A new species of the genus Besleria Plum. ex L. (Gesneriaceae), endemic to the Andean forests of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca, is described and illustrated. Besleria atopa Solano-C., D. Ruiz-Mol. & Zapata-Corr. is readily distinguished by a combination of characters including decumbent stems, solitary axillary flowers, and laterally compressed yellow corollas. The new species is morphologically similar to B. immitis C. V. Morton, which occurs in the Amazon basin of Colombia, and to B. barbensis Hanst., found in Costa Rica and Panama.
Two new Malagasy species of Bulbophyllum Thouars (Orchidaceae) are described and illustrated. Notes on conservation status, habitat, and taxonomy are provided. An overview of taxonomic research of Bulbophyllum in Madagascar is given. Bulbophyllum voethii G. A. Fisch. & Sieder is distinct from any other known Bulbophyllum species through the combination of characters including: non-creeping rhizome; densely clustered bifoliate pseudobulbs; non-resupinated, erect, single-flowered inflorescences; a short, fully sheathed peduncle with large distinct floral bracts; sepals with one thickened vein, lateral sepals longer than dorsal sepal; pandurate lip; and a column without wings or teeth, the stelidia short and bilobed. The character set is so unique that morphologically it cannot be assigned to any existing Malagasy section. Bulbophyllum kiehnii G. A. Fisch. & Sieder belongs to section Elasmatopus Schltr. and is most similar to B. oxycalyx Schltr. It differs by having orbicular to slightly ovoid 4-angled pseudobulbs, indurate and succulent leaves, a densely multiflowered inflorescence, glabrous sepals and petals with entire margins, a strongly ligulate lip with a large adaxial callus, and a short, oblique-angled incurved and subcylindrical column foot. Based on IUCN Red List criteria, both B. kiehnii and B. voethii are provisionally assessed as Critically Endangered, the latter possibly extinct.
Here we describe Anthurium circinale Theófilo & Arantes, a new species of Anthurium Schott (Araceae) from the Sugarloaf Land region in eastern Brazil. We emphasize the importance of using unusual characteristics to define species within the genus, such as flower shape and androecium. We present illustrations and a distribution map. Furthermore, we highlight the need for further research focused on detailed evaluations of floral structures within Anthurium sect. Urospadix Engl.
The Linnean name Asparagus sarmentosus L. (Asparagaceae) was incorrectly typified by earlier workers under the International Code of Nomenclature. Therefore, an unpublished illustration by Hermann is selected here as a lectotype for the precise application of the name.
Ilex pixquiacana Lozada-Pérez, Gallardo-Hern. & Cruz Durán is described and illustrated based on specimens collected in the Mexican states of Veracruz and Puebla. The new species is characterized primarily by male inflorescences in fasciculate compound cymes and fasciculate female flowers. One illustration and a distribution map are provided, and its relationships with I. tolucana Hemsl. and I. discolor Hemsl. are discussed.
Podostemaceae, a family of strictly aquatic plants found in rapids and waterfalls, include the single African species belonging to subfamily Tristichoideae, Tristicha trifaria (Bory ex Willd.) Spreng. While conducting an environmental impact assessment for the Kikot hydroelectric dam project on the Sanaga River in southern Cameroon, 208 Tristicha Thouars collections were made, 93 of which exhibited peculiar morphological features that clearly distinguished them from T. trifaria and were found to represent a new species, T. spinulosa E. Bidault & Rutish., which is described. It differs from T. trifaria by having ovaries with only two locules, each with a single ovule (vs. many), two stigmas (vs. three), a capsule with a very thin wall that decays early (rather than a 3-valved dry capsule), and three tepals that surround the fruit and become sclerified during seed maturation to form spines. These morphological features, not previously observed in Tristicha, require an expansion of the morphological delimitation of the genus. The new species is endemic to the Sanaga River system; its conservation status is preliminarily assessed as Vulnerable because of threats resulting from hydroelectric and regulating dams, which have significantly increased submersion of most colonies in the Sanaga and Mbam rivers. The inclusion of a historical collection of T. spinulosa in a previous phylogeny reinforces the hypothesis that T. trifaria in Africa represents multiple species. Further phylogenetic and morphological studies at the scale of tropical Africa are currently being undertaken by the authors.
Columnea glaucobracteata J. L. Clark (Gesneriaceae), a new species endemic to the northwestern Andean slopes of Ecuador, is described. The species shares the dorsiventral habit typical of many species of Columnea L. but is distinguished by its large greenish-white bracts that partially to nearly completely cover the corolla. A conservation assessment following IUCN Red List criteria supports a preliminary status of Data Deficient (DD).
