Cassia ixodes H.S.Irwin & Barneby
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Authors
Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby
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Authority
Irwin, Howard S. & Barneby, Rupert C. 1978. Monographic studies in Cassia (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae). III. Sections Absus and Grimaldia. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 30: 1-300.
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Family
Caesalpiniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Holotypus, NY.
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Description
Latin Diagnosis - Cassia ixodes Irwin & Barneby, sp. nov., habitu toto C. adamantinam arete simulans sed foliolis 5-7 (nec 3-4)-jugis superne planis (nec nervulis impressis rugulosis) inferne brunneo-pilosulis (nec villis griseolis setulisque luteolis immixtis conspersis), sepalis angustioribus ideoque alabastris el I ipsoideis (nec ovoideis) necnon petalis in unguiculum elongatum angustatis satis differre videtur.
Distribution and Ecology - Cerrado in chapada, on deep red soil without gravel or rock fragments, known only from the type-locality on the headwaters of Rio Arapuaf (— 17° 50' S, 42° 50' W) in e.-centr. Minas Gerais
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Discussion
While the proposition of species based upon unicate specimens is always unsatisfactory, the danger of duplication is aggravated when two related forms, such as C. ixodes and C. adamantina, are both described from single collections. It seems, however, impossible to accommodate either in any formerly described species, while the material, meager though it is, is too diverse to rest easily under one name. In general habit and flower-size the two species are much alike, viscous shrubs with ample, dorsally reticulate leaflets and partly leafy-bracteate panicles of short racemes not or scarcely overtopping the foliage. Collectively they resemble C. gilliesii, but differ in petioled leaves, leaflets decrescent up- and not downward along rachis, and larger flowers. The differences between them are in the foliage and calyx. The leaflets of C. ixodes are 5-7 pairs, in C. adamantina 3-4 pairs, in the first smooth above and brown- pilosulous beneath, in the second rugulosely impressed-veiny above and gray-villosulous beneath. The sepals of C. ixodes are relatively long and narrow, the buds in consequence ellipsoid, unlike the ovoid buds of C. adamantina; and the four similar petals of C. ixodes are contracted into a long slender claw. The type-localities of the two species lie about 85 km apart near the watershed of Rios Jequitinonha and Velhas in central Serra do Espinhaço.
Plants collected in leaf only on the west slope of the Serra in the municipio of Gouveia (Anderson 11535) represent a closely related, perhaps identical form but cannot be identified with certainty until flowers are obtained.
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Distribution
Brazil South America| Minas Gerais Brazil South America|