Calyptranthes santalucia Sobral, 2013

1.1. Calyptranthes santalucia Sobral View in CoL , sp. nov.

Type:— BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: mun. Santa Teresa, Estação Biológica de Santa Lúcia , 2 Mar. 1993, L.D. Thomaz 1113 (holotype MBML , isotypes HRCB , HUFSJ ).

Figure 1 View FIGURE 1 .

This species is related to Calyptranthes brasiliensis , being distinguished by the smaller petioles, the uniformly ferruginous indumentum of the blades, the acuminate leaf tips, and the unbranched triflorous inflorescences.

Tree to 16 m. Twigs grey, smooth, when young sometimes dichotomously branching and densely covered by appressed, brown dibrachiate trichomes up to 0.5 mm; internodes 25–35 × 2–2.5 mm. Leaves with petioles 7.5–11 × 1.5–2 mm, adaxially sulcate, pilose as the twigs and glabrescent with age; blades elliptic to ellipticlanceolate, 60–87 × 20–45 mm, 1.7–3 times longer than wide, strongly discolorous when dry, the adaxial side dull green, glabrous or with very scattered dibrachiate trichomes to 0.4 mm, the abaxial side ferruginous, brown or light brown with age, densely and uniformly covered with a mixture of two types of dibrachiate trichomes, one strongly asymmetrical and 0.4–0.5 mm and other more or less symmetrical, 0.1–0.2 mm, the indumentum becoming lighter with age; glandular dots visible adaxially, smaller than 0.1 mm in diameter and up to 50 per square milmeter; apex acuminate to 7–10 mm; base cuneate or obtuse; midvein sulcate adaxially and strongly raised abaxially; lateral veins 10 to 20 on each side, leaving the midvein at angles of about 70 degrees, visible and moderately prominent on both sides, sometimes secondary lateral veins visible; marginal veins one or sometimes two, 2–3.5 mm and 0.7–0.8 mm from the margin respectively, the margin itself revolute and sometimes with a yellow thickening to 0.2 mm wide. Inflorescences axillary, capitate, the axis 3– 12 × 0.8–1 mm, with one to three crowded flowers at its apex, densely covered with trichomes as the twigs; bracts not seen; flowers sessile; bracteoles not seen; flower buds not seen; calyx densely and uniformly covered with dibrachiate brown trichomes to 0.2 mm; calyptra not seen; petals not seen; stamens to 3 mm, the anthers globose, to 0.2 × 0.2 mm, with one apical gland; staminal ring to 1.2 mm wide, glabrous; calyx tube 1.5–2 mm deep, glabrous internally; style to 4 mm, glabrous, the stigma slightly capitate and minutely papillose; ovary bilocular, with two ovules per locule. Fruits immature, globose, to 7 mm in diameter, with the calyx tube persisting at its apex; seeds one or two.

Distribution, habitat and phenology:—presently known from two collections from the Estação Biológica de Santa Lúcia, in the municipality of Santa Teresa, where it grows in forests at altitudes up to 700 m above sea level; fruits and old flowers were collected both in March and April.

Conservation:—the municipality of Santa Teresa has an area of approximately 700 km 2 ( IBGE 2012), and was intensely surveyed botanically, since 28,300 collections are reported in specieslink ( CRIA 2012). This figure results in a collection density of about 40 collections / km 2, a high proportion in relation to most areas in Brazil, which has a mean density of about 0.6 collection / km 2 ( Sobral & Stehmann 2009). The fact that in spite of a considerable sampling of the region only two specimens of C. santalucia were collected may be a consistent indication of its rarity; such information, together with relatively recent data estimating that only 18% of the original vegetation of Santa Teresa remains ( Mendes & Padovan 2000), allows the application of IUCN criteria B1 ab(iii) for the Endangered (EN) category (IUCN 2001), since the extension area of the species is smaller than 5000 km 2 (criterion B1), it grows in a severely fragmented (criterion a) which presents a constant decline of its extent (criterion b(iii)).

Affinities:—apparently related to Calyptranthes brasiliensis Sprengel (for description see Berg 1857– 1859, Lourenço & Barbosa 2012 or Sprengel 1821), from which it is set apart through the unbranched inflorescences with up to three flowers (versus two to three times branched inflorescences with up to 15 flowers in C. brasiliensis ), as well as through the acuminate leaf tips with densely appressed indumentum on the abaxial side (some forms of C. brasiliensis , mostly from coastal forests, also present a dense indumentum in young blades, but it is mostly velutinous and never appressed). Although there are several species of Calyptranthes with unbranched inflorescences (e.g. C. caudata Gardner , C. pteropoda O.Berg , C. rubella (O.Berg) D.Legrand and C. tricona D.Legrand ), C. santalucia is not compared with them because they are vegetatively distinct, sharing only the character of a reduced inflorescence.

Etymology:—the epithet was chosen after the type locality, the Santa Lúcia reserve.

Paratype:— BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: mun. Santa Teresa, Estação Biológica de Santa Lúcia , 20 Apr. 1993, L.D. Thomaz 1424 ( MBML) .