A New Species of Mollinedia (Monimiaceae) from Costa Rica

Abstract

A new species of Mollinedia from Costa Rica, M. macrophylla J. F. Morales & Q. Jim~nez, is described and illustrated. Mollinedia Rufz & Pav6n (subfamily Mollinedioideae) is a dioecious genus of ca. 90 species of shrubs and small trees restricted to moist and wet forest of the Neotropics. It was monographed by Perkins (1900), and the most recent taxonomic revision was the thesis of Piexoto (1987). While revising collections of Mollinedia Rufz & Pav6n in preparation for the Manual de las Plantas de Costa Rica, a different species with larger leaves not corresponding to any previously described taxon was found in the Braulio Carrillo National Park. We conclude it represents a new species, and we describe it here. Mollinedia macrophylla J. F. Morales & Q. Jim6nez, sp. nov. TYPE. Costa Rica. Lim6n: Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo, bosque primario en el sendero Las Palmas, estaci6n Quebrada Gonzalez, 19057'10N, 84008'50W, 500 m, 18 mayo 1993 (fl), Morales et al. 1500 (holotype, INB; isotypes, CR, F, K, MO, NY). Figure 1. Species foliis grandissimis, 28-42 x 21-28.5 cm, a congeneribus diversa. Dioecious shrub 2-5 m tall, sometimes somewhat scandent, the branchlets puberulent, smooth or scarcely striate. Leaves 28-42 x 2128.5 cm, ovate to elliptic, membranaceous, glabrous above, very sparsely puberulent below, the margin serrulate, short acuminate to acute at the apex, obtuse to rounded basally, the venation impressed above, prominent, puberulent and conspicuous below; petioles 2-3 cm X 4-5 mm, rugose, puberulent. Staminate inflorescences 1-6 in the leaf axils, in 2-3-flowered cymes, 3-6 cm long, puberulent, cream hairs, peduncles 0.3-1.5 cm long, pedicels 2-7 mm long, bracts ca. 2 mm long, ovate, acute, scarious. Flowers 0.9-1.1 cm diam. at anthesis, campanulate, puberulent; tepals 4, the outer pair 4-5 mm long, 5-6 mm broad, obtuse, the inner pair slightly smaller, with an apical laciniate appendage; stamens ca. 150, 2-3 mm long, the anthers hippocrepiform, sessile or subsessile. Carpellate inflorescence 25-flowered, in the axil of the leaf, puberulent, peduncles 2-7 mm long, pedicels 0.8-2.3 cm long, bracts ca. 2 mm long, ovate, acute, scarious; flowers 7-8 mm diam., turbinate, tepals 23 mm long, caducous, the carpels ca. 1 mm long, 31-40, cylindrical, puberulent, style ca. 0.5 mm long, clavate. Fruiting receptacle 1.7-2.1 cm broad, discoid, reflexed, sparsely puberulent on both surfaces; fruiting carpels 1.4-1.7 x 0.9-1.1 cm, ellipsoid, 2-5 (7), carnose, glabrous, the seed slightly smaller, 1.3-1.5 cm long, mottled with purple, glabrous. Mollinedia macrophylla is known only from the tropical rainforest of the northeastern slopes of the Cordillera Volc~inica Central, in the Braulio Carrillo National Park, near Horquetas of Sarapiquf, at elevations of 300-650 m. Flowering from May to June. Mollinedia macrophylla differs from all the previously known species of Mollinedia in Mesoamerica by its very large leaves. It is somewhat related to Mollinedia butleriana Standley from Honduras, but M. macrophylla differs from that species by its larger leaves, sparser pubescence, and larger fruiting carpels. Most of the species in the genus have smaller leaves (Piexoto, 1987; Perkins, 1900). Paratype. COSTA RICA. Heredia: Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo, Sendero Las Palmas, 16 May 1993, Rivera s.n. (CR, F, INB, MO). Acknowledgments. We are grateful to Nelson Zamora (INB) and Barry Hammel (MO) for review of the manuscript, Jorge G6mez-Laurito (USJ) for assistance with the Latin diagnosis, and Silvia Troyo for the illustration. NovoN 6: 395-397. 1996. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.176 on Sat, 09 Apr 2016 06:38:07 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms