Abstract
A new species of Ipomoea, endemic to the Cerrado domain in Maranhão, Brazil, is described. Ipomoea maranhensis D.Santos & Buril, sp. nov. has been misidentified as I. burchellii Meisn. in several herbaria. Even though both species have oblong, pubescent leaves, they can be distinguished by morpho-anatomical characters. We present a diagnosis, complete description, illustration, taxonomic comments, conservation status and distribution map.
Highlights
Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae) comprises approximately 700 species (Staples 2015) and is widely distributed throughout the world, but is predominantly pantropical and absent in Mediterranean areas and temperate climates (Staples and Brummitt 2007)
The new species has been confused with I. burchellii because they share oblong, discolorous and sericeous leaves, flowers arranged in a dichasium and peduncle 2–3 mm long
According to the analysis of the type specimens (Burchell 8738 deposited in K [K000612855]) and protologue of I. burchellii, the new species is morphologically different from I. burchellii by its habit, shape, apex, and indumentum of sepals
Summary
Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae) comprises approximately 700 species (Staples 2015) and is widely distributed throughout the world, but is predominantly pantropical and absent in Mediterranean areas and temperate climates (Staples and Brummitt 2007). In Brazil, it is represented by 149 species distributed in all regions and phytogeographic domains (Flora do Brasil 2019). The genus Ipomoea is represented by 92 species in the Cerrado biome, which corresponds to 22% of the family’s diversity in the country (Flora do Brasil 2019). When we analyzed the protologue and the type collection of I. burchellii, we noted significant differences in the morphology and indumentum of sepals between this species and the morphotype. We consulted literature related to climbing and subshrubby species of Ipomoea from South America (O’Donell 1948; O’Donell 1959a, b; Simão-Bianchini 1998; Léon 2006; Krapovickas 2009; Wood et al 2015; Wood et al 2017a, b, c; Wood and Scotland 2017a, b), type specimens from online database A threatened new species of Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae) considering the taxonomic alleged consistency of the anatomical characters analyzed in Convolvulaceae (Metcalfe and Chalk 1979), along with the morphological discontinuities found, we describe this morphotype as a new species
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