Systematic Botany (2011), 36(1): pp. 124–128 © Copyright 2011 by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists DOI 10.1600/036364411X553207 Two New Species of Carapa (Meliaceae) From Western Ecuador David Kenfack 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 and Álvaro J. Peréz 3 1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Michigan, 2011 Kraus Natural Science Bldg, 830 N. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1048 U. S. A. 2 Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, Missouri 63166-0299 U. S. A. 3 Department of Biological Sciences, Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, Apartado Postal 17-01-2184, Quito, Ecuador 4 current address: Center for Tropical Forest Science, Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, U. S. A. 5 Author for correspondence ([email protected]) Communicating Editor: Lena Struwe Abstract— A taxonomic revision of Carapa (Meliaceae) in Ecuador is provided with the recognition of four species, C. megistocarpa which has cauliflorous inflorescences, C. nicaraguensis previously described and currently placed as synonym of C. guianensis and two new spe- cies ( C. alticola and C. longipetala ) . The new species are close to C. guianensis based on their 4-merous flowers borne at the end of the branches. However, C. alticola differs from C. guianensis in having larger leaflets with prominent secondary veins, seeds with rounded edges and short poorly ramified inflorescences, while C. longipetala can be distinguised from C. guianensis in having distinctly pedicel- late flowers and 6-ovulate ovary loculi. The new species are described, illustrated, and a key to the four species recognized in Ecuador is provided. Keywords— Carapa , Ecuador , Meliaceae. Carapa Aubl., commonly known in South America as geographical range of C. nicaraguensis extends along the Crabwood (English), cedro bateo or cedro macho (Spanish) pacific coast from Nicaragua to Ecuador ( Kenfack 2008 ). The or Andiroba (Portuguese) belongs to the pantropical mahog- second morphospecies includes specimens that have sessile any family (Meliaceae). It consists of small to large trees to subsessile flowers but differ from C. guianensis in having disjunctly distributed in tropical Africa and America. The leaflets with rounded to shortly cuspidate apices and prom- genus was last revised by Noamesi (1958) who recognized inent secondary veins, short and poorly ramified inflores- seven species worldwide, with four in the New World cences (less than 20 cm long), and seeds with rounded edges ( C. guianensis Aubl., C. surinamensis Miq., C. macrocarpa Ducke, and a hilum less than 2 cm long. The third morphospecies and C. nicaraguensis C. DC). Styles (1981) in the treatment of comprises specimens that differ from C. guianensis in having Meliaceae of the Neotropics recognized only C. guianensis distinctly pedicellate flowers and ovaries with 6-ovulate loc- and C. surinamensis (but as synonym under C. procera DC). uli. Furthermore phylogenetic inferences from sequence data Gentry (1988) described the distinctive cauliflorous C. megis- of the nuclear ITS (Kenfack and Coleman in prep.) show that tocarpa A. H. Gentry & Dodson from the western slopes of the the three Ecuadorian ramiflorous morphospecies belonged Copyright (c) American Society for Plant Taxonomists. All rights reserved. Delivered by Ingenta to IP: 192.168.39.210 on: Wed, 29 Sep 2021 13:17:12 Andes (trans-Andes) in Ecuador and today only two species, to the “trans-Andean clade” including species that occur C. megistocarpa and C. guianensis, are recognized in Ecuador west of the Andes, while C. guianensis s. s. belongs to the ( Palacios 2007 ). “Cis-Andean clade” comprising species that occur east of the A recent systematic revision of Carapa based on field obser- Andes. The second and third morphospecies are described vations and a multivariate analysis of morphological char- below under the names C. alticola Kenfack & A. J. Peréz and acters analyzed in the context of a molecular phylogeny C. longipetala Kenfack respectively. ( Kenfack 2008 ) suggested instead that there are four species of Carapa in Ecuador. All Ecuadorian specimens of Carapa examined in the course of the study came from the northern Material and Methods trans-Andean part of the country ( Fig. 1 ). Although many Our findings are based on a worldwide reassessment of species botanical surveys have been carried out in the Ecuadorian boundaries in Carapa . For the Neotropics, we carried out fieldwork in Amazon, Carapa has never been found there (David Neil, Ecuador, Guyana, and Panama and examined New World herbarium specimens from 12 herbaria; BR, F, GH, K, MO, NY, P, PANAMA, QCA, pers. comm.), probably due to drier habitats in this area that QCNE, STRI, and US (herbarium abbreviations follow Holmgren et al. may constitute an ecological