Eugenia itaunensis Giaretta & Peixoto, 2018

Eugenia itaunensis Giaretta & Peixoto View in CoL , sp. nov.

Type: — BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: São Mateus, Bairro Liberdade , vegetação de restinga, 5 May 2007, fl., M.B. Faria & A.G. Oliveira 49 (holotype RB! ( 00741302 ) ; isotypes K! , SAMES !, VIES! ). ( Figures 1 View FIGURE 1 ; 2 A–B, F View FIGURE 2 ; 3 View FIGURE 3 ).

This species is related to Eugenia copacabanensis Kiaerskou (1893: 172) but differs by its larger leaves, 7–18.5 × 4–11 cm (vs. 4–7 × 2–3.5 cm) with base obtuse, rounded, cordate or subcordate (vs. cuneate or decurrent), 10–18 pairs of secondary veins (vs. 8–10 pairs), larger flower buds, 9–11 × 5.5–7 mm (vs. 4–6 × 3 mm) with calyx lobes in two unequal pairs in size (vs. equal calyx lobes), and bracteoles persisting after anthesis (vs. not persistent).

Shrub or tree 3– 6 m. Trunk grey with bark exfoliating as hard plates. Young stems dark, longitudinally striate when exfoliating, young tissue underneath brown, glabrous. Leaf blades 7–18.5 × 4–11 cm, ovate or oblong, sometimes elliptic, glabrous, chartaceous or coriaceous, discolor, lighter abaxially, shiny adaxially; apex acute or short acuminate; base obtuse, rounded, sometimes cordate or subcordate; midvein plain or prominent adaxially, prominent abaxially; secondary veins 10–18 pairs, prominent on both sides; marginal veins three, the innermost 2–5 mm from the margin, the middle one 1–1.5 mm from the margin, the outermost ca. 0.5 mm from the margin; the margin itself moderately revolute; glandular dots slightly prominent abaxially; petioles 8–17 mm long. Inflorescence fasciculiform, axillary, the axis 1–10 mm long, with 1–4 pairs of flowers; bracts 0.5–1 × 0.8–1.2 mm, ovate or hemispherical, glabrous; pedicels 10–23 × 1–1.5 mm, glabrous; bracteoles 1–1.5 × 0.8–1 mm, ovate, not connate, persisting in fruit, glabrous; flower buds 9–11 × 5.5–7 mm, pyriform, glabrous; calyx lobes four, concave, in two unequal pairs, the external pair 3–3.5 × 5.5 mm, oblate, the internal pair 5.5 × 5.5–6 mm, ovate, glabrous with ciliate margins; petals four, concave, 9–12.5 × 7–9 mm, one occasionally reduced to 6–7 × 4–5 mm, suborbiculate or obovate, white, glabrous with ciliate margin; stamens up to 14 mm long, anthers 1–1.2 × 0.6 mm, oblong; staminal ring 4–5 mm in diameter with simple brownish trichomes, up to 0.3 mm long; style 9–12 mm long, glabrous, stigma punctiform; ovary with two locules, ovules 14–23 per locule. Fruit 35–40 × 22–24 mm, pyriform, colour when ripe unknown, glabrous, crowned by persistent calyx lobes; one seed per fruit, testa shiny, chartaceous, embryo globose with two fused and indistinguishable cotyledons and hypocotyl not evident.

Phenology:—Collected in flower from January to May and in fruit in September and October ( Figure 5 View FIGURE 5 ).

Etymology:—The epithet refers to the locality that best ensures its conservation, the Parque Estadual de Itaúnas (Itaúnas State Park) in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil.

Distribution and habitat: — Eugenia itaunensis is known so far from the southeastern coastal scrubland on sandy soils called Restinga, in the state of Espírito Santo.

Conservation:—This new endemic species to the restinga vegetation of Espírito Santo is known from one collection in Itaúnas State Park, as well as other collections from a small restinga forest remnant of 0.35 km ² area that is 6.6 km distant from the coastline and 35 km away from the central area of Itaúnas State Park. Thus, it is known from two localities, one of which is a small forest fragment that suffers intense pressure from sand exploitation for construction purposes; the recollection of E. itaunensis in the protected locality within the Itaúnas State Park was unsuccessful despite regular collection efforts by the botanical group from Centro Universitário Norte do Espírito Santo (CEUNES/UFES). This suggests a low frequency of natural populations that also have a restricted Extent of Occurrence (EOO ≅ 15 km ²). Thus, this species falls under the Critically Endangered (CR) category, fulfilling IUCN criterion B1ab(iii), with EOO smaller than 100 km ² (B1), with severely fragmented location (a) and continuous loss of habitat quality (b iii).

Affinities: —This species is morphologically related to Eugenia copacabanensis but differs by its larger leaves, flowers and fruits (see Souza & Morim (2008) for a description of E. copacabanensis ). Inflorescences of E. itaunensis are more elongated and have up to 4 pairs of flowers with calyx lobes in two unequal pairs in size, instead of calyx lobes of equal size as in E. copacabanensis . Eugenia itaunensis has persisting bracteoles in the fruits and more pronounced pyriform shaped fruit, and its leaf blades have three marginal veins close to the margin (vs. two marginal veins in E. copacabanensis ). Eugenia itaunensis has fasciculiform inflorescence subtended by flowers with pedicels at least four times longer than internodes of the inflorescence main axis, and persistent bracteoles that fits the current circumscription of Eugenia sect. Umbellatae O. Berg (1856: 204) ( Mazine et al. 2016).

Paratypes: — BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: Município de Conceição da Barra, Parque Estadual de Itaúnas , vegetação de restinga não inundável localizada à beira da estrada principal de Itaúnas, 7 October 2007, fr., L.F.T. Menezes et al. 1757 ( RB!, SAMES!). Município de São Mateus, bairro Liberdade , vegetação de restinga pleistocênica, próximo ao Hospital Roberto Silvares , 10 March 2007, fl., M.B. Faria et al. 33 ( RB!, VIES!) ; ibid, 27 February 2007, fl., M.B. Faria 22 ( RB!, SAMES!) ; restinga, 18º53’22’’S, 39º45’01’’W, 14 March 2007, fl., C. Farney et al. 4603 ( RB!, SAMES!) GoogleMaps ; vegetação de restinga pleistocênica, 16 January 2008, fl., A.G. Oliveira et al. 190 ( RB!, SAMES!) ; estrada de terra adjacente a uma fábrica de tijolos depois do Hospital Roberto Silvares no sentido São Mateus–Guriri , floresta seca de restinga, 18º44’00’’S, 39º48’35’’W, 5 September 2011, fr., A. Giaretta & M.C. Souza 1018 ( RB!, SAMES!) GoogleMaps .