Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 158, 775–777. With 1 figure A new species of Eugenia (Myrtaceae) from north-eastern Brazil FIORELLA FERNANDA MAZINE* and VINICIUS CASTRO SOUZA Herbarium ESA, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Escola Superior de Agricultura ‘Luiz de Queiroz’, Caixa Postal 9, Piracicaba, SP, 13418-900, Brazil Received 10 January 2007; accepted for publication 19 June 2008 A new species of Eugenia section Racemosae (Myrtaceae), Eugenia brejoensis Mazine, is described, illustrated and discussed. It is characterized by its pedunculate racemes, with greyish hairs, leaves with yellowish blade on the lower surface, glandular dots impressed to slightly prominent on the upper surface, pendant apex, and flowers with persistent and pubescent bracteoles. Eugenia brejoensis is known only from highland humid forests, locally called ‘brejo’, in the caatinga area of Pernambuco State, north-eastern Brazil. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 158, 775–777. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: caatinga – Pernambuco State – taxonomy. INTRODUCTION Eugenia is the largest genus in Myrtaceae, with c. 500 (Holst, Landrum & Grifo, 2003) to 2000 (SanchezVindas, Holst & Pool, 2001) species, distributed from the south of Mexico, Cuba and the Antilles to Uruguay and Argentina, with a small number of species (c. 60) in Africa (Van der Merwe, Van Wyk & Botha, 2005). Some species, with edible fruits, have been cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions (for example, Eugenia uniflora L. and E. brasiliensis Lam.). Eugenia is also the most species-rich genus in terms of tree species in the ombrofilous dense forest, which surrounds the Atlantic border of Brazil, locally called ‘Mata Atlântica’ (Oliveira-Filho & Fontes, 2000). Mazine (2006) undertook a phylogenetic analysis using DNA sequence data, and concluded, with low bootstrap support, that Eugenia includes the genera Hexachlamys and Calycorectes. This circumscription had already been suggested by Landrum & Kawasaki (1997), but without any phylogenetic support. With this new circumscription, Eugenia could be recognized by its solid embryo and fused cotyledons, in *Corresponding author. E-mail: ffmazine@carpa.ciagri.usp.br addition to the ovary generally with more than seven ovules. Apart from these, the most common characteristics of Eugenia are the tetra-merous flowers, with free sepals, well individualized at the flower bud stage, the hypanthium little or not prolonged beyond the summit of the bilocular ovary, which has many ovules per locule. According to Mazine (2006), Eugenia section Racemosae can be diagnosed by its flowers exclusively in racemes and/or rarely panicles, with an obvious flower-bearing axis with a pedicel to internode ratio of 2 : 1 or less. Using these criteria, 59 species of Eugenia section Racemosae occur in the Neotropics, and 38 of these in Brazil. This paper is part of the survey of Eugenia section Racemosae for the Flora Neotropica Project. MATERIAL AND METHODS This study was based on the literature, field observations of living specimens and consultation with the main Brazilian and European herbaria (BHCB, BM, BR, C, CEN, CEPEC, CESJ, ESA, FI, FUEL, G, G-DC, HRCB, HUEFS, HUEM, IAC, IAN, IBGE, ICN, INPA, K, LE, LINN, M, MBM, MEL, MG, P, R, RB, SP, SPF, SPSF, U, UB, UEC, W). © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 158, 775–777 775 776 F. F. MAZINE and V. C. SOUZA Figure 1. Eugenia brejoensis Mazine: A, flowering branch; B, flower; C, medial section of ovary (all drawn from Nascimento et al. 504, type). DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW SPECIES EUGENIA BREJOENSIS MAZINE, SP. NOV. (FIG. 1) Diagnosis: Folia apice pendenti. Racemi non corymbosi, pedunculati, pilis griseis. Bracteolae persistentes et pubescentes. Hypanthium pubescens. Type: BRAZIL, Pernambuco, Brejo da Madre de Deus, Mata do Malhada, 08°11′14″S, 36°24′63″W, 20.iii.2001, L. M. Nascimento 504, Eudes & Adriano (holotype: CEPEC 90011; isotype: CEPEC 89854). Description: SHRUB to tree, 1.6–11 m, young branches moderately pubescent. LEAF blade elliptic or elliptic-oblong, 55–102 ¥ 23–37 mm, subcoriaceous, glabrous to subglabrous on both surfaces, hairs