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| Capparidastrum estrellae Cornejo & N. Mejía-Pazos, in Cornejo, Mejía-Pazos & Soto, 2021. |
Abstract
The genus Capparidastrum (Capparaceae) is discussed and C. estrellae, a new tree species endemic to northwestern Ecuador, is described and illustrated. Its conservation status is here assessed as endangered.
Keywords: Capparaceae, Ecuador, Capparidastrum estrellae, endemic
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| Capparidastrum estrellae Cornejo & N. Mejía-Pazos. A, raceme bearing globose, snow-white flower buds, lateral view; B, flower at anthesis, lateral view; C, calyx, corolla, fleshy compressed nectary glands and base of filaments, lateral view; D, fruit nearly at maturity; E, mature leaf blade, abaxial view; F, gray bark. Photographs of the holotype, N. Mejía-Pazos s.n. (GUAY). Photographs by Nicanor Mejía-Pazos. |
Capparidastrum estrellae Cornejo & N. Mejía-Pazos, sp. nov.
Etymology: the epithet estrellae of this taxonomic novelty honors Dr. Eduardo Estrella Aguirre (1941–1996), an Ecuadorian researcher, founder of the Ecuador National Museum of Medicine and the great discoverer and editor of the long-lost work Flora Huayaquilensis by Juan Tafalla, a botanical masterpiece and the first flora of present Ecuador from the colonial period, in which the most common species of Capparaceae from coastal Ecuador were documented with splendid handmade, natural-sized illustrations.
Habitat and distribution: known from the type in the vicinity of San Miguel de los Bancos toward Saloya, a lower montane secondary wet forest, in which individuals of Capparidastrum estrellae are scattered forest elements at 1230 m and may persist as solitary individuals in open areas. On the basis of field photographs sent by Jaime West to the first author, it is most likely that a second population of this taxonomic novelty occurs at 500 m on the same western side of Pichincha Province.
Xavier Cornejo, Nicanor Mejía-Pazos and Mónica Armas Soto. 2021. Notes on the Genus Capparidastrum (Capparaceae) and the Description of C. estrellae, A New Species from Northwestern Ecuador. Harvard Papers in Botany. 26(1); 101–104. DOI: 10.3100/hpib.v26iss1.2021.n4
Resumen. Se comenta el género Capparidastrum (Capparaceae), y se describe e ilustra Capparidastrum estrellae, una nueva especie de árbol endémica del noroccidente de Ecuador. El estado de conservación de Capparidastrum estrellae aquí asignado es en peligro.
Palabras claves: Capparaceae, Ecuador, Capparidastrum estrellae, endémica
