Anthurium morii Mayo & Haigh

Haigh, A., Mayo, S.J. & Coelho, M.A.N. Kew Bull (2011) 66: 123. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-011-9269-9

Type

Typus: Brazil, Bahia, Município de Mucugê, 27 July 1979, S. A. Mori, R. M. King, T. S. dos Santos & J. L. Hage 12680 (holotypus CEPEC; isotypi K, US).

General

Description based on dried material only

Habit

Terrestrial, stem unknown

Leaves

Leaves drying brown Leaf blade 22 – 27.5 × 11.8 – 15 cm, 1.8 × longer than broad, stiffly coriaceous, cordate, broadest at or above middle, apex broadly and somewhat deeply emarginate, mucronate, posterior lobes 6.9 – 8.3 cm long with rounded tips, retrorse; sinus narrowly spathulate, 5.9 – 6.8 cm deep; basal veins 4 on each side, of which one is free from the basal costa; major veins ± flat adaxially, prominent abaxially: primary lateral veins 9 – 10 per side, departing midrib at (48.6° –) 49° – 52.3°, hardly distinct from interprimaries, upper basal vein forming inner collective vein, running at 1.5 – 2.5 cm from margin, second basal vein forming submarginal vein running at 0.1– 0.5 cm from margin

Petiole

Petiole (69.8 –) 71.2 − 104.7 (– 105.9) × 0.3 – 0.5 cm, 3.2 – 4 × longer than leaf blade, terete to sulcate adaxially, minutely and densely scabrous-verrucose

Inflorescences

Inflorescence: Peduncle (41.3 –) 44.2 – 78.6 (– 79.6) × 0.3 – 1.1 cm, 0.6 – 0.8 × longer than the petiole

Spathe

Spathe 4.1 – 4.8 × 0.4 – 0.5 cm, 3± spreading, linear-lanceolate

Spadix

Spadix (3.2 –) 3.6 – 7.3 × 0.3 – 0.6 cm, subcylindric, slightly tapering apically; flowers 0.2 – 0.23 cm wide, 0.32 – 0.38 times as wide as spadix, style not prominent

Fruits

Berries and seeds unknown.

Distribution

Endemic to the municipality of Mucugê, uplands of the Chapada Diamantina, interior of Bahia state, Brazil

Ecology

Terrestrial in ‘campo rupestre’; 1,000 m.

Conservation

Anthurium morii is a rare species, having been found only once. The preliminary IUCN conservation rating is Data Deficient [DD].

Note

Named for Scott A. Mori, the collector of the only known specimen, in recognition of his work on the Bahian flora. Anthurium morii is known from a single collection made near the small town of Mucugê, on the eastern side of the Chapada Diamantina. This locality is almost central within the known range of A. zappiae Haigh, Nadruz & Mayo (see below) and A. morii is very similar to this species in characters unusual in section Urospadix, i.e. the basally lobed leaves and minutely scabrid-verrucose petioles and peduncles. We nevertheless propose it as a separate species because of the following combination of vegetative characters, which separate the two species on the available material; this character combination needs to be tested by new field studies. In A. morii, the petiole is usually longer (median length 93 cm), the leaf blade is broadest above the petiolar plexus and cordate rather than sagittate or hastate, the posterior lobes are retrorse with four basal veins, the anterior lobe has nine to ten primary lateral veins, the leaf apex is deeply emarginate and there are two distinct inframarginal collective veins rather than one. A. zappiae has a shorter petiole (median length 34 cm), the leaf blade is broadest below the petiolar plexus across the sagittate to strongly hastate posterior lobes, there are usually three basal veins, the anterior lobe has ten to 14 primary lateral veins, the leaf apex is acute to rounded and there is only one distinct inframarginal collective vein.