Miconia dorsaliporosa R.Goldenb. & Reginato

  • Family

    Melastomataceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Miconia dorsaliporosa R.Goldenb. & Reginato

  • Primary Citation

    New species of Behuria, Miconia, and Ossaea (Melastomataceae) from eastern Brazil.
    J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 136(3): 294. 2009

  • Type Specimens

    Specimen 1: Paratype -- R. Goldenberg 915

  • Description

    Description Author and Date: Renato Goldenberg, Oct. 2011, modified from original description, Goldenberg, R. & M. Reginato. 2009. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 136(3): 293-301.

    Type: Brazil. Bahia, Almadina, Serra do Corcovado, Rodovia Almadina/Coaraci, ca. 5 km, 14°42'13'' S, 39°36'9'' W, 19 Mar 2006, fl., fr., Paixão et al. 851 (holotype: CEPEC; isotype: UPCB).

    Description: Tree or treelet 6-14 m high; old branches and adaxial leaf surface glabrous or glabrescent, young branches, petioles, abaxial leaf surface, inflorescences, bracts and bracteoles densely covered by dendritic trichomes, on the inflorescences mixed with sparse stipitate ones. Branches terete or flattened, nodose. Leaves opposite, equal in each pair or slightly anisophyllous; petioles 2-5.5 cm long; blades 10-19(25) × 2.5-6 (10) cm, oval, elliptic or lanceolate, apex shortly acuminate to acuminate, base obtuse, sometimes asymmetric and rarely slightly cuneate, margin entire or slightly crenulate and revolute, eciliate, chartaceous, discolorous in dried specimens, longitudinal nerves 5, acrodromous, basal, sometimes with the external pair confluent, a faint additional pair of marginals present or not, main and transverse veins prominent and reticulation perceptible on the abaxial surface, main and transverse slightly depressed and reticulation inconspicuous on the adaxial surface. Panicles 8.5-13 cm, terminal, multiflorous, consisting of three panicles (one central and diverging at its base and developing more or less parallel to the leaf pair) or seldom a single panicle, each panicle lacking accessory branches, with 5-6 pairs of paraclades, these with 1-4 pairs of 2nd order paraclades, these usually glomerulate but sometimes depauperate; bracts 1-4 mm, lanceolate, entire; bracteoles two, 0.4-0.6 mm long, triangular, entire. Flowers 5-merous, sessile or on pedicels ca. 0.3 mm long. Hypanthium 1.3-1.6 × 1.2-1.5 mm, campanulate, outside densely covered by the same indument as the inflorescences, internal surface glabrous. Calyx tube 0.25-0.35 mm long, persistent; lobes 0.2-0.3 mm long, broadly triangular, both tube and lobes outside with the same trichomes as the hypanthium; the minute external teeth ca. 0.15 mm long, acute. Petals 1.25-1.35 × 0.8mm, oblong, elliptic-oblong or slightly obovate, apex rounded, entire, eciliate, glabrous. Stamens isomorphic, glabrous; filaments 1-1.5 mm long; connectives unappendaged, 0.4-0.5 mm prolonged below the thecae; anthers 1.2-1.6 mm long, oblong but dorsally arcuate to the apex, with a single ventral pore ca. 0.25 mm diam. Ovary 0.9-1.2 mm long, basally 0.25-0.4 mm adhering to the hypanthium, 3-celled, apex with sparse dendritic trichomes; style 1.8-2 mm long, linear, glabrous. Fruits baccate, 3-5 × 3.5-6 mm, reddish or dark violet, costate when dried, with 1-3 seeds; seeds 3.1-3.4 × 2.3-3.2 mm, yellow, oboval or hemispherical, raphe with 2/3 seed length, testa smooth.

    Habitat and Distribution: Miconia dorsaliporosa has been collected several times in Espírito Santo, but always with fruits or buds. The only collection with flowers comes from Bahia, about 600 km to the north. All collections come from montane forests, between 300 and 900 m above sea level. This species cannot be regarded as endangered, since it apparently occurs over an extensive area, and has been collected in at least two Conservation Units (Reserva Biológica Augusto Ruschi and Reserva Biológica de Santa Lúcia), both administered by the Federal Government.

    Taxonomy and Systematics: This species should be placed in Miconia sect. Glossocentrum (Crueger) Hook.f., following the traditional infrageneric classification of Cogniaux (1886-1888, 1891), since its oblong stamens lack the connective's appendages and dehisce through large pores. Within the section, M. dorsaliporosa belongs to a group of about 25 species, all restricted to the Atlantic Forest in Brazil and Paraguay, that share the 5-merous flowers and leaves densely covered by trichomes on the abaxial surface. None of them has the unappendaged, dorsally arcuate anthers, with the distinctive dorsally inclined pores that occur in the new species. From these species, 14 have leaves with nerves that are clearly supra-basal: M. altissima Cogn., M. formosa Cogn., M. ovalifolia Cogn, M. gigantea Cogn. and M. cabucu Hoehne (all five probably belonging to a single, variable species), M. wildenowii Naudin, M. chartacea Triana, M. budlejoides Triana, M. flammea Casaretto, M. brunnea DC., M. divaricata Gardner, M. baumgratziana R.Goldenb. & C.V.Martin (= M. angustifolia Cogn.), M. saldanhae Cogn., M. oblongifolia Cogn and M. discolor DC. Other six species have scorpioid inflorescences: M. leucocarpa DC. (= M. pohliana Cogn.), M. setosociliata Cogn., M. mellina DC., M. valtheri Naudin, M. eichleri Cogn., and M. pseudoeichleri Cogn. Five species have distinctive caducous calyx lobes: M. cinerascens Miq., M. pauloensis Naudin, M. sclerophylla Triana, M. lurida Cogn., and M. brasiliensis (Spreng.) Triana (= M. pauciflora Triana). Finally, M. alborufescens Naudin has glomerulate inflorescences and shorter, oval leaves.

    Etymology: The epithet refers to the most distinctive character of this species, which is the dorsal pore on the dorsally arcuate anther.

  • Sorry, no descriptions available for this record.