Deuterocohnia meziana subsp. carmineo-viridiflora ( Rauh 1985: 20 ) N. Schütz 2014

Deuterocohnia meziana subsp. carmineo-viridiflora ( Rauh 1985: 20) N. Schütz stat. nov.

≡ Deuterocohnia meziana var. carmineo-viridiflora Rauh (basionym)

≡ Deuterocohnia carmineo-viridiflora (Rauh) Gouda (2012: 115) .

Type:— BOLIVIA. Dept. Cochabamba: near Pojo , July 1976 (see notes), Rauh 40642 (lectotype designated here: HEID! (sheet 5 of Rauh 40642; non Gross (1998: 194), sheet 1, 2 and 3)) .

Leaf blade length 40–70 cm. Inflorescence lax or more dense, many-flowered. Floral bracts up to 5 mm long. Flowers 25–35 (–45) mm long, sessile to shortly pedicellate, pedicels to 5 mm. Sepals 12–19 mm long, magenta to carmine-red. Petals 25–35 (–45) mm long, carmine-red, with greenish apex.

Distribution: — BOLIVIA. Dept. Cochabamba, Santa Cruz. 17°45′– 18°40' S; 63°55′– 65°10' W.

Habitat and ecology: —Ecoregion: Bolivian montane dry forests. At elevations of 1300–2200 m. Terrestrial or saxicolous, on argillaceous soils with few organic material. Growing together with columnar cacti, sometimes dominating the understory vegetation. Flowers reported from September to November. Pollinated by hummingbirds and occasionally by insects.

Etymology:— The epithet refers to the colour of the flower (carmineo = carmine red shade; Latin viridis = green; florus = to flower).

Affinities: — Deuterocohnia meziana subsp. carmineo-viridiflora is similar to D. meziana subsp. vogtii . Both subspecies share the long, sessile to shortly pedicellate flowers in reddish colours, spread on a long and two to three times branched inflorescence. This character combination clearly separates both taxa from the other taxa of Deuterocohnia . Deuterocohnia meziana subsp. carmineo-viridiflora differs from the subsp. vogtii in having more densely flowered branches, floral bracts up to 5 mm long (vs. inconspicuous), carmine-red petals (vs. magenta-pink petals) and longer leaf blades (40–70 cm vs. 30–60 cm). Furthermore, the latter occurs in the Chaco savannas of Paraguay, while Deuterocohnia meziana subsp. carmineo-viridiflora belongs to the mountain range of the Bolivian departments Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. Some plants that occur in the border region of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz or Chuquisaca may actually represent intermediate forms between D. meziana subsp. meziana and D. meziana subsp. pedicellata .

Notes and comments: — (a) There are some discrepancies between the description in the protologue and the notes on the label of the herbarium specimen: Collection date: Jul. 1973 vs. 24 Aug. 1976, elevation 200 vs. 1700 m. (Pojo at ca. 2800 m.), sepal colour rose vs. sepal colour dirty-carmine. Probably Rauh collected in 1976 during his trip to Bolivia the specimen with the collection number 40642 near Pojo, Cochabamba, at an elevation of about 1700 m. The date and elevation in the protologue are certainly wrong.

(b) In the field book of Rauh the entry 40642 shows the note “herb” for herbarium specimen, which indicates, that Rauh took a specimen in the field. The “a”, which was added later in another colour to this number might refer to this herbarium specimen, while the likewise added number “40642” above the original note might refer to living plant material. The addition “a” can also be found on sheet 5, but was crossed out later. Sheet 5 also contains the only original note of Rauh, the other sheets contain only typed labels. This handwritten note on sheet 5 mentions beside the date, dirty-carmine floral bracts and sepals. This fits well to the name “ carmineo-viridiflora ”.

(c) The sheets 4, 5 and 6 of the type voucher in HEID are most likely from the type locality. Beside the notes on sheet 5 (see (b)), they represent older inflorescences with broken parts, typical for plants in natural habitats.

(d) Sheet 3 of the specimen 40642 represents a young inflorescence, with longer secondary branches, smaller floral bracts and flowers more distant to each other. Like the corresponding collection 103653 in the botanical garden of Heidelberg, this sheet does not fit well to typical plants of the type locality. The colour of petals is magenta. It still remains to be clarified whether the collection 103653 is really from the type locality. If the plant was grown from seeds, it had only 5 years to grow from seed to mature plant (1976–1981, year of collection to year of bloom according to specimen label), which seems to be quite short time period for these plants.

