Rock star flowers: Conchocarpus hendrixii (Galipeinae, Rutaceae), a new species from Eastern Brazil with notes on its phylogenetic position in the genus

Abstract

A new species, Conchocarpus hendrixii (tribe Galipeinae, Rutaceae), is described and illustrated. To date, this new species is known from populations observed in the municipalities of Cardoso Moreira and Sao Fidelis in Serra da Bandeira/Serra da Vista mountain ranges in northern Rio de Janeiro state in the Atlantic Rainforest biome and was brought to light as an undescribed species thanks to photographs shared on the social media site Facebook. The epithet hendrixii is in honor of Jimi Hendrix, guitarist and singer-songwriter, who wrote the song Purple Haze, in reference to the purple color of the flowers of the new species. Analyzes showed that flowers of the new species bear a staminal tube, a characteristic present only in C. odoratissimus among the Conchocarpus. However, this species bears flowers with much shorter staminal tubes (c. 2-2.5 mm in length v. 1-1.2 cm in the new species) and smaller flowers, among other morphologically dissimilar characteristics. Molecular phylogenetic analysis using nuclear (ITS-1 and IT-2) and plastidial markers (trnL-trnF and rps16 intron) were conducted and demonstrated that the new species belongs to an internal clade in Conchocarpus, together with species formerly assigned to Almeidea (currently included in Conchocarpus). The presence of pantoporate pollen grains, a synapomorphic trait to this clade supports the molecular results. Conservation status as well as data from foliar and floral (with an emphasis on the staminal tube) anatomy are presented.