barrier to their dispersal. Of all 1990 ). In Ecuador, fieldwork was carried out in the provinces of Pichincha the specimens, those of C. megistocarpa were easily separated and Esmeraldas. All four species recognized herein were collected and from the others based on their poorly ramified inflorescences studied in the field. Specimens were examined for 72 morphological char- borne on the main trunk, and their large acuminate leaflets. acters with emphasis on those used in the past to distinguish between species such as the number of pairs of leaflets, the length of the petiole, The remaining specimens, all with inflorescences borne on the shape and dimensions of the leaflets, the indumentum of the leaves, branches, were grouped into three morphospecies. The first inflorescences, and flowers, the length of the flower pedicel, and the morphospecies comprises specimens with a rusty farinose number of ovules per locule. Eighteen quantitative and four qualitative indumentum on leaves, inflorescences, and flowers, and ova- characters, mainly floral, were analyzed using principal coordinate analy- sis ( Gower 1966 ) to explore the patterns of variation of these characters ries with 2-ovulate loculi. These specimens are assigned to (Kenfack 2011). We consider groups of specimens that present obvious C. nicaraguensis , a species described from Nicaragua and morphological discontinuities and that occur in sympatry as belonging to treated by Styles (1981) as a synonym of C. guianensis . The different species. 124 2011] KENFACK AND PERÉZ: NEW CARAPA FROM ECUADOR 125 Key to the Ecuadorian Species of CARAPA 1. Indumentum present on leaves, inflorescences, and flowers; ovary locules 2-ovulate . C. nicaraguensis 1. Indumentum absent on leaves, inflorescences, and flowers; ovary locules 4- or 6-ovulate 2. Inflorescence borne on main trunk, locules 6-ovulate . C. megistocarpa 2. Inflorescence in axils of expanded or reduced leaves, locules 4- or 6-ovulate . 3 3. Flower pedicel up to 2.5 mm long; petals 4–5 mm long, ovary locules 4-ovulate; hilum less than 2 cm long . C. alticola 3. Flower pedicel 2.5–4 mm long; petals 7–9 mm long; ovary locules 6-ovulate; hilum 2–5.5 cm long . C. longipetala Taxonomic Treatment scale-like leaves, less than 20 cm long, erect, poorly branched, peduncle 2.5–8 cm long, lowermost branches less than Carapa alticola Kenfack & A. J. Pérez sp. nov.—TYPE: 2 cm long. Carpellate flowers unknown. Staminate flowers ECUADOR. Pichincha: Along highway from Quito, 4-merous, sessile or subsessile, pedicel 0.8–2.5 mm long, gla- about 5 km from Pero Vicente Maldonado, 00°00′52.3˝S, brous. Calyx 4-lobed, green, glabrous, lobes 1.1–1.3 mm long. 78°44′40.8˝W, 1,711 m, 24 Mar. 2007, fl, D. Kenfack, Petals 4, 4–5 mm long, 3–3.5 mm wide, green, glabrous, each E. Narvaez, A. Perez, G. Buitron, M. D. Proano, J. Iglesias, with one or two glands. Staminal tube 4.5–5.5 mm long, with R. Valencia. 2150 (holotype: MO, isotypes: QCA, QCNE). 8 lobes, lobes 1.3–1.7 mm long, straight. Anthers 0.7–1 mm Arbores usque ad 30 m altas C. guianensis in inflorescen- long, ca. 0.7 mm wide. Disk 0.8 mm high, 2.2–3.2 mm diameter, tiis axillaribus et floribus subsessilibus valde affine sunt, sed yellow. Ovary 0.9–1.5 mm long and 0.9–1.4 mm diameter, con- in foliolis venis secondariis conspicuis apicibusque rotunda- ical and more or less continuous with style; locules 4-ovulate; tis vel truncatis usque ad emarginata et seminibus rotundatis style 1–1.7 mm long; stigma ca 1.2 mm in diameter. Fruit 12–20 testis laevibus, different. cm long, 10–15 in diameter, globose, narrowed basally into a A medium sized tree to 30 m tall, 80 cm dbh. Bole straight stipe, beaked at apex, green to brown and densely lenticellate, and unbranched high in primary forest, variously branched 4-valved, each with a median rib, lacking warty excrescences, in disturbed forest; buttresses up to 2 m high; bark smooth, surface with numerous nectaries. Seeds 3.5–4.7 cm long, thin, slash pinkish; branches spreading upwards. Leaves 3.7–6.5 cm wide, up to 4 per valve; hilum 1.3–2.3 mm long, 35–60(–100) cm long, with petiole 12–20 cm long, 0.5–1.2 cm 0.5–1.5 mm wide, rounded; testa dark brown, smooth. Figure 2 . in diameter, base swollen, generally with 2 nectaries; rachis Phenology— Flowering, March to August; fruiting, 20–40(–65) cm long, glabrous; leaflets in 4–6(–7) pairs, with September to March. petiolule 0.8–1.7 cm long; blade 13–20 cm long, 8–11 cm wide Distribution and Habitat— Western Ecuador, in premon- (basal leaflets) to 20–44 cm long and 8–13 cm wide (apical leaf- tane moist forest, 600–2,200 m altitude ( Fig. 1 ) lets), glabrous beneath, oblong to obovate, the apex rounded, Additional Specimens Examined— ECUADOR. Carchi: Norte del truncate to emarginate, not mucronate, the base cuneate; mid- Carmen, camino a Chical, 00°51’N 78°13’W, Palacios et al.