Eugenia kerianthera M.A.D.Souza, 2015

2. Eugenia kerianthera M.A.D.Souza View in CoL , sp. nov.

Type:— Brazil. Amazonas: Manaus, Reserva Experimental de Silvicultura Tropical , 02º37’S, 60º09’W, 7 November 1997, M.A.D. Souza & P.A.C.L. Assunção 456 (holotype INPA! GoogleMaps , isotypes SEL! GoogleMaps , SP! GoogleMaps ). Figure 2A–C View FIGURE 2 .

Eugenia kerianthera is similar to Eugenia yasuniana , however differ by having long strigose trichomes (vs. sericeouspubescent in E. yasuniana ), narrowly elliptic leaves with acuminate to caudate apices (vs. broadly-elliptic to oblong with acute apices), deltoid and setaceous bracts and bracteoles (vs. suborbicular), broadly deltoid and persistent sepals (vs. ovate and deciduous), oblong to obovate petals (vs. elliptic), and anthers with irregular valve-like apertures (vs. regularly rimose).

Shrub to treelet 0.5–2 m tall, 2–5 cm in diam., trunk cylindrical, the base straight; rhytidome beige to grey or brownish, microfissured to reticulated, not exfoliating but detaching cartaceous to hard fragments; twigs cylindrical to flattened, strigose, the trichomes white or silvery to beige or brown, shining, simple. Petioles 6–12 mm long, sulcate to canaliculate, glabrous; leaf blade elliptic to oval elliptic, 100–205 × 36–80 mm, coriaceous to rigid coriaceous, discolorous when fresh or when dry, adaxially glabrous and dull, the surface minutely wrinkled, with impressed with inconspicuous dark glands, abaxially densely strigose, rarely glabrescent, the trichomes like those on the twigs, the apex acuminate to caudate, the base cuneate, the midvein salient to impressed or plane adaxially, the lateral veins leaving the midvein at angles of ca. 45 degrees, straight, impressed adaxially, abaxially salient but barely visible or invisible due to the indumentum, the intramarginal vein arcuate, 2–5 mm from the margin, the margin finely revolute. Inflorescence simple, superposed, cauliflorous, strigose, the trichomes silvery to shining brown or perolate; flowers fasciculate or glomerulate, rarely in a raceme with rachis 3–20 mm long, the internodes ca. 2–4 mm long; pedicels 3–7 mm; bracts deltoid, 1–2 mm long; bracteoles setaceous, free, 1–4 mm long × 0.6–0.7 mm wide; bud pyriform to obovate, the globe 4–7 × 4 mm, the hypanthium 2.5–4.5 × 3–4 mm diam., lower one-third of the globe, campanulate to cylindrical, the margin level with the top of the ovary, densely strigose; flowers to 25 mm in diam.; sepals widely deltoid, 7 × 4 mm, densely strigose abaxially with trichomes ca. 2 mm long, connate for about two-thirds of their length and covering the petals before anthesis, coriaceous, whitish within, cucullate at anthesis; petals oblong to obovate, 10 × 5 mm, imbricate, white, glabrous; staminal ring quadrangular, 2.8–4 mm wide, pilose; stamens 60–70, cream to whitish; filaments filiform, 10–15 mm long, the anthers oblong, 1 mm long, dorsifixed to basifixed, cream to whitish, irregularly rimose, opening like valves, the connective gland protuberant; ovary bilocular, with ca. 10 ovules per locule, style to 8 mm long, the stigma punctiform. Fruit globose to subglobose, 11–30 × 12–25 mm, crowned by the sepals, the epicarp hairy with trichomes like those of the hypanthium, mesocarp scarcely fleshy; seeds 2–5 per fruit, subglobose, 10–15 mm, the testa coriaceous, smooth, with a distinct rapheal scar ca. 10 mm long, curved over fused cotyledons.

Distribution and habitat:— Eugenia kerianthera is only known from the Central Amazon, in dense humid forests, on plateaus and slopes, on clayey soils.

Phenology:—Buds, flowers and immature fruits from September to December; ripe fruits collected in January.

Etymology:—The epithet is derived from the Greek words for “honeycomb” and “anthers” due to the morphology of the stamens; it is necessary to say that the name was also inspired in the Brazilian genus Kerianthera J.H.Kirkbride ( Rubiaceae ; Kirkbride 1985), which has a similar morphology.

Conservation status:— Eugenia kerianthera has a restricted distribution and has been recorded from three locations in the Municipality of Manaus: the Reserva Florestal Adolpho Ducke, and forests reserves of Instituto Federal do Amazonas (IFAM) and the Centro de Projetos e Estudos Especiais do Amazonas (CEPEAM). Due to limited information, the conservation status of this species should be scored in the category of Data Deficient (DD) by the IUCN ( IUCN 2014).

Affinities:— Eugenia kerianthera is easily distinguishable due to the long and shining brilliant surface of trichomes present in all plant parts, giving them a pearl appearance in the light. It is morphologically similar to to Ecuadorian E. yasuniana B.Holst & M.L.Kawasaki (2009: 934) , with which it is compared in the diagnosis.

Paratypes:— BRAZIL. Amazonas: Manaus, Reserva Florestal Adolpho Ducke , 02 o 53’S, 59 o 58´W, 28 January 2003, C.V. Castilho et al. 1081 ( INPA!) GoogleMaps ; ibidem, 18 February 2003, C.V. Castilho et al. 1149 ( INPA!) GoogleMaps ; ibid., 15 January 1996, M.A.S. Costa et al. 691 ( INPA!, SEL!) GoogleMaps ; ibid., 3 November 1997, M.A.D. Souza et al. 447 ( INPA!) GoogleMaps ; ibid., 2 February 1998, M.A.D. Souza et al. 546 ( INPA!, SEL!, SP!) GoogleMaps ; ibid., 3 December 1997, M.A.D. Souza et al. 485 ( INPA!) GoogleMaps ; ibid., M.A.D. Souza et al. 448 ( INPA!) GoogleMaps ; Rio Negro, região do rio Cuieiras, matas do SIDERA , 11 November 1963, W.A. Rodrigues 5522 ( INPA!) .