Hypoestes Sol. ex R. Br. (Acanthaceae: Justicieae) is most diverse in Madagascar, with over 90 species, and no modern taxonomic treatment has been done. Here, we describe three new species from southeastern Madagascar. Hypoestes dauphinensis S. Lowry & Appleq., as herein circumscribed, is highly variable; it has long-petiolate leaves, pubescent involucres fused for up to 25% of their length, and small flowers with long, reflexed lips. Hypoestes linearifolia S. Lowry & Appleq. is remarkable for its very long, narrow leaves, ca. 11–17 × 0.9–1.7 cm. Both of those are from the Anosy Region. Hypoestes phillipsonii S. Lowry, I. Darbysh. & Appleq., from the vicinity of Ranomafana National Park, is among a group of species with short, narrow leaves; it also belongs to a group of species with flowers resembling those of H. forskaolii (Vahl) R. Br. and is distinguished from the most similar species of that group, H. flavovirens Benoist, by features including greater indument on some organs, paniculate inflorescences, and involucral bracts fused for more of their length and bearing few glandular trichomes.
Two new species of Monarda L. subg. Monarda (Lamiaceae), M. maxmedleyi J. J. N. Campbell & Floden and M. simmersii J. J. N. Campbell & Floden, are described and illustrated. These are compared to related species by using factor analysis of mixed data (FAMD) and principal component analysis (PCA) based on a dataset of 22 morphological characters from closely related species in the M. fistulosa species group. Monarda maxmedleyi has had the names M. russeliana Nutt. ex Sims and M. virgata Raf. misapplied to it. The species is known mostly from the eastern Knobs region of Kentucky and a few nearby sites, where it occurs in subxeric woodland and edges on medium acid soils largely derived from siltstone or on transitions from limestone to sandstone. In morphology it is most similar to M. brevis (Fosberg & L. Artz) Floden, which occurs ca. 300 miles to the east in the Ridge-and-Valley region of West Virginia. Monarda simmersii occurs in the Interior Low Plateau of Tennessee north through Kentucky on the Mississippian Plateau and Western Coal Fields to southern Indiana and southwest Ohio typically on exposed crumbling limestone. It is most similar in morphology to M. austroappalachiana Floden, which occurs in the southern Unaka Mountains and southern Cumberland Plateau of northern Georgia and southeastern Tennessee around Lookout Mountain. These form a morphologically and edaphically similar group of early-flowering species in the Southeastern United States.
Astragalus longifructus Alirezaei, Maassoumi & F. Ghahrem. is described here as a new species from Golestan Province in northern Iran. Diagnostic characters include bifurcate hairs, free stipules, imparipinnate leaves, and the absence of bracteoles, supporting placement in Astragalus L. sect. Dissitiflori DC. The species is currently known only from the type locality. Morphologically, A. longifructus most closely resembles A. microcalycinus Širj. & Rech. f. (eastern Afghanistan) but differs in having markedly longer pods and longer stipules and leaflets. We provide an illustration of the plant habit, detailed photographs of the floral structures, a distribution map, and a comparative table distinguishing the new taxon from allied species.
A lectotype and epitype are designated here for Spodiopogon dubius Hack. (Poaceae), originally described by Eduard Hackel from Himalayan material. The species was recently re-collected during field surveys in the Western Himalaya, and an updated description is provided.
Recent collecting has resulted in the discovery of a new endemic species of milkweed (Apocynaceae, Asclepiadoideae) from the mountains of central Costa Rica, here described and illustrated as Gonolobus costaricensis Wydrzycka & W. D. Stevens.
Anaphalis sahyadrica Remya, K. M. P. Kumar & Maya (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae), a new species from the montane grasslands and shola margins of the southern Western Ghats in Keralam, India, is described and illustrated. The new species exhibits morphological affinities with A. marcescens (Wight) C. B. Clarke in its habit, leaf shape, heterogamous and disciform capitula, and uniseriate, free, barbellate pappus bristles, but differs in habitat preference, number of capitula per inflorescence, shape of the leaf base and margin, nature of phyllary, indument in phyllaries, receptacle surface and indument, number of florets, and cypsela indument. The new species is described here with detailed information on its distribution and ecology, color photographs, a comparative assessment with allied species, and SEM images of the cypsela.
