Brittonia, 42(2), 1990, pp. 89-91.
9 1990, by the New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126
T W O N E W TAXA IN DALEA (FABACEAE: A M O R P H E A E )
F R O M S O U T H E R N M E X I C O AND N O R T H E R N C H I L E
RUPERT C . BARNEBY
Barneby, Rupert C. (New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126).
Two new taxa in Dalea (Fabaceae: Amorpheae) from southern Mexico and northern Chile. Brittonia 42:89-91. 1 9 9 0 . - - D ~ e a acraearpiea, from Chiapas, Mexico is described, illustrated, and referred to sect. Parosela ser. Lasiostomae; the
var. ehilensis is a yellow-flowered Chilean counterpart of purple Peruvian D.
pennellii var. pennellii.
The descriptions that follow supplement my papers on Dalea cited herein (Barneby, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1988). The genus now comprises 169 species.
Dalea acracarpica Barneby, sp. nov. (Fig. 1)
Oh calycem brevissime deltatim dentatum extus glahrnm nitidum cum ser. Lasiostomis juxta D.
hegewischianam Steudel associanda, ab hac autem caule erecto paniculatim ramoso (nec humifuso)
necnon flosculis arcte sessilibus densissime spicatis (nec hreviter pedicellatis et laxiuscule racemosis)
diversa, ulterius inter omnes sectionis Paroselae species inflorescentiae axi ultra flores fertiles in spicam
sterilem bracteis parvis brunneis imbricatis induto anomala.
Slender shrub scarcely 1 m tall with terete but striate, pale brown, remotely
verruculose stems freely widely branched distally, thinly silky-puberulent nearly
throughout with fine ascending hairs less than 0.3 mm long, the leaflets green,
thin-textured, dotted beneath with fuscous, hemispherical glands 0.1-0.15 mm
diam, the numerous, densely many-flowered spikes of small, white and pale purple
flowers terminal to all distal branchlets, together forming a pyramidal panicle,
each produced at apex into a sterile axis clothed in imbricated bracts. Stipules
lanceolate, 1.5-2 m m long, membranous, orange-brown, early dry, and fragile.
Leaf-stalk of primary cauline leaves __+ 15-33 mm long, that of some distal leaves
(no further described) shorter; leaflets 8-13 pairs, each pair subtended by 2 translucent mammiform glands _+ 0.2 m m long, the petiolules _+ 0.2 mm long, the
furthest pair of leaflets forming with the odd terminal one an exact trefoil; blade
of leaflets oblong-obovate, obtuse or obscurely apiculate, the largest _ 3.5-5 x
1.5-2 mm. Peduncles at most 1 cm; flower-spikes lanceolate or narrowly ovate
in outline, without petals or androecium _+ 5 mm diam, the calyces so crowded
as to conceal the axis, this at full anthesis 12-33 mm long, its sterile tip exserted
3-7 mm beyond the furthest perfect flower; bracts subtending fertile flowers ovateapiculate 0.7-1 mm long, submembranous, charged dorsally with a few protuberant glands, minutely ciliolate, tardily deciduous; calyces sessile, subtended on
each side by a minute spicule, obliquely campanulate 2.3-2.7 x 1.7-2 mm,
glabrous except for microscopically ciliolate orifice, the obtusely pleated, 10nerved tube charged in each intercostal panel with 3 or 4 hemispherical honeycolored glands 0.2-0.3 mm diam, the depressed-deltate teeth 0.2-0.5 mm long,
each tipped with a gland but not laterally spurred; petals bicolored, the banner
ochroleucous, the blade of wings and keel purplish over the abaxial 2/3, pallid
adaxially, all glabrous and eglandular; banner 4.5-5 mm, the linear claw and
orbicular blade of subequal length; epistemonous petals inserted 0.7-1.5 mm from
base of androecium, the claws 1-1.4 mm long, the blade of wings oblong _+ 2.2
x 1.2 ram, that of keel elliptic-obovate 2.4 mm long, the outer keel-margins
weakly adherent by their edges; androecium 9-merous, 6-7 m m long, the tassel
90
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[VOL. 42
1
3m
3mm.
E
FIG. 1. Dalea acracarpica Barneby. A. Flowering branch. B. Leaflet, dorsal view. C. Flower spike
in bud, showing perfect proximal flowers and empty distal bracts. D. Flower and bract. E. Petals (from
left to fight, wing, keel, banner). F. Gynoecium. (All from Breedlove 60337, NY.)
_+ 2 m m long; ovary glabrous, carinate ventrally, charged on each face with few
blister-glands; style exserted from androecium; ovules 2. Pod unknown.
