Microlicia woodgyeriana (Microlicieae, Melastomataceae), a critically endangered new species from campo rupestre in Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

Additionally, we provide a distribution map, illustrations, field images, and a description of the leaf anatomy of M. woodgyeriana. The new species is known only from a population within an unprotected area, and it should be considered as "Critically Endangered" according to IUCN categories and criteria.

Three New Species of the Megadiverse Genus Microlicia (Melastomataceae) with Notes on Leaf Anatomy

“…The morphological terminology followed Radford et al (1986), and the indumentum terminology followed recent studies in Microlicia (i.e. Versiane et al 2020;Romero et al 2021aRomero et al , 2021b. In order to standardize macromorphological descriptions, we adopted the term "spherical glands," often used in Microlicia descriptions due to the appearance of these trichomes under a stereomicroscope (see Romero and Versiane 2016;Romero and Woodgyer 2018;Fontelas and Romero 2020;Versiane et al 2020;Romero and Valentim 2021;Romero et al 2021aRomero et al , 2021b.…”

“…Since amphistomy and hypostomy have been reported in Lavoisiereae (see Silva et al 2018;Carmo et al 2019Carmo et al , 2020Romero et al 2021a), which has species distributed in different microhabitats (Fritsch et al 2004), the tribe can be an excellent model to test the relationship between anatomical leaf traits and vegetation/habitat type. The short-stalked glandular trichomes found in M. arenaria, M. dentisepala, and M. membranacea, referred to as spherical glands here, are typically observed in species of the tribe (Silva et al 2018;Carmo et al 2019Carmo et al , 2020Romero et al 2021aRomero et al , 2021bLima et al 2022). It is important to mention that these spherical glands have been named with different terms such as "glandular punctations" (Wurdack 1981;Koschnitzke and Martins 2007;Pacifico and Almeda 2018), "unfurrowed sessile glands" (Wurdack 1986) glands" (Romero et al 2017), and "gland-tipped trichomes" (Pacifico et al 2020a).…”

“…The short-stalked glandular trichomes found in M. arenaria , M. dentisepala, and M. membranacea , referred to as spherical glands here, are typically observed in species of the tribe (Silva et al 2018; Carmo et al 2019, 2020; Romero et al 2021a, 2021b; Lima et al 2022). It is important to mention that these spherical glands have been named with different terms such as “glandular punctations” (Wurdack 1981; Koschnitzke and Martins 2007; Pacifico et al 2017; Pacifico and Almeda 2018), “unfurrowed sessile glands” (Wurdack 1986), “sessile glands” (Romero et al 2014; Pacifico et al 2019b), “short-stalked glands” (Romero et al 2017), and “gland-tipped trichomes” (Pacifico et al 2020a).…”