 3.0 mm to the corolla and less than 0.5 mm to the intercarpellary tissue, greenish, red-marked in upper half; anthers 1.0 × 0.7 mm, red, dehiscent while filaments still erect; gynoecium 7.0– 7.5 mm high, 3.5 mm thick above, 2.0 mm thick at the base, greenish somewhat marked with red above; carpels erect, obtuse and keeked, connate 2.5 mm, slightly separated above, keeled, tapering abruptly to styles barely 1.0 mm long; ovules ca. 70, ca. 0.6 × 0.2 mm thick, cylindric. Fruits and seeds unknown.

Distribution, habitat, and phenology:—Only known from the type material of cultivated source. It flowers in April, fruiting in May.

Etymology:—Its specific epithet refers to the five stamens of its flowers.

Notes: In 1970, Frederick Boutin and Myron Kimnach found in a small nursery in Guadalajara, Mexico an unfamiliar Echeveria -like species of unknown origin (Boutin & Kimnach 2022), which was then grown at the Huntington Botanical Garden (no. 25082) and collected in flower in April 1971 by Reid Moran and also by Myron Kimnach, and described by Reid Moran as a new species.

In plants of the Huntington Botanical Gardens, the stems are short and mostly erect. Some are semidecumbent but perhaps partly because of the way they were transplanted. However, they will likely be decumbent in age. Leaves are variable in shape. The upper leaves are obovate, about 3.0–4.0(–5) × 2.0 cm; the lower ones are broadly oblanceolate. After losing the lower leaves, those remaining are more uniformly obovate: the longer ones perhaps occur only on young meristems. Several authors have included within this species concept two additional populations from the state of Michoacán (Aguililla, Sierra de Coalcomán and Chorros del Varal, Los Reyes) ( Kimnach 1987, Thiede 2003, Cházaro-Basáñez et al. 2004, Acevedo-Rosas et al. 2018). However, we argue, based on numerous quantitative and qualitative characters in their flower and rosette morphology, that the two populations represent distinct taxa and we describe them here as two new species: Q. latipetala and Q. itzicuaroensis , respectively. Gametic chromosome number: n=32 ( Kimnach 1987).

Preliminary conservation assessment:—Since this species has not been confirmed in the wild since its discovery over half a century ago (1970), there is no appropriate data on abundance or distribution. For this reason, this species was assessed as Data Deficient (DD). Its clonotype is reported to exist at HNT.

Quetzalcoatlia rosanevadoensis (A. Vázquez & Acev.-Rosas) A. Vázquez View in CoL & Rosales, Boletín Nakari View in CoL 34(2): 39 (2023) ( Figs. 1–3 View FIGURE 1 View FIGURE 2 View FIGURE 3 & 20 View FIGURE 20 ).

≡ Graptopetalum rosanevadoense A. Vázquez & Acev.-Rosas, Phytotaxa 496(2): 162 (2021).

Type:— MEXICO. Jalisco: municipality of Zapotitlán de Vadillo, Nevado de Colima volcano, Cuenca del Río Alseseca, Los Lavaderos, 4 km E of Telcruz, on a vertical sandy slope of NW exposure, 1400 m, 7 May 2005 (fl), J. Antonio Vázquez-García 7990, with M. Cházaro, N. Contreras & R. Murguía (holotype IBUG!, isotypes MO!, NY!).

Description:— Plants suffrutex, perennial, 40.0–96.0 cm tall, caulescent, ramose; stems 0.7–0.8 cm diam., decumbent, pendulous, smooth; rosettes terminal, 4.0–5.0 × 10.0–16.0 cm, sparse, with 31–47 leaves. Leaves (1.5–)3.0–4.0(–7.6) × (1.4–)1.6–1.8(–1.9) cm, (4.0–)5.0–7.0(–8.0) mm thick, oblong–obovate, obtuse to rounded, inner surface slightly concave, glaucous to brownish green, pinkish when young; base cuneate; apex sometimes with a short mucro. Inflorescence (9.8–)10.5–20.3(–60.0) cm long; primary axis 1.5–4.0 mm thick at the base, 1.0 mm thick at the top; bracts 23–29, ovoid, the lowest 1.9–3.1 cm long, the uppermost 2.0–3.0 mm long, soon deciduous; branches 5–6, 2.4–4.3 cm long, simple or bifurcate, with 2–4 flowers each; Number of flowers per full-sized inflorescence 14–34; pedicels 0.3–1.4 cm long; flower buds 3.0 × 3.0 mm. Flowers 14.9–15.1 mm in diameter; calyx lobes 5, 3.0 mm long, distinct, appressed; corolla tube 2.9–3.1 mm; corolla lobes 5, 5.4–5.5 × 2.9–3.0 mm, proximally creamy-white to yellowish-green, distally red-wine, forming horizontal bands below the apex; nectaries 0.5 × 1.0 mm, truncate; stamens 5, alternate to the petals, at first erect, later completely recurved; filaments white with the apical half dotted with red or pinkish red; gynoecium ca. 0.5 mm long, obovate, yellow-green; abaxial carpels obtuse to rounded, entirely red; styles 0.9 mm, orange, red-orange or dark red apically. Fruits 5.3–5.9 × 1.4–1.6 mm; seeds 0.35–0.42 × 0.15–0.19 mm.