TYPE: MEXICO. CI-IIAPAS: Mun. Angel Albino Corso, ravine on NE side of
Cerro Tres Picos near Colonia Tres Picos, 1070 m, 18 N o v 1983, D. E. Breedlove
60337 (HOLOTYPE: CAS 696370; ISOTYPE: NY).
Distribution: In pine-oak woodland near 1070 m, known only from the typelocality, near 16~
93~
in Chiapas, Mexico. Flowering mid-November
onward.
Daleas of section Parosela (Cav.) Barneby tend to be monotonously similar in
general aspect, even when strongly differentiated technically. This is the case with
D. acracarpica, which I refer to series Lasiostomae Barneby, a small group of
xerophytic species native to Mexico northward from Oaxaca that is characterized
by broadly short-toothed calyces lustrous and glabrous externally but ciliolate at
the orifice. Within this series (Barneby, 1977, pp. 302-310) D. acracarpica is
nearest, both morphologically and geographically, to D. hegewischiana Steudel,
but differs from it in erect, pyramidally paniculate (not humifuse) habit of growth
and in sessile (not pedicellate) calyces densely packed along the receptacular axis.
A feature of D. acracarpica (to which the epithet, from Gr. akros, summit and
1990]
BARNEBY: DALEA
91
akarpikos, sterile, alludes) hitherto u n k n o w n in a n y m e m b e r o f section Parosela
is the distally sterile axis o f each flower-spike, which projects 3 to 7 m m b e y o n d
the furthest c o m p l e t e flower and is clothed in imbricate, brownish bracts, recalling
the staminate flowering spike o f s o m e sedges.
T h e type-collection o f D. acracarpica was distributed u n d e r the n a m e Dalea
leporina. Isotypes other t h a n that cited herein are to be sought elsewhere under
this m i s n o m e r .
Dalea pennellii (J. F. Macbr.) J. F. Macbr. var. chilensis Barneby, var. nov.
A var. pennellii vix nisi petalis epistemoneis luteis (nec livide purpureis) et dispersione in altis
provinciae chilensis Tarapach (nec in Peruvia adjacenti) diversa.
H a b i t o f var. pennelliL but e p i s t e m o n o u s petals yellow.
TYPE: C H I L E . PROV. TARAPACA: Depto. Iquique, alto de Parca (20~
69~
3000 m, 18 Oct 1965, M. Ricardi, C. Marticorena & O. Matthei 1378
in C O N C 51834 (HOLOTYPE: NY).
Distribution: O n dry hillsides at 2 5 0 0 - 3 3 0 0 m, k n o w n f r o m d e p a r t a m e n t o s
Arica, Iquique a n d Tarapacfi o f p r o v i n c i a Tarapacfi in n o r t h e r n Chile.
Additional specimens seen: CHILE. PROV. TARAPAcA:Parca, Cord. Quebrada de Quipisca, Mar
1926, E. Werdermann 1112 (F, K, NY, US); Camino de Zapahuira a Putre, 4 May 1972, M. Ricardi
et al. 134 in CONC 51835 (NY).
W e r d e r m a n n ' s collection o f var. chilensis, which has no perfect flowers, was
referred provisionally in m y m o n o g r a p h (Barneby, 1977, p. 371) to D. pennelliL
otherwise k n o w n only f r o m the slopes o f E1 Misti in Arequipa, Peru. T w o finely
flowering collections received f r o m Prof. M a r t i c o r e n a show that the e p i s t e m o n o u s
petals in the A n d e s o f Tarapacfi are bright yellow, in strong contrast to the v i v i d
amethyst-purple o f P e r u v i a n var. pennellii. A parallel h e t e r o c h r o m e vat. sulfurea
(Ulbrich) Barneby is k n o w n in D. cylindrica o f northern Peru. Each o f these yellowflowered varieties has a range o f dispersal distinct f r o m its purple counterpart.
Acknowledgments
I express m y t h a n k s to the C u r a t o r o f the H e r b a r i u m , California A c a d e m y o f
Sciences (CAS) for loan o f the holotype a n d for the gift o f an isotype o f D.
acracarpica; to Professor M a r t i c o r e n a ( C O N C ) for the two cited collections o f D.
pennellii var. chilensis; and to Bobbi Angell, staff artist at NY, for the a c c o m panying figure.
Literature Cited
Barueby, R.C. 1977. Daleae Imagines. Mere. New York Bot. Gard. 27: 1-891.
1980. Three new species of Dalea sect. Parosela (Leguminosae: Amorpheae) from western
and southern Mexico. Brittonia 32: 392-396.
~ .
1981. New species of Dalea section Parosela (Leguminosae: Amorpheae) from Peru and
Mexico. Brittonia 33:508-511.
1988. The genus Dalea (Fabaceae tribe Amorpheae) in Departamento de Cajamarca, Peru,
with description of three new species. Brittonia 40: 1-6.