Mucuna globulifera (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae), a new species from Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia

Abstract

Summary. A new species of Mucuna (Leguminosae) from Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia is described and illustrated. Although the species is morphologically grouped with a number of species from Central and South America that have the primary axis of their inflorescences condensed, M. globulifera is distinguished by a suite of characters, including a condensed primary inflorescence axis (very reduced internodes, the nodes up to approximately 1 mm apart from the one above), an extremely long peduncle, secondary bracts surrounding a large and conspicuous globose structure when the inflorescence is young, flowers usually pale salmon in colour, fruits softly villous and lacking urticating trichomes, and the presence of very sparse appressed hairs on the leaflet surfaces, or the leaflets almost glabrous.