Cassia cytisoides var. micrantha

  • Title

    Cassia cytisoides var. micrantha

  • Authors

    Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

  • Scientific Name

    Cassia cytisoides var. micrantha H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Description

    1b. Cassia cytisoides DeCandolle ex Colladon var. micrantha Irwin & Barneby, var. nov., foliis sessilibus 4-foliolatis var. brachystachyam simulans sed foliolis omnibus oblongo- obovatis (jugi proximi haud reniformibus), a var. cytisoidi quoad foliolorum ambitu praesimili foliolis 2 (nec 3)-jugis, a var. confertiformi foliolis latioribus ex ipso pulvinulo 5 (nec 3)-nerviis, ab omnibus floris parvi petalis inter se conformibus 9-14 x 5-6 (nec 12.5-20 x 7-11) mm usque, petalo falcato spirali 13.5-16 (nec 18-25) mm longo abstans. — BRAZIL. Bahia: Chapada Diamantina, 920 m, Chique-chique (Xique-xique), mun. Andarahy, IV. 1938 (fl, fr), Bandar 2610. — Holotypus, SP = NY Neg. 8792.

    Glabrous except for minutely ciliolate stipules; lvs ±2.5-4 cm, sessile; rachis 5-10 mm; lfts 2 pairs, the distal slightly longer and narrower, but all asymmetrically obovate to oblong- obovate, longer than wide, 2-4 x 40.9-)1-3 cm; sepals 8.5-6 x 3.5-4 mm; petals shorter than in other forms of C. cytisoides, the 4 obovate-cuneate 9-14 x 5-6 mm, the falcate and coiled one 13.5-16 mm. — Collections: 3.

    Cerrado, about sandstone outcrops, ±950-1000 m, known only from the n. edge of Chapada Diamantina (Xique-xique and Serra do Curral Feio, ± 10° 20'-11 ° S) in n.-centr. Bahia. - Fl. II-IV.

    The two known stations for var. micrantha lie at the edge of the range of var. blancheti and remote from that of other forms of C. cytisoides. It resembles var. cytisoides in the shape of the leaflets, but these are two, not three pairs. In leaflet number it agrees with var. confertiformis and var. brachystachya, but stands between them in outline of blades, substantially wider than in var. confertiformis and narrower than in the other. The smaller flower of var. micrantha appears from our still limited samples to distinguish it from other varieties of its species, in which the largest of the four plane petals is about twice, not one fourth as long as the longest sepal.

    The variety was collected first by Blanchet (no. 275, G) at an unrecorded locality.