simple and dibrachiate, apex acute, pendant, base acute, midvein sulcate, sparse to moderately pubescent on the upper surface, glabrous to subglabrous on the lower surface, lateral veins prominent, marginal vein double, the inner 2.5–4 mm from the margin; glandular dots impressed to slightly prominent; petiole 6–11 mm. RACEME not corymbose, axillary, with two to three pairs of flowers, peduncle 4–10 mm long, rachis 0.3–1.2 cm long, moderate to densely pubescent, hairs greyish. FLOWER BUD 3–4 mm in diameter, floral bracts persistent, 1–1.5 mm long; pedicel 3–5 mm, moderate to densely pubescent, © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 158, 775–777 NEW SPECIES OF EUGENIA FROM NE BRAZIL bracteoles c. 1 mm long, connate on the base, apex obtuse, persistent, densely pubescent, with ciliate margin; sepals c. 3 mm, apex rounded, moderately pubescent, with margin ciliate, persistent; petals not observed; filaments not observed; hypanthium densely pubescent, hairs greyish, surface smooth, style 6–10 mm, glabrous. FRUIT not observed. Notes: Eugenia brejoensis is part of the group of Eugenia section Racemosae with long racemes, a pubescent hypanthium and persistent floral bracts. It is morphologically similar to Eugenia candolleana DC., from which it differs by the leaves with a yellowish blade on the lower surface, glandular dots impressed to slightly prominent on the upper surface, pendant apex, flowers never in corymbose racemes and with pubescent bracteoles. In addition, the racemes of E. brejoensis are pedunculate, with greyish hairs. The bracteoles are persistent, with an obtuse apex. Geographical distribution and habitat: Eugenia brejoensis is endemic to Pernambuco State, being found in highland humid forests, locally called ‘brejo’, which are forests on ‘inselbergs’, located in the semiarid ‘caatinga’. Additional specimens studied: BRAZIL, Pernambuco, Brejo da Madre de Deus, Mata do Malhada, 08°11′14″S, 36°24′06″W, 16.i.2001, A.G. Silva & L.M. Nascimento 362 (CEPEC); 16.i.2001, L.M. Nascimento & A.G. Silva 482 (CEPEC). Buíque, Catimbau, Serra do Catimbau, 08°37′S, 37°10′W, 790 m.s.m., 11.ii.1995, A.G. Silva et al. 760 (RB); sítio Pititi, 11.ii.1995, A.P.S. Gomes & E. Inácio 388 (RB); 10.vii.1995, K. Andrade & L.S. Figueiredo 124 (RB); sopé da Serra Branca, 23.i.1997, A.P.S. Gomes & E. Inácio 396 (RB); 3.iii.1997, A. Laurênio et al. 427 (RB). 777 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors wish to express their sincere appreciation to the following individuals: Maria Alice Rezende for preparing the illustration; Marcos Sobral and Eve Lucas for discussions about the species; Fernando Antonio Capelo for his assistance; Professor Tarciso Filgueiras for his help with the translation of the diagnosis. Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) and Kew Latin American Research Fellowship (KLARF) are gratefully acknowledged for providing support during the development of the activities in Piracicaba-SP and at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. REFERENCES Holst BK, Landrum L, Grifo F. 2003. Myrtaceae. In: Berry PE, Yatskievych K, Holst BK, eds. Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana, Vol. 7. St Louis: Missouri Botanical Garden Press, 1–99. Landrum LR, Kawasaki ML. 1997. The genera of Myrtaceae in Brazil: an illustrated synoptic treatment and identification keys. Brittonia 49: 508–536. Mazine FF. 2006. Estudos Taxonômicos em Eugenia L. (Myrtaceae), com ênfase em Eugenia sect. Racemosae O. Berg. PhD Thesis, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo. Oliveira-Filho AT, Fontes MAL. 2000. Patterns of floristic differentiation among Atlantic forests in southeastern Brazil and the influence of climate. Biotropica 32: 793– 810. Sanchez-Vindas PE, Holst BK, Pool A. 2001. Myrtaceae. In: Stevens WD, Ulloa C, Pool A, Montiel OM, eds. Flora de Nicaragua. Angiospermas: Fabaceae-Oxalidaceae. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 85 (2): 1564–1580. Van der Merwe MM, Van Wyk AE, Botha AM. 2005. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Eugenia L. (Myrtaceae), with emphasis on southern African taxa. Plant Systematic Evolution 251: 21–34. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 158, 775–777