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| Ombrophytum chilensis Kuijt & Delprete
in Kuijt & Delprete, 2019
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Abstract
The Chilean desert specimens of Ombrophytum (Balanophoraceae) reported in the literature as O. subterraneum (Asplund) Hansen differ structurally in several respects from that species, which was described from moist tropical forest in Bolivia. Therefore the Chilean specimens are treated as a narrowly endemic, separate species, Ombrophytum chilensis Kuijt & Delprete, on the basis of the type specimen and published photographs. Discussions on morphology, distribution and conservation status are provided for this species. Critical comments on the underground organs and reproduction in Neotropical Balanophoraceae are also presented.
Keywords: Corynaea, Helosis, Langsdorffia, Thonningia, parasitic plants, underground structures, Eudicots
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| FIGURE 2. Ombrophytum chilensis, details from holotype specimen (Martin 468 (SI [Sheet A]). A, Specimen from upper envelope (see Fig. 1), view from external side; B, Same specimen, view from dissected side. Courtesy M. Belgrano. |
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| FIGURE 3. Inflorescences of Ombrophytum chilensis, from Murata (1997). Photograph by J.D. Mauseth (near Chiu Chiu, Chile). |
Ombrophytum chilensis Kuijt & Delprete, sp. nov.
Diagnosis:— Ombrophytum chilensis differs from the other species of the genus in the translucent scales on the young peduncle (Fig. 3), while the other species apparently have naked peduncles, except for O. subterraneum having some scattered scales. Equally distinctive are the large, mostly tridentate fertile bracts (i.e., subtending inflorescence branches) that intergrade with the scales below (i.e., on the peduncle), while in other species of the genus they have a truncate-obconical stalk and a hemi-ellipsoid head in O. guayanensis Delprete (2014: 264, figs. 1D, F)), or they are clavate in O. violaceum B. Hansen (1977: 231; Hansen 1980: 58), or with a filiform stalk and distally obtriangular in O. microlepis B. Hansen (1980: 60, figs. 24F, G), or with a flat stalk and a “subulate to bifurcate or irregularly incised dent protruding upward from its lower part” (Hansen 1980: 64) in O. subterraneum.
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Distribution and Ecology:— At this time it appears that the above cited Antofagasta site represents the only Chilean one, not just for the genus, but for Balanophoraceae generally. Ecologically, the present species is unusual in existing in one of the most arid regions worldwide, while other species of the genus are mostly found in moist tropical forests, with the possible exception of the Galapagos population that has previously been assigned to O. subterraneum.
Vernacular name:— Siicha (H.C. Martin 486).
Job Kuijt and Piero G. Delprete. 2019. A New Species of Ombrophytum (Balanophoraceae) from Chile, with Notes on Subterranean Organs and Vegetative Reproduction in The Family. Phytotaxa. 420(4); 264–272. DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.420.4.2
