Nototriche latorreae Mazzei & Montesinos, 2025

5. Nototriche latorreae Mazzei & Montesinos , sp. nov. ( Fig. 11 View FIGURE 11 )

Type: — PERU. Dept. Moquegua, Prov. General Sánchez Cerro, Dist. Ubinas, Matazo, 16°10’14”S, 70°49’47”W, 4,617 m, 05 Mar. 2018. D. B. Montesinos 5908 ( Holotype: USM [accession number] 329473).

Diagnosis:— Nototriche latorreae is closely related to N. sepaliloba . It is differentiated by having narrower sheath ( 1–1.8 mm vs. 2–3 mm), dark purple corolla, turning yellow towards the interior ( vs. whitish to violet, with purple veins), narrower petals ( 2–3.8 mm vs. 5–6 mm), and shorter staminal tube ( 2.5 mm vs. 4 mm).

Description:— Perennial, acaulescent, rosulate herb 3–6 cm in diameter, caespitose; woody subcylindrical caudex, slightly branched at the top, 5–10 cm long and 0.5–1 cm in diameter. Leaves numerous, arranged in spherical rosettes of 3–4 cm in diameter; with sessile and stipitate stellate trichomes, trichome rays 0.5–1 mm. Stipules and petioles fused together to form a broad, membranous sheath. Sheath 4–6 × 1–1.8 mm; free part of the stipules linear–triangular, 6–8 × 0.5 mm, apex acute, conspicuous middle nerve. Lamina flabellate, semicircular, deeply 7–9 lobed, lateral lobes 3-lobuled, middle lobe 3–5 lobuled; lobules linear, 1–2 × 0.4 mm, apex obtuse. Adaxial and abaxial surfaces of the lamina densely pubescent. Free part of the petiole pubescent, free part of the stipules only with short trichomes on the margins; sheath only pubescent in the adaxial surface and the margins. Flower solitary and sessile, located in the point where the free parts of the stipules separate. Epicalyx absent. Calyx of fused sepals, campanulate, accrescent, 5-lobed; calyx tube 3–3.5 × 2–2.5 mm; lobes conspicuously 3–lobuled, 3–3.5 × 2–2.5 mm; lobules entire, linear, apex obtuse, 1.8–2 × 0.4–0.5 mm; outer side hairy, inner side hairy towards the apices of the lobes. Internal nectaries isolated, with rounded apices, about 0.4 mm in diameter. Corolla dark purple, turning yellow inwards, veins conspicuous, dark purple to black when dry; corolla tube about 1 mm long, hairy; free part of the petals slightly asymmetrical, obovate, apex obtuse, with short simple hairs, 4–4.5 × 2–3.8 mm. Staminal tube 2.5 × 0.8 mm, glabrous; anthers arranged in a globose mass. Ovary subglobose, with 8 carpels; uniovulate carpels, erect ovum; styles in equal numbers as carpels; stigma capitate. Schizocarpic fruit; 8 dehiscent mericarps, 2–2.3 × 2 mm, with two awns 1–1.5 mm long, wall glabrous, back and awns hairy with stellate trichomes of 1 mm long. Reniform seed, 1.8 × 1.5 mm, sulcate back, brown.

Etymology:— This new species is named in honor of the botanist María Isabel La Torre Acuy (1950–), researcher associated with the UNMSM Museum of Natural History, in recognition of her scientific work dedicated to the study of the Poaceae family in Peru.

Distribution and habitat:— Nototriche latorreae is known only for the type locality, in the district of Ubinas in the province of General Sánchez Cerro (department of Moquegua), an area located on the western side of the western Andean mountain range ( Fig. 8 View FIGURE 8 ). This endemic species of Peru grows in cryoturbated soils, on sandy and stony slopes and summits with patches of grassland above 4,600 m. It is often found in scattered groups of small spherical rosettes; the type specimen was found flowering in the month of March. N. latorreae grow in association with N. obcuneata (Baker f.) A.W. Hill ( Hill 1906: 579) , N. rugosa (Phil.) A.W. Hill (1906: 579) , N. turritella A.W. Hill (1909: 241) ( Malvaceae ), and Tarasa nototrichoides (Hochr.) Krapov. ( Krapovickas 1979: 48) .

Preliminary Conservation threat assessment:— So far, the distribution area of this species ranges from 1–2 hectares in the type locality and in cryoturbated soils ( Montesinos-Tubée et al. 2021). There is no clear evidence that there is anthropic activity near the distribution area of this species. However, considering that this species is only known from the type locality, according to the IUCN (2022) criteria it is considered as a Data Deficient (DD) species.

Discussion:— Nototriche latorreae is morphologically related to N. sepaliloba Hochr. ( Hochreutiner 1957: 80) and N. staffordiae B.L. Burtt & A.W. Hill ( Burtt & Hill 1948: 136) by the spherical shape of their rosettes and the presence of a calyx with lobes conspicuously 3–divided.

Despite these similarities, these differ in several characters ( Table 5). Nototriche latorreae has a lamina with 7–9 lobes ( vs. always 7 in N. sepaliloba ), a middle lobe 3–5 lobed ( vs. always 3-lobed), stipules hairy only at the margins ( vs. entirely pubescent), a sheath 1–1.8 mm long ( vs. 2–3 mm), and a predominantly dark purple corolla ( vs. whitish to violet with purple veins in N. sepaliloba ). N. latorreae is known from the department of Moquegua, while N. sepaliloba occurs in Huancavelica and Moquegua; the distribution of N. latorreae is entirely enclaved within that of N. sepaliloba .

Unlike Nototriche sepaliloba , N. staffordiae shares with N. latorreae the presence of a lobed lamina and pubescent stipules. However, it differs by having a lamina always 9-lobed ( vs. 7–9 in N. latorreae ), all lobes 5-lobed ( vs. middle lobe 3–5 lobed and lateral lobes 3-lobed), a sheath 3–4 mm long ( vs. 4–6 mm), and a whitish to yellowish corolla with purple or reddish veins ( vs. dark purple). It is distributed in the departments of Arequipa, Huancavelica, and Puno, with the nearest populations separated by about 50 km from those of N. latorreae .