Mucuna globulifera (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae), a new species from Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia
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ISSN: 0075-5974 (print) ISSN: 1874-933X (electronic)
Mucuna globulifera (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae), a new species from Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia Tânia Maria de Moura1, Nelson A. Zamora2, Gwilym P. Lewis3, Vidal de Freitas Mansano4 & Ana Maria G. A. Tozzi5
Summary. A new species of Mucuna (Leguminosae) from Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia is described and illustr-
ated. Although the species is morphologically grouped with a number of species from Central and South America that have the primary axis of their inflorescences condensed, M. globulifera is distinguished by a suite of characters, including a condensed primary inflorescence axis (very reduced internodes, the nodes up to approximately 1 mm apart from the one above), an extremely long peduncle, secondary bracts surrounding a large and conspicuous globose structure when the inflorescence is young, flowers usually pale salmon in colour, fruits softly villous and lacking urticating trichomes, and the presence of very sparse appressed hairs on the leaflet surfaces, or the leaflets almost glabrous. Key Words. Fabaceae, Neotropics, Phaseoleae, taxonomy.
Introduction Most species of Mucuna are lianas or have a scandent habit, have uniformly trifoliolate leaves, umbelliform or pseudoracemose inflorescences that are usually pendent on a long peduncle, and showy, resupinate papilionaceous flowers with a campanulate calyx. The fruits are frequently large woody pods, covered with urticating trichomes. There are approximately 100 species of Mucuna distributed pantropically. The genus displays much morphological diversity and a number of pollination syndromes (Helversen & Helversen 1999; Agostini 2008). Ruiz (2009) published a synopsis of the Colombian species of Mucuna and commented that 17 species were recorded for the Neotropics. This number is considered by us to be an under-estimate and we recognize 24 neotropical species, which together display the morphological variation of the whole genus throughout its pantropical range (T. M. Moura, unpublished data). Most Mucuna species occurring in Tropical America have a condensed primary axis of the inflorescence, a character exclusive to neotropical
species. Due to the lack of a complete taxonomic survey of the genus, the discovery of one more new species in the Neotropics is not surprising (Tozzi et al. 2005; Ruiz 2009; Zamora 2010; Moura et al. 2012). During a detailed study of Mucuna specimens from several herbaria (in Europe, and North, Central and South America) a new species from Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia was discovered. Below we present a description, an illustration and a distribution map of this new species.
Taxonomy Mucuna globulifera T. M. Moura, N. Zamora & A. M. G. Azevedo sp. nov. Type: Panama, Darién, McDonagh, Lewis, Gumpel & Pumptre 514 (holotype BM!; isotype MO!). http://www.ipni.org/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77123385-1 Liana with stems sparsely sericeous. Leaves alternate, 3foliolate; stipules caducous; petiole 8 – 15 cm long,
Accepted for publication 8 November 2012. 1 Programa de Pós-graduação
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