Sarcaulus paujilensis M. A. Jaram. & T. D. Penn. sp. nov.

Type.

Colombia • Boyacá, Municipio Puerto Pinzón, Reserva Proaves El Paujil, 6°03'01"N, 74°15'51"W, 200 m, 9 May. 2024, [fl], Lizette Sierra, Paula Lara & Luisa Suarez LNS 00-7 (Holotype: UMNG-H). Figs 2, 3.

Diagnosis.

Sarcaulus paujilensis resembles S. oblatus, however, this new species can be differentiated from the latter by having leaves oblanceolate to oblong (vs. elliptic to narrowly oblong-elliptic), petiole 1.7–2.5 cm long (vs. 8–15 mm long), flowers paired (vs. fascicles 5 - many-flowered), bisexual (vs unisexual), sepals 5–6 mm (vs. 2.5–3 mm), staminodes ca. 2 mm long (vs. 0.5–1 mm), ovary 1–4 - locular, shortly sericeous (vs. 45 - locular, minutely adpressed puberulent), fruits ca. 50 × 25–30 mm, ovoid (vs. 22–25 × 30–32 mm, oblate), and seeds 25–28 mm long (vs. seeds 17–18 mm long).

Description.

Tree to 15–40 m tall; young branches pilose, becoming glabrous when mature. Leaves spaced, slightly spirally arranged, appearing distichous, 21–26 × 6.0– 7.1 cm, oblanceolate to oblong, apex shortly acuminate, base acute, coriaceous, glabrous on both surfaces; venation brochidodromous, midrib and secondary veins sunken on the adaxial surface, secondary veins 12–14 pairs, parallel, arcuate; intersecondaries absent; tertiaries reticulate. Petioles 1.7–2.5 cm long, channeled, glabrous. Inflorescences of paired flowers, axillary. Pedicel ca. 3 mm long, densely ochreous sericeous. Flowers bisexual. Sepals five, 5–6 × 4–5 mm, broadly ovate, apex acute – obtuse, appressed ochreous sericeous on both surfaces. Corolla cyathiform, lobes carnose, fused 1.0– 1.3 mm, lobes 4–6 × 3–4 mm, ovate, apex obtuse, glabrous on both surfaces, margin papillate. Stamens 5; fixed at ca. 1.0 mm from the base of the corolla lobes, filaments ca. 1.0 mm long, not geniculate, glabrous; anthers 1.75–2.0 × ca. 1 mm, cordate-deltate, glabrous. Staminodes 5, ca. 2 mm long, triangular. Disk absent. Ovary globose with a truncate apex, 1–4 locules, shortly sericeous; style 0.8–0.9 mm long during anthesis, glabrous; style-head capitate. Fruits ca. 5 × 2.5–3 cm, green immature, yellow-orange to mature, ovoid, apex acute, smooth, sericeous ochre, thickened receptacle at the base of the fruit, 7–8 × ca. 10 mm. Seeds 1 to 4, 25–28 × 10–12 mm, shape oblong-elliptic, laterally compressed, testa smooth and glossy; scar 4–5 mm wide, oblong, extending the length of the seed; endosperm absent.

Phenology.

Specimens in flower were collected in May, in fruit in October, and in February.

Eponomy.

Sarcaulus paujilensis is named after Reserva Proaves “ El Paujil ”. We honor the efforts of the reserve personnel, who have continuously protected the biodiversity of the Middle Magdalena Valley lowland and lower-montane rainforest for over 20 years.

Distribution and habitat.

The species is known to occur in lowland rainforest remnants at elevations of 200– 300 m.

Preliminary conservation status.

This species is currently known only from the type locality and three specimens from the same area. However, under IUCN (2024) guidelines, there is insufficient data to accurately determine its conservation status; it is listed as Data Deficient (DD) and reported here as a rare species. Although conservation status assessments can be made for species with such small numbers of collections (Rivers et al. 2011), it may be difficult to determine whether the appearance of rarity in a species is due to the lack of, or outdated, data, collection artifact, or to its actual rarity (Verspagen and Erkens 2022).

The conservation of these forests is at risk due to ongoing deforestation in the middle Magdalena Valley, especially from 1985 to 2000 (Rodríguez Eraso et al. 2013) and in recent years (Salgado et al. 2022). Deforestation, degradation, and water pollution continue to expand (Salgado et al. 2022), driven by significantly greater agricultural use, pasture, selective logging, illicit crops, and mining. Fortunately, the area where Sarcaulus paujilensis occurs is part of the Reserva Proaves El Paujil, a private reserve designed to protect bird diversity and safeguard the forests where the birds occur.

Taxonomic notes.

This new species is morphologically most similar to Sarcaulus oblatus (Pennington, 1990). Both species have glabrous leaves and relatively short pedicels, ca. 1.5–4 mm long, compared to more than 10 mm long in the other species. S. oblatus is endemic to the NW Amazon of Ecuador, while S. paujilensis is found across the Andes in the middle Magdalena Valley. S. paujilensis, has been previously misidentified as S. brasiliensis (Serrano et al. 2021). This highlights the importance of fieldwork in the genus. Sarcaulus is easily recognizable by the leaf disposition; however, as the taxon flowers rarely, many samples are assigned to the morphologically diverse and broadly distributed S. brasiliensis. A detailed study of the genus’ distribution will likely reveal many new taxa. It is essential to highlight that Pennington (1990) pointed out various aspects of S. brasiliensis that indicate the importance of further studies: a) the species has two varieties, S. brasiliensis var. brasiliensis and S. brasiliensis var. gracilis, the latter characterized by much smaller leaves, and b) S. brasiliensis forms a complex that includes S. inflexus and S. wurdackii. Pennington (1990) mentioned that it was not possible to differentiate the two named varieties because variation was continuous. Instead, S. inflexus and S. wurdackii can be distinguished by their pubescent pedicels (i. e. S. inflexus) and leaves (i. e. S. wurdackii). Moreover, 10 years ago, in the “ Manual de plantas de Costa Rica ”, two new species of Sarcaulus were proposed but not properly described and remained unnamed (Morales 2015). These cases indicate that more detailed studies of field characters and molecular phylogenetics are required to elucidate the diversity in this genus.

Moreover, S. paujilensis differs from other taxa in the genus in the characters discussed in the diagnosis and in the following key.

Additional specimens examined.

Colombia • Boyacá. Municipio Puerto Pinzón, Reserva Proaves El Paujil, Sendero principal hacia barranco, 6°03'01"N, 74°15'51"W, 200 m, 23 oct. 2024, fr., A. F. Majin-Ladino, L. D. Rodríguez, J. Briceño & M. Mahecha 235 (UMNG-H); Municipio Puerto Pinzón Reserva Proaves El Paujil, Sendero La Guinea hacia El Minero, 6°01'31"N, 74°12'6"W, 380 m, 7 Feb 2025 [fr]. A. F. Majin-Ladino, Adriana L. Torres, Aura M. Jurado & Jesús Sánchez 288 (UMNG-H. HUA); Municipio Puerto Pinzón, Reserva Proaves El Paujil, Sendero El Caño, 6°02'46"N, 74°16'4"W, 210 m, 12 Feb 2025 [fr]. A. F. Majin-Ladino, Adriana L. Torres, Aura M. Jurado & Jesús Sánchez 339 (UMNG-H, HUA).