A new species, Chusquea beckii L. G. Clark & McMurchie (Poaceae: Bambusoideae: Bambuseae), is described from herbarium specimens collected in the department of La Paz, Bolivia. This species is most similar to the Bolivian endemic C. ovatifolia Attigala, A. Fuentes & L. G. Clark of Chusquea Kunth sect. Tenellae L. G. Clark, but differs from this species in that it bears branch complements of just two subsidiary branches, the foliage leaves and spikelets are larger in size, the foliage leaves bear sheath summit extensions on both sides of the blade, glumes I and II are scabrous-pubescent, glume III is no more than two fifths the spikelet length, and the synflorescence is weakly paniculate. Due to its restricted range and ongoing land conversion for agriculture within the Bolivian Yungas forests where C. beckii lives, this species is preliminarily assessed as Endangered (EN) under IUCN Red List guidelines.
A new species of Zanthoxylum L. (Rutaceae) from Nicaragua, Z. tecomapaense Reynel, is here described based upon morphological characters. It grows in the surroundings of Laguna Tecomapa in Nicaragua, under very particular soil conditions; it is distinct in several vegetative and reproductive characters. This species belongs to Zanthoxylum sect. Macqueria Comm. ex Triana & Planch., which is the largest and most variable within the genus.
Passiflora muyscana Lozano-Cif., H. Bernal & Villanueva is described and illustrated as a new species in Passiflora L. subg. Decaloba (DC.) Rchb., supersection Decaloba (DC.) J. M. MacDougal & Feuillet, section Decaloba DC. (Passifloraceae). This endemic taxon occurs in montane cloud forests along the western slope of the Colombian Cordillera Oriental in the municipality of Villa del Rosario de Tena, department of Cundinamarca, Colombia. The new species is similar to P. biflora Lam. but differs in the shape of its leaves, number of bud prophylls, color of the floral structures, size of the floral stipe, and the distribution of its populations. In addition, details are provided on its ecology, etymology, conservation status, and taxonomic discussion regarding its related species.
Hiraea florosa C. E. Anderson (Malpighiaceae) from Bolivia and adjacent Peru is newly described and illustrated. Hiraea ternifolia (Kunth) A. Juss. var. peruviana J. F. Macbr. (non H. peruviana C. E. Anderson) of Ecuador and Peru is raised to species level as H. speciosa C. E. Anderson.
Two new species, Orthosia tubularis W. D. Stevens and O. campanulata W. D. Stevens (Apocynaceae), are segregated from O. stipitata W. D. Stevens sensu Liede-Schumann and Meve (2024). These three species, along with O. ramosa W. D. Stevens and O. nubicola (Morillo) Liede & Meve, share stipitate gynostegia having gibbous anther backs and relatively long corollas enclosing or nearly enclosing the gynostegium. Each species has a narrow distribution, and as a group are native to mountains (1600–3300 m) ranging from Veracruz, Mexico, to Venezuela.
The name Rochelia persica Bunge ex Boiss. was described validly by Edmond Boissier (1810–1885) based on two collections by Alexander Bunge. A lectotype is designated here from Boissier’s herbarium in Geneva (G-BOIS).
Study of Amazonian and Andean Palicourea Aubl. clarifies the identities, circumscriptions, and typification of some previously described species, and has found some new species described here. For the previously described species, three new circumscriptions, three new nomenclatural combinations, and several new synonymies and typifications are published here: Psychotria arirambana Standl. is transferred to Palicourea, Psychotria calocardia Standl. is synonymized with it, and both names are lectotypified; Psychotria hylocharis Standl. is transferred to Palicourea, and its circumscription narrowed; Palicourea lasiophylla K. Krause is clarified as to identity and lectotypified, and Palicourea villosiflora Standl. is shown to be distinct from both this and Palicourea cornigera C. M. Taylor; Palicourea punoensis Standl. is synonymized with Palicourea attenuata Rusby, and lectotypes are designated for both of these names and an epitype also for Palicourea punoensis; and Psychotria yapacanensis Steyerm. is transferred to Palicourea and Psychotria anartiothrix Steyerm. is synonymized with it. Ten new species are described: Palicourea campinaranana C. M. Taylor from Amazonian eastern Peru and southwestern Brazil; Palicourea cuscana C. M. Taylor from Andean southern Peru; Palicourea dalyana C. M. Taylor from Amazonian western Brazil; Palicourea duende C. M. Taylor from Andean southern Ecuador; Palicourea fallax C. M. Taylor from Amazonian central Peru; Palicourea farfanii C. M. Taylor from Andean southern Peru; Palicourea hooveri C. M. Taylor from Pacific northwestern Ecuador and southwestern Colombia; Palicourea mcdanielii C. M. Taylor from Amazonian northeastern Peru and western Brazil; Palicourea ortiziana C. M. Taylor from Amazonian eastern Peru; and Palicourea santiagoana C. M. Taylor from Amazonian northeastern Peru.