Notes:—It is similar to Quetzalcoatlia superba in sharing a non-caespitose and ramose habit, similar stem length, and oblong obovate leaves, but it differs from the latter in having a stem surface smooth vs. squamose, stem diameter 0.7–0.8 vs. 1.0– 1.2 cm, leaves per rosettes 31–47 vs. 12–28, leaf color glaucous to brownish green, pinkish when young vs. grey-blue to pink-violet, inflorescence length 9.8–27.5 vs. 30.0–40.0 cm, and branches per inflorescence 5–6 vs. 12–15. It is also similar to Q. pentandra in stem length with smooth surface and color pattern of petals, but it differs from the latter in having a none caespitose-ramose habit vs. caespitose-ramose, rosette diameter 10.0–16.0 vs. 6.0–8.0 cm, stem diameter 0.7–0.8 vs. 0.3–0.6 cm, leaves 31–47 vs. 12–20, leaf color glaucous to brownish green, pinkish when young vs. blue-green to white blue, branches per panicle 5–6 vs. 3–4.

Distribution, habitat, and phenology:— Quetzalcoatlia rosanevadoensis is known only from two subpopulations almost contiguous to the type locality, on the western slopes of the Nevado de Colima, found in creeks of tributaries of the Alseseca river, at 1400 m on shallow sandy soils, on vertical slopes of protected ravines with a tropical dry forest surrounded by oak forest on the adjacent hills. It flowers in May and perhaps in November as we were told by local inhabitants, presumably fruiting in June.

Etymology:—The specific epithet honors Ing. Rosa Murguía Araiza, an energetic and enthusiastic silviculturist and conservation activist, from Zapotitlán de Vadillo, Jalisco, on the SW slopes of Nevado de Colima, where she discovered this species while going with her mother to wash their clothes at Los Lavaderos, in the Alseseca river basin.

Notes:—The hanging rosettes are called “ chonguitos ”. Smashed leaves are used for eye cleaning, rosettes are collected and grown in the backyards as ornamentals, and the leaves are often eaten by birds (especially sparrows) while in flower pots. Plants of this species are sold as “ Graptopetalum acevedoi ”, a nomen nudum, because Antonio Vázquez initially meant to name it so. However, at last, Raúl Acevedo-Rosas proposed to name it after its discoverer and the volcano where it was found.

Preliminary conservation assessment: — Quetzalcoatlia rosanevadoensis was assessed as Critically Endangered (CR) using the IUCN guidelines ( IUCN 2022). Population reduction is expected due to the high humidity requirements of this species. Its association with protected shady creeks in an area with a marked dry season makes it vulnerable to climate change. Criterion B2ab(iii): A very narrow distribution is usually the case for species of Quetzalcoatlia . The area of occupancy (AOO) is less than 10 km 2 (criterion B2) where only two nearly contiguous subpopulations are known from a single location (condition a). There is a continuing decline observed in the extent and quality of its habitat (condition b(iii)). Criterion C2a(i): The population size is very small, with less than 50 mature individuals, and is expected to decline.

Additional specimens examined:— MEXICO. Jalisco: Las Goteras, Los González, Ejido de Zapotitlán de Vadillo , 15 May 2005, R. Murguía-A. 21 ( IBUG) ; Punta del Plan, Municipio de Zapoptitlán de Vadillo , 15 May 2005, R. Murguía-A. 27 ( IBUG) ; Bajada del Borrego, Municipio de Zapotitlán de Vadillo , 15 May 2005, R. Murguía-A. 32 ( IBUG) .