Goeppertia yoshida-arnsiae N. Luna & Saka

Goeppertia yoshida-arnsiae N. Luna & Saka View in CoL , Fig. 1 View FIGURE 1

Type:— BRAZIL. Pernambuco: Igarassu, Usina São José, Mata de Piedade, 07°50’35”S, 34°59’40”W, 79 m, 21 January 2014, N. K. Luna et al. 27 (fl.) ( holotype: UFP, isotypes: NY, RB).

Goeppertia yoshida-arnsiae View in CoL resembles G. umbrosa ( Körnicke 1862: 137) Borchsenius & Suárez (2012: 635) View in CoL , but differs by its glabrous petiole ( vs. puberulous), leaf blades glabrous abaxially ( vs. tomentose), adaxially glabrous midrib ( vs. puberulous), longer inflorescence peduncle ( 12 − 21 cm long vs. 2 − 4.5 cm long), on a separate, non-leafy shoot ( vs. terminal on a leafy shoot), two bracteoles to each pair of flower ( vs. one), and abaxially glabrous sepals ( vs. pubescent).

Perennial herbs, 0.5 − 0.8 m tall rhizome thick, sympodial, without tubers; cataphylls on the rhizome 1 − 3 × 0.5 − 1 cm, narrowly elliptical, apex acute, green, glabrous, margins sericeous; innermost (on reproductive shoot) cataphyll 8.5 − 17 × 1 − 2 cm, elliptical, apex acute, glabrous. Leaves rosulate, 3 − 5 per shoot; sheath not auriculate, dark green, slightly sericeous, 13 − 26 cm long; petiole dark green, glabrous, 18.5 − 55.5 cm long; pulvinus elliptical in cross section, light green, adaxially tomentose, 1 − 4.5 cm long; leaf blade chartaceous, elliptical to lanceolate, 26 − 36 × 4.5 − 8 cm, glabrous, sides unequal, apex acute, base cuneate at ca. 45 − 60º; discolorous, adaxially dark green, abaxially light green. Inflorescence 1 − 2 per vegetative shoot, basal, borne on a separate, leafless, reproductive shoot, ovoid to wideelliptical, 3 − 8 cm long; peduncle green, pubescent to tomentose, 12 − 21 cm long; bracts 20 − 40, spirally arranged, green, ovate to orbiculate, the uppermost the narrowest, each subtending 3 flower pairs, apex acuminate, attenuate or acute, 3 − 5 × 3 cm; margins and apex minutely tomentose, adaxial surface glabrous; prophyll bicarinate, membranaceous, yellow, elliptical to ovate, apex acute, margin minutely tomentose, adaxial surface glabrous, 2.3 − 3.4 × 1.5 cm, 0.4 cm wide from carina to carina; interphyll membranaceous, yellow, elliptical, apex acute to rounded, surface abaxially minutely tomentose, inner surface glabrous, 1.7 − 3.2 × 0.6 cm; bracteoles 2 per flower pair, channeled and claviculate, medial, glabrous, 1.5 − 2.1 cm long. Sepals membranaceous, narrowly elliptical to elliptical, apex rounded, yellowishgreen, glabrous, 13 − 16.2 × 1.5 − 3.5 mm; corolla yellow, tube 26 − 33 mm long, glabrous, upper adaxial surface pilose; corolla lobes elliptical to narrowly obovate, glabrous, apex rounded to cuneate, (8 −)10 − 16 × 2 − 4 mm; outer staminode obovate to spatulate, yellow, 10 − 13 × 4 mm; callose staminode petaloid, spatulate, yellow, 6 − 11 × 4 mm; cucullate staminode yellow, 7 − 9 × 2 mm, appendage 1 mm long; stamen with lateral petaloid appendage extending 1 mm past anther; anther yellow, 2 mm long; style and stigma yellow, 6 − 10 mm long; ovary white, glabrous, 1.5 − 2 × 1 mm. Fruits not seen.

Additional specimens examined ( paratypes):— BRAZIL. Bahia: Una, Fazenda Bolandeira, 10 February 1999, fl., J. G. Jardim et al. 1994 ( CEPEC). Pernambuco: Igarassu , Usina São José , 10 January 2008, fl., N. A. Albuquerque 605 ( IPA) ; ibid., 4 March 2010, fl., J. D. García-Gonzales 1462 ( UFP) ; ibid., 28 January 2016, fl., N. K. Luna et al. 229 ( UFP) ; Sirinhaém, Usina Trapiche , 11 March 2016, fl., N. K. Luna et al. 259 ( UFP) .

Distribution and Ecology:— Known only from the lowland Atlantic forest of Pernambuco and southern Bahia, Brazil ( Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2 ). The type location is a fragment of semideciduous lowland forest (terminology follows IGBE 2012), where populations of G. yoshida-arnsiae inhabit the understory, in a shadowy area, with elevated humidity and rich soil with high deposition of plant litter. This fragment is surrounded by sugar-cane plantations, and as a result it suffers from very high anthropogenic pressure ( Trindade et al. 2008). In Bahia this species occurs in arborescent ‘restingas’, on sandy soil. Flowers have be observed from January to March.

Conservation status:— Following the IUCN (2001) criteria, this species is considered vulnerable (VU): B1+(a)+(b): the Pernambuco population is known from only one fragmented area and the Bahia specimens are relatively old collections from fragments located in farming areas.

Etymology:— The species is named is in homage to Dr. Karla Norye Yoshida-Arns, a Brazilian taxonomist who worked with the family Marantaceae in northeastern Brazil for many years.

Morphological affinities:— Goeppertia yoshida-arnsiae is morphologically similar to the species of Calathea sect. Breviscapus Bentham (1883: 654) , especially the ones with spirally arranged and all fertile bracts, and yellow to yellowish flowers with exserted corollas. Seven species from northeastern Brazil share these features: Goeppertia effusa ( Saka & Lombardi 2014: 46) is easily distinguished by its peduncle at least six times longer than the inflorescence ( vs. peduncle 3 − 4 longer than the inflorescence); G. rufibarba (Fenzl 1879: 294) Borchsenius & Suárez (2012: 634) and G. sciuroides (Petersen 1889: 329) Borchsenius & Suárez (2012: 634) , differ by their rufo-hirsute midrib, inflorescence bracts, and peduncle ( vs. midrib glabrous, inflorescence bracts with apex minutely tomentose, peduncle pubescent to tomentose); G. brasiliensis ( Körnicke 1862: 118) Borchsenius & Suárez (2012: 634) is distinguished by its lanceolate to narrowly ellipsoid inflorescence ( vs. ovoid), and glabrous inflorescence bracts ( vs. apex minutely tomentose); G. brevipes ( Körnicke 1862: 35) Borchsenius & Suárez (2012: 634) and G. oblonga ( Martius 1841: 59) Borchsenius & Suárez (2012: 634) differ by their strigose or villous petioles (vs. glabrous), strigose or villous leaf sheath (vs. minutely sericeous), entirely villous abaxial surface bracts ( vs. apex minutely tomentose). G. umbrosa is the species morphologically most similar to G. yoshida-arnsiae , but differs mainly by its leaf indumentum, peduncle length, number of bracteoles per pair of flower, and sepals indumentum.