Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Two new species of Eugenia (Myrtaceae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Kew Bulletin volume 78, pages 95–105 (2023)Cite this article

Summary

This study describes two new species of Eugenia from Atlantic Forest remnants in the vicinities of Rio de Janeiro city, Brazil. The new taxa Eugenia delicata and E. superba are proposed based on a literature survey, examination of herbarium specimens and intensive field work in the study area. E. delicata is here assigned to E. sect. Eugenia, similar to E. xanthoxyloides but differing by narrow-elliptic cataphylls restricted to the apex of young twigs, falling with age, leaves in distichous arrangement, cracking easily at touch when dry, bracteoles widely-ovate, widely-deltoid or widely-trullate, superposed at the base and concealing the ovary, and mature fruits ellipsoid, subglobose or pyriform, orange when fresh, with juicy pulp and sour, aromatic taste. E. superba is here assigned to E. sect. Phyllocalyx, similar to E. magnibracteolata but differing by being a deciduous tree with trunk bark smooth, light-brown when flowering, reddish when fruiting, detaching thin, papery plates, leaf blades coriaceous with lateral veins barely visible abaxially, pedicels and flowers with light-brown to golden trichomes that are dense on the ovary and scattered in the calyx, and mature fruits suglobose, orange when fresh, with juicy and abundant pulp and a pleasant sweet and sour taste. Regarding the conservation statuses, E. delicata is assessed here as Endangered (EN), and E. superba as Critically Endangered (CR). As both species have edible fruits, we encourage their cultivation as ornamental and fruit trees to promote their ex-situ conservation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Map 1
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

References

  • Andreata, R. H. P., Lima, H. C., Vaz, A. S. F., Baumgratz, J. F. & Profice, S. R. (2008). Diversity and floristic composition of the vascular plants in the forest fragment in Southeastern Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 2: 575 – 592.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bachman, S., Moat, J., Hill, A. W., de la Torre, J. & Scott, B. (2011). Supporting Red List threat assessments with GeoCAT: geospatial conservation assessment tool. ZooKeys 150: 117 – 126. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.150.2109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barros, A. A. M. (2008). Análise florística e estrutural do Parque Estadual da Serra da Tiririca, Niterói e Maricá, RJ, Brasil. Phd thesis, Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro.

  • Barroso, G. M., Peixoto, A. L., Ichaso, C. L. F., Costa, C. G., Guimarães, E. F. & Lima, H. C. (1984). Myrtaceae. In: G. M. Barroso (ed.), Sistemática de Angiospermas do Brasil, Vol. 2: 114 – 126. Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Minas Gerais.

  • Beentje, H. J. (2010). Plant Glossary. Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berg, O. (1856). Revisio Myrtacearum Americae. Linnaea 27 (2, 3): 140 – 345.

  • BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library) (2022). Biodiversity Heritage Library. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/. [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • Boehm, M. M. A. & Cronk, Q. C. B. (2021). Dark extinction: the problem of unknown historical extinctions. Biol. Lett. 17: 20210007. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0007

  • Bünger, M. O., Mazine, F. F. & Stehmann, J. R. (2020). Revision of Eugenia section Phyllocalyx (Myrtaceae). Phytotaxa 474: 99 – 118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cambessèdes, J. (1832). Myrtaceae. In: A. Saint-Hilaire, A. Jussieu & J. Cambessèdes (eds), Flora Brasiliae Meridionalis, Vol. 2: 277 – 381. A. Belin Bibliopolam, Parisiis [Paris].

  • CBI (Conservation Biology Institute) (2022). South America country boundaries (Data Basin Dataset). https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=0da030d7979c46088b1bcd1e8225cd90 [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • Colli-Silva, M., Reginato, M., Cabral, A., Forzza, R. C., Pirani, J. R. & Vasconcelos, T. N. C. (2020). Evaluating shortfalls and spatial accuracy of biodiversity documentation in the Atlantic Forest, the most diverse and threatened Brazilian phytogeographic domain. Taxon 69: 567 – 577. https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.12239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CRIA (Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental) (2022). speciesLink – Herbário Virtual da Flora e dos Fungos. http://inct.splink.org.br/ [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • Hickey, L. J. (1973). Classification of the architecture of Dicotyledonous leaves. Amer. J. Bot. 60: 17 – 33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPNI (2022). International Plant Names Index. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries and Australian National Botanic Gardens. https://www.ipni.org/ [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) (2012). IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, Version 3.1. 2nd edition. Prepared by the IUCN Species Survival Commission. IUCN, Gland and Cambridge. https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/RL-2001-001-2nd.pdf. [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) (2019). Guidelines for Using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Version 13. Prepared by the Standards and Petitions Subcommittee. http://www.iucnredlist.org/documents/RedListGuidelines.pdf [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • JSTOR Global Plants (2022). https://plants.jstor.org/ [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • Legrand, C. D. (1961). Mirtaceas del Estado de Santa Catarina. Sellowia 13: 265 – 363.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____ & Mattos, J. R. (1975). Novidades taxonômicas em Myrtaceae. Loefgrenia 67: 1 – 32.

