A New Species of Lantana (Verbenaceae) from Cuba

Abstract

Summary. A new species of Lantana from Cuba, L. elenievskii I. E. Mendez, is described, and a key provided to the small-leaved species from the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles. During revision of the genus Lantana L. for the Flora of the Cuban Republic project, a group of specimens was found in HAJB and HIPC, whose characters differ from all the species hitherto described. Studies of the natural populations and comparison with similar taxa from the Greater Antilles and Bahamas, described by Desfontaines (1829), Britton (1905), Urban (1912) and Moldenke (1948), lead me to propose a new species: Lantana elenievskii L E. Mendez sp. nov. ad sectionem Callioreas (Cham.) Schauer, seriem Involucratae Briq. pertinens; L. ciferrianae Ekman ex Moldenke similis sed foliis subtus fere glabris non valde pubescentibus, bracteolis spathulatis non orbicularibus facile distinguenda. Typus: Cuba, Province of Guantanamo, San Antonio del Sur, camino de Mina de Yeso a Baitiquirf, 200 - 400 m, 13 May 1980, Alvarez, Bisse, Gutierrez & Meyer 43147 (holotypus HAJB; isotypi B, JE). Erect shrubs, 1 m tall, much-branched; younger branches with sessile glands. Leaves opposite, 2 - 4 x 1 - 4 mm, elliptic to oblong or ovate, oblanceolate or almost orbicular; apex rounded, rarely obtuse; base cuneate, sometimes decurrent at petiole; upper surface conspicuously bullate-reticulate, glabrous to glabrescent, with scattered sessile glands; lower surface white-tomentose, with densely scattered sessile glands; primary, secondary and tertiary veins depressed on the upper surface, prominent beneath; margins crenate to lobulate. Small head pauciflorous (2- 4 flowers), axillary, 3- 5 mm diameter; peduncles 1.5- 5 mm long; bractoles spathulate, lax-imbricated, glandular, 2 x 1 mm, the outer ones somewhat broader (up to 2 mm); calyx 2.5 mm long, pubescent, 1 mm diameter, 4-dentate, one tooth 2 mm long, the rest 1.5 mm long; corolla hypocrateriform, mauve-pink or white, tube up to 2 - 3 mm long, limb bilabiate, anterior lip entire or emarginate, posterior lip 3-lobate; stamens 4, didynamous; ovary 2-locular, style 1 mm long; drupe globose or subglobose, 1.8 x 1.5 mm, apiculate, apiculus 0.2 mm long. (Fig. 1). HABITAT. Xeromorphic coastal and subcoastal heath, on skeletal soil or rendzinas derived from limestones, Province of Guantinamo, Cuba.