Renealmia brasiliensis K.Schum.
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Authority
Maas, Paulus J. M. 1977. Renealmia (Zingiberaceae--Zingiberoideae), Costoideae (Additions) (Zingiberaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 18: 1-218. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Zingiberaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Warming 505 (lectotype, C), Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais, Brazil; the Warming collection is designated as lectotype as the two other syntypes (Sellow sn, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Mendonça 612 b, Serra da Urassanga, Brazil) were destroyed with the Berlin herbarium.
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Synonyms
Renealmia brasiliensis K.Schum., Renealmia
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Description
Description - Plants 0.5-2.5 m tall. Rhizomes 10-15 mm thick. Sheaths appearing very distinctly reticulate, the cross-connections formed by white, hardly elevated bands, the space between them brownish, 5-10 mm wide, to 20 mm at the base of the plant, densely to rather densely covered with simple (or furcate) prickles (less than 0.1 mm long) and needle-like hairs (to 0.3 mm long). Ligule ca 1 mm long. Petiole absent. Lamina narrowly elliptic to narrowly obovate, acuminate at the apex (acumen 5-10 mm long), cuneate at the base, 32-57 cm long, 7-13 cm wide, upper side glabrous, midrib on the lower side in the basal part sparsely covered with prickles. Scape erect, pink, 40-70 cm tall, up to 5 mm thick, beset with sheaths up to 7-9 cm long and 0.6-1.3 cm wide. Inflorescence a basal raceme 20-36 cm long and 3-8 cm wide. Indument of inflorescence: rhachis, bracts, peduncles, bracteoles, pedicels, and calyx sparsely to densely covered with erect, simple (rarely furcate) hairs (0.1-0.4 mm long), ovary sparsely so, corolla and capsule glabrous. Bracts pink, membranous, soon deciduous, narrowly elliptic-triangular, acute, 10-40 mm long, 5-8 mm wide. Peduncles l-5(-9) mm long. Bracteole pinkish, 11-19 mm long. Pedicels 7-12(-15) mm long. Calyx pinkish, tubular, 14-22 mm long, 5-7 mm wide, the lobes deltate to triangular, 4-6 mm long, 3-4 mm wide. Corolla pink, 22 mm long, the tube 11-12 mm long, the lobes 10-11 mm long, 5-8 mm wide. Labellum 10-11 mm long and ca 8 mm wide when spread out, middle part and base densely hairy, the limb erect, 6-7 mm long, ca 8 mm wide, lateral lobes involute, rounded, middle lobe entire or divided into two lobules 2-2.5 mm long and 1.5-2 mm wide, basal claw 4 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, lateral staminodes 1-1.5 mm long. Anther 5-8 mm long, 2.5-3 mm wide, sparsely hairy at the base. Style 19 mm long. Nectarial glands completely surrounding the style base, 2-3 mm long. Ovary ellipsoid. Capsule scarlet, ellipsoid to globose, (9-)12-25 mm long, (6-)8-14 mm wide, its wall ca 0.2 mm thick when dry (in Mexía 4645 to 0.5 mm thick), 20-25-seeded, seeds 3 X 4 mm.
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Discussion
Characteristics of this species are the brown-and-white-patterned leaf-sheaths, the shortly pedunculate flowers, the sessile leaves, and the membranous bracts. It is closely related to R. reticulata and R. petasites.
I am not quite sure of Schumann’s concept of R. brasiliensis, as two of the three original collections were destroyed. I have studied the third syntype, Warming 505 (C), and treat that specimen as the lectotype of R. brasiliensis. Arguments for this lectotypification are: 1, the citation by Schumann of the Warming collection in his original diagnosis of R. brasiliensis (he cited it as: “Staat Minas Geraes, bei Lagoa Santa (Warming);’ 2, the Warming collection completely agrees with a collection identified by Loesener as R. brasiliensis (Hoehne & Gehrt sn (SP 17540). Granted that Loesener was a specialist in the Zingiberaceae and that he had all Schumann’s original material at hand, this determination is presumably correct.There are, however, also a few arguments against the selection of this lectotype:1, it is not absolutely sure that the Warming collection cited by Schumann is indeed Warming 505 from the Copenhagen herbarium (the collection was not annotated by Schumann), although it was Warming’s only Renealmia collection from that locality; the specimen does not completely fit Schumann’s description of R. brasiliensis, e g diverging in having bracts of 2-4 cm long (instead of “5-8 cm longae”); 2, Schumann identified the specimen Lund sn, anno 1829 (C) as R. brasiliensis, but in my opinion it belongs to R. petasites. My conclusion is that R. brasiliensis K. Schumann comprises two different elements, namely R. petasites and a species which I now call R. brasiliensis K. Schumann emend. Maas. The only alternative is to describe the species under discussion as a new one. -
Objects
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Distribution
Brazil South America| Espirito Santo Brazil South America| Minas Gerais Brazil South America|