(e) Rauh 40642 sheets 1–3: cultivated plant flowering in 1981; sheet 4–6: without note on cultivation, probably from type locality; sheet 7: cultivated plant flowering in 1988.

(f) The protologue probably contains a mixture of information of Rauh’s notes from the field, cultivated plant material in the garden and some additional errors concerning the origin.

(g) Due to the notes (a) to (f) the sheet 5 of Rauh 40642 is chosen as lectotypes of the taxon Deuterocohnia meziana ssp. carmineo-viridiflora .

(g) HEID numbers of the sheets of Rauh 40642: sheets 1: 602080, sheet 2: 602081, sheet 3: 602082, sheets 4: 602083, sheet 5: 602084, sheet 6: (602086), sheet 7 (602087).

(h) In the protologue of D. meziana var. carmineo-viridiflora, SO Brazil is erroneously cited as part of the distribution area of D. meziana var. meziana . This should be SO Bolivia.

(i) Voucher in US (Rauh s.n., US 2848092-93) is labeled as isotype, however, no collection number is given on the voucher and probably this voucher is also from a cultivated plant.

Specimens examined: — BOLIVIA. without precise locality: Rauh s.n. (US 2848092, -93 (2 sheets)). Dept. Cochabamba: Prov. Campero: Sucre to Santa Cruz   GoogleMaps , Villa Granado   GoogleMaps to Omereque   GoogleMaps , 18°10' S, 65°00' W, 2000 m, 31 July 1979, Hromadnik 5264 (HEID, WU (7 sheets)); 45 km S Aiquile on road to Sucre, 18°30' S, 65°10' W, 1740 m, 08 July 1982, Till 8 (WU); Río Grande   GoogleMaps , Puente Arce, 18°35' S, 65°10' W, 1700 m, 16 July 1979, Hromadnik 5030 (HEID (2 sheets), WU (2 sheets)). Prov. Carrasco: NW of Comarapa, near Pojo, 17°45' S, 64°50' W, 1700 m, July 1973 / 24 August 1976, Rauh 40642 (HEID (6 sheets)); ibid.: Rauh 46774 (HEID (3 sheets), WU). Dept. Santa Cruz   GoogleMaps : Sierra de Santa Cruz   GoogleMaps , 2000 m, May 1892, Kuntze s.n. (NY s.n.); vertical walls above Río Blanco   GoogleMaps , Cerro Hosana, 1300 m, 02 September 1917, Steinbach 3444 (LIL (2 sheets)). Prov. Caballero: Mountain S of Comarapa, 18°00' S, 64°35' W, 2200 m, 19 March 1999, Hromadnik 24090 (WU (2 sheets)); Pulquina, vicinity of the village and the botanical garden of Pulquina, 18°04' 06''S, 64°24'18'' W, 1557 m, 04 October 2003, Mendoza and Gusman 551 (USZ (2 sheets)); Comarapa   GoogleMaps , 30 km towards Santa Cruz   GoogleMaps , 18°05' S, 64°20' W, 2000 m, 28 September 1981, Beck 7073 (LPB, US). Prov. Florida: Los Negros   GoogleMaps to Vallemoso, 18°01'19'' S, 64°08'58'' W, 1300 m, 01 October 2006, Schütz et al. 06-012 (FR, LPB); between Mataral and Comarapa, 18°08′27′′ S, 64°15′17′′ W, 1485 m, 30 September 2009, Schütz et al. 09-013 (FR, LPB); road from Samaipata   GoogleMaps to Vallegrande, 18°08'55'' S, 63°55'48'' W, 1530 m, 01 October 2006, Schütz et al. 06-002 (FR); ibid.: Schütz et al. 06-003 (LPB); ibid.: Schütz et al. 06-006 (LPB); road from Samaipata   GoogleMaps to Vallegrande, 18°09'13'' S, 64°06'00'' W, 1240 m, 01 October 2006, Schütz et al. 06-010 (FR, LPB); between Samaipata and Mairana, 18°09'48'' S, 63°55′29'' W, 1690 m, 28 September 2009, Schütz et al. 09-003 (FR (2 sheets), LPB); road from Samaipata   GoogleMaps to Vallegrande, 18°09'43'' S, 63°55'28'' W, 1696 m, 01 October 2006, Schütz et al. 06-001 (FR, LPB). Prov. Vallegrande: Road from Vallegrande to Mataral   GoogleMaps , 18°11'41'' S, 64°11'27'' W, 1500 m, 30 September 2009, Schütz et al. 09-011 (FR, LPB); ibid.: Schütz et al. 09-012 (FR).