  • Linnaeus, C. (1753). Species Plantarum. Impensis Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Machado, D. N. S., Barros, A. A. M. & Ribas, L. A. (2020). Exotic plants in a rocky outcrop area in the municipality of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. J. Coast. Conserv. 24: 1 – 13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-019-00719-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ____, ____ & Araújo, D. S. D. (2022). Composição florística do inselbergue Morro das Andorinhas, município de Niterói, estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Pesquisas, Botânica 76: 33 – 72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazine, F. F., Bünger, M. O., Faria, J. E. Q., Lucas, E. & Souza, V. C. (2016). Sections in Eugenia (Myrteae, Myrtaceae): nomenclatural notes and a key. Phytotaxa 289: 225 – 236. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.289.3.2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ____, Faria, J. E. Q., Giaretta, A., Vasconcelos, T., Forest, F. & Lucas, E. (2018). Phylogeny and biogeography of the hyper-diverse genus Eugenia (Myrtaceae: Myrteae), with emphasis on E. sect. Umbellatae, the most unmanageable clade. Taxon 67: 752 – 769. https://doi.org/10.12705/674.5

  • ____, Valdemarin, K. S., Bünger, M. O., Faria, J. E. Q., Fernandes, T., Giaretta, A., Santana, K. C., Sobral, M. & Souza, M. A. D. (2020). Eugenia in Flora do Brasil 2020. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/reflora/floradobrasil/FB10338 [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • MMA (Ministério do Meio Ambiente) (2022). Download de dados geográficos. http://mapas.mma.gov.br/i3geo/datadownload.htm/ [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • Murray-Smith, C., Brummit, N. A., Oliveira-Filho, A. T., Bachman, S., Moat, J., Lughadha, E. M. N. & Lucas, E. J. (2009). Plant Diversity Hotspots in the Atlantic Coastal Forests of Brazil. Conserv. Biol. 23: 151 – 163. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.01075.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Niedenzu, F. (1893). Myrtaceae. In: A. Engler & K. Prantl (eds), Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, Vol. 3 (7): 57 – 105. Engelmann, Leipzig.

  • Oliveira, U., Paglia, A. P., Brescovit, A. D., de Carvalho, C. J. B., Silva, D. P., Rezende, D. T., Leite, F. S. F., Batista, J. A. N., Barbosa, J. P. P. P., Stehmann, J. R., Ascher, J. S., de Vasconcelos, M. F., De Marco Jr, P., Löwenberg-Neto, P., Dias, P. G., Ferro, V. G. & Santos, A. J. (2016). The strong influence of collection bias on biodiversity knowledge shortfalls of Brazilian terrestrial biodiversity. Diversity Distrib. 22: 1232 – 1244. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Projeto MapBiomas (2022). Coleção 6 da Série Anual de Mapas de Cobertura e Uso de Solo do Brasil. https://mapbiomas.org/download [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • QGIS Development Team (2022). QGIS Geographic Information System. Open Source Geospatial Foundation Project. http://qgis.osgeo.org/ [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • Radford, A. E., Dickson, W. C., Massey, J. R. & Bell, C. R. (1974). Vascular Plant Systematics. Harper & Row Publisher, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • REFLORA (2022). Herbário Virtual. http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/reflora/herbarioVirtual [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • Ribeiro, M. C., Metzger, J. P., Martensen, A. C., Ponzoni, F. J. & Hirota, M. M. (2009). The Brazilian Atlantic Forest: How much is left, and how is the remaining forest distributed? Implications for conservation. Biol. Conserv. 142: 1141 – 1153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santana, K. C. (2018). Estudos taxonômicos em Eugenia L. sect. Eugenia (Myrtaceae, Myrteae). Phd thesis, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Bahia.

  • SEA (Secretaria de Estado do Ambiente) & INEA (Instituto Estadual do Ambiente) (2015). Plano de Manejo (Fase 1) – Parque Estadual da Serra da Tiririca. Niterói, Rio de Janeiro.

  • SMARHS (Secretaria de Meio Ambiente, Recursos Hídricos e Sustentabilidade) (2021). Plano de Manejo do Parque Natural Municipal de Niterói. Niterói, Rio de Janeiro.

  • Soares-Silva, L. H. & Sobral, M. (2004). Eugenia myrciariifolia (Myrtaceae), a new species from Paraná, Brazil. Novon 14: 236 – 238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sobral, M. (2010). Three new montane forest Myrtaceae from Espírito Santo, Brazil. Novon 20: 338 – 344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Souza, M. C. & Morim, M. P. (2008). Subtribos Eugeniinae O. Berg e Myrtinae O. Berg (Myrtaceae) na Restinga da Marambaia, RJ, Brasil. Acta Bot. Bras. 22: 652 – 683. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-33062008000300006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thiers, B. (continuously updated). Index Herbariorum: A Global Directory of Public Herbaria and Associated Staff. New York Botanical Garden’s Virtual Herbarium. http://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/ih/ [Accessed 10 March 2022].

  • Werneck, M. S., Sobral, M. E. G., Rocha, C. T. V., Landau, E. C. & Stehmann, J. R. (2011). Distribution and Endemism of Angiosperms in the Atlantic Forest. Braz. J. Nat. Conserv. 9: 188 – 193. https://doi.org/10.4322/natcon.2011.024

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

TF thanks CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) for the scholarship (Process n°. 141327/2020-0), the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), NIT and RBR herbaria for laboratory support, and Ana Paula Valle Pereira for company and help during the fieldwork and for the field photographs. AAMB and DNSM thanks CETREINA/UERJ for the Complementary Internal Internship scholarships granted and FFP/UERJ and drivers Carlos Roberto Miranda de Carvalho and Diogo Torquato for transporting them to the conservation units. The authors are also grateful to Marcos Sobral.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Pesquisas, Jardim do Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Pacheco Leão 915, Rio de Janeiro, 22460-030, Brazil

    Thiago Fernandes, Davi Nepomuceno da Silva Machado & João Marcelo Alvarenga Braga

  2. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Faculdade de Formação de Professores, Departamento de Ciências, Rua Dr. Francisco Portela, 1470, Patronato, São Gonçalo, RJ, 24435-005, Brazil

    Davi Nepomuceno da Silva Machado & Ana Angélica Monteiro de Barros

  3. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, BR-465, