Senna pendula var. recondita

  • Title

    Senna pendula var. recondita

  • Authors

    Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

  • Scientific Name

    Senna pendula var. recondita H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Description

    126b. Senna pendula (Willdenow) var. recondita Irwin & Barneby, var. nov., ad anthesin vix nisi ovulis minus numerosis ±48-52 (nec 70+) a var. glabrata distinguenda sed ulterius vero floribus ut videtur paullo minoribus, staminodiorum lamina spatulato-oblanceolata, certiusque fructifera legumine de latere compresso turgido (nec cylindrico) se- minibusque 1-seriatis diversa, a var. ambigua, legumine necnon pa- tria submaritima arete comparabili, praesertim stylo elongato (6.5-8 nec 3-4.5 mm) abstans.—BRAZIL. Santa Catarina: Praia Braba, Itajai, 15.VII. 1953 (fr), Reitz & Klein 603.—Holotypus, NY; isotypi, NY, US.

    Shrubs ±1-2 m, the young branchlets minutely incurved-puberulent, the lfts glabrous except for a dorsal tuft of hairs in anterior basal angle of midrib; petiolar gland between proximal pair only; lfts 4-5 pairs, the distal pair (2-)2.3- 3.4 x (0.9-)l.1-1.6 cm, their secondary camptodrome veins 7-9 pairs, the lower face intricately closely reticulate as in var. glabrata; longest sepal 7-10 mm; longest petal 15-18 mm; blade of staminodes spatulate-oblanceolate ±2-2.5 x 1-1.3 mm; long filaments 14-16 mm, their anther 7.6-9 x 1.6-1.7 mm, its beak 0.5-0.7 mm; style 6.5-8 mm; ovules 48-52; body of pod 10-17 x 1-1.2 cm, laterally compressed but turgid, the seed-locules 1-seriate.—Collections: 6.

    Disturbed brush-woodland and restinga below 30 m, along the immediate coast of Santa Catarina and adjacent Parana in lat. ±25°40'-27°15'S.—Fl. III-V.

    The epithet recondita has been chosen for this maritime variety to emphasize the often cryptic difference between it and var. glabrata, from which it can be distinguished reliably at anthesis only by a count of ovules. Despite this very close phenetic resemblance, we find the compressed pod and uniseriate seeds distinctive enough in season. The variety is also closely related to the ecologically similar var. ambigua from the coast of Rio de Janeiro, which combines the compressed pod of var. recondita with a brevistylous flower; and to the longistylous var. missionum of northeastern Argentina, which see for further comment.