Elaeagia coriacea Maldonado, 2014

Elaeagia coriacea Maldonado View in CoL , sp. nov. ( Figure 1 View FIGURE 1 )

Type:— ECUADOR. Zamora-Chinchipe: San Francisco Scientific Station, road Loja-Zamora, ca. 30 km from Loja , 2070 m, 3°58’S, 79°04’W, 11 Sept 2001, J. Homeier 966 (holotype MO-5679317 ! GoogleMaps ; isotype QCNE! GoogleMaps ).

Species nova magnitudine florium et fructuum Elaeagia ecuadorensis Steyermark (1960: 242) affinis, a qua differt magnitudine foliorum, lobis calycis dentatis (obtusum apex), foliis infra papillatis (non pubescentibus).

Trees to 10 m tall. Branchlets terete, glabrous. Stipules intrapetiolar, oblong, 1.0– 1.3 mm long, with green resin, glabrous, acute to obtuse at apex, coriaceous, caducous. Petioles 0.2–0.7 cm long; leaf blades elliptic, 3–10 × 1–4 cm, acute at base, acute to weakly acuminate at apex, coriaceous, glabrous, papillate abaxially; secondary veins 8–11 pairs, glabrous, tertiary veins not prominent. Inflorescences lax cymes, up to 6 cm long, glabrous, branched to 2–3 orders; bracts irregularly developed, 1–5 mm long on lower nodes and absent to 1 mm long on more distal nodes; pedicels 1–2 mm long, glabrous. Flowers pedicellate; hypanthium obovoid, 2–3.5 mm long, glabrous; calyx cupuliform, limb 2–3.5 mm long, 5-dentate, glabrous to shortly pubescent, lobes 1.0– 1.3 mm, obtuse at apex; corolla campanulate, white, glabrous, tube ca. 2 mm long, lobes 5, 4– 5 mm long, obtuse; stamens 5, filaments 1.5–2 mm long; anthers 1.5–4 mm long; style 3–4 mm long; stigma shortly exserted, 3–4 mm long, bilobate, lobes linear, recurved. Capsules bilocular, spherical, 3–4 mm diam. Seeds ca. 1 mm long.

Distribution and habitat:— This species is found in the forests surrounding the San Francisco Scientific Station, on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera of the Andes, southern Ecuador, at 2050–2070 m elevation.

Taxonomic notes: —The relatively small, coriaceous, abaxially papillate leaves in combination with the relatively large flowers (for Elaeagia ) distinguish this new species within this genus. Elaeagia coriacea resembles E. ecuadorensis Steyerm. in having relatively large flowers and fruits; the latter differs from the former by its pilosulous (not abaxially papillate) leaf blades, and its larger (3 – 5 mm long), acuminate, calyx lobes.

Conservation status:— Elaeagia coriacea has a restricted distribution, only known from a few collections in the San Francisco Scientific Station, a small protected area in the southern part of Ecuador. In terms of our current knowledge, the species is assigned a provisional IUCN (2001) conservation status of endangered (EN) (IUCN SPWG 2010).

Additional specimens examined:— ECUADOR. Zamora-Chinchipe: San Francisco Scientific Station, road Loja-Zamora, ca. 30 km from Loja , 2050 m, 03º58’S, 79º04’W, 9 Mar 2000, J. Homeier & A. Scheffer 307 ( MO, QCNE) GoogleMaps ; ibid., 22 Oct 2001, D. Wolff 154 ( MO) GoogleMaps ; ibid., 2060 m, 17 Oct 2000, J. Homeier 546 ( MO) GoogleMaps .