Brunfelsia clandestina
| Brunfelsia clandestina | ||||||||||||
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| Brunfelsia clandestina | ||||||||||||
| Plowman |
Brunfelsia clandestina is a species from the Guianenses section of the genus Brunfelsia . It is endemic to the Brazilian states of Bahia and Espírito Santo .
description
Vegetative characteristics
Brunfelsia clandestina is a shrub or small tree up to 6 m high , the trunk of which can reach a diameter of up to 8 cm. The bark on the trunk and branches is yellowish-brown, covered with longitudinal and transverse cracks and flakes thinly and irregularly. The young twigs have a diameter of 1.5 to 2 mm, are hairless, grayish to dark red-brown in color and more or less shiny. They are covered with longitudinal cracks.
The leaves stand on 2 to 6 mm long, hairless or only slightly hairy petioles . The leaf blade is 35 to 120 mm long, 15 to 50 mm wide, elliptical to elongated lanceolate, less often lanceolate or vice versa ovate. The leaf blade is pointed to tapering towards the front, the tip itself is blunt. The base of the leaf blade is acuminate or blunt. The leaves are hairless or slightly hairy on the underside, paper-like to almost leathery, rarely also leathery. The top is medium green, the bottom is a little lighter. Both sides are shiny. Six to eight secondary veins extend from the central rib on each side; they are usually straight, at an angle of 45 to 70 ° to the central rib and converge about 3 to 6 mm from the leaf margin to form an arched marginal vein.
Inflorescences and flowers
The inflorescences are terminal or almost terminal on mature or freshly sprouted branches of the year. They consist of one or two flowers and can stand on a short peduncle . Below the flowers are one to three leaf-like bracts , but they can also be missing. They are linear to boat-shaped, cut off at the tip, 2 to 6 mm long and slightly hairy or glandular. The flower stalks are hairless, 3 to 9 mm long and 1 mm in diameter. On the fruit they thicken up to 3 mm and become warty-corky.
The calyx is tubular or tubular-bell-shaped, round, 8 to 16 mm long and 3 to 7 mm in diameter. It is hairless, light green, membranous and has calyx teeth of almost the same length. These have a length of 2 to 5 mm, are triangular-egg-shaped, pointed towards the front or tapered to a point. The tip itself is blunt and finely glandular- papillary . The calyx remains on the fruit, enlarges to a length of 11 to 16 mm, is then shiny, leathery, streaked with veins and encloses the lower half of the fruit.
The crown is white. The corolla tube is straight, 18 to 25 mm long and thus 1.5 to 2 times as long as the calyx and measures 1 to 3 mm in diameter. It is hairless, rarely covered with a few glandular trichomes . The opening to the coronet has a diameter of 3 to 5 mm. The 15 to 26 mm diameter coronary edge is inclined from the corolla tube, the corolla lobes are almost the same size, wide, inversely ovoid to rounded, 6 to 10 mm long, becoming somewhat larger with age.
The four stamens are in two pairs of different lengths in the upper half of the corolla tube and do not protrude beyond it. The stamens are ribbon-shaped and about 0.6 to 1 mm wide. The stamens of the longer pair of stamens are 3 to 5 mm long and bent at the tip, the shorter pair of stamens has 1.5 to 3 mm long stamens. The anthers are circular-kidney-shaped and measure 1 mm in diameter. The ovary has a height of 1 to 1.5 mm, a diameter of 0.8 to 1.2 mm and is conical-egg-shaped. Ten to twelve ovules are formed per ovary compartment . The stylus is bent at the tip and 16 to 20 mm long. The scar is slightly bilobed, the upper lobe is slightly larger and 1 to 1.5 mm long.
Fruits and seeds
When ripe , the fruits are dry capsules that are ovoid to almost spherical and pointed towards the front. They become 13 to 20 mm long and 13 to 15 mm wide. The surface is smooth, shiny and dark green. The pericarp is 0.5 to 1 mm thick and crusty.
Each capsule contains around nine to 15 seeds . These are elongated, kidney-shaped, with a twisting cross section or slightly flattened on one side. They have a length of 5 to 7 mm and a diameter of 2.5 to 3 mm. The surface is granular and dark brown like a network. The embryo is straight and 3 to 6 mm long, the cotyledons are ovate to elliptical and 1 to 2 mm long, the radicle is 2 to 4 mm long.
Distribution and locations
The species grows endemically in the humid coastal forests of the eastern Brazilian states of Bahia and Espírito Santo . Previous collectors have found the species farther from the coast, but most of the moderately humid forests in this area have been converted to farmland. The last record of the species from these drier areas of Bahia dates back to 1943.
Differences from other species
Brunfelsia clandestina is most similar to the species Brunfelsia martiana , which also grows in Bahia. It differs from this one, however, by its smaller leaves with fewer side veins and the terminal inflorescences consisting of one or two flowers.
Especially when examining dried plants, the species is often confused with Brunfelsia uniflora from the Franciscea section . In contrast to this species, Brunfelsia clandestina has brown to reddish brown twigs, hairless or almost hairless leaves and twigs, and a tubular-bell-shaped calyx. In addition, the flowers of Brunfelsia clandestina are pure white, while those of Brunfelsia uniflora are initially purple and fade to white.
Botanical history
Brunfelsia clandestina was first collected in the first half of the 19th century by the Swiss plant collector Jacques Samuel Blanchet in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Especially since these early collections were not sufficiently marked and the herbarium specimens did not bear fruit, they were designated as Brunfelsia uniflora for a long time . In 1973 Timothy Plowman first referred to differences between the plants that Blanchet collected and other Brunfelsia uniflora . Through further collections, a separate species could be described in 1981, which was classified in the Guianenses section .
etymology
The epithet is derived from the Latin "clandestinus", which means something like "secret" or "hidden". This refers to the fact that the species was not recognized as a separate species for over a century, but was added to Brunfelsia uniflora .
literature
- Timothy C. Plowman: Five new Species of Brunfelsia from South America (Solanaceae). Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago July 1981, ( Fieldiana Botany, New Series. No. 8).
- Timothy C. Plowman (Author), Sandra Knapp, JR Press (Ed.): A Revision of the South American Species of Brunfelsia (Solanaceae) (= Fieldiana Botany, New Series . No. 39). Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago August 1998, OCLC 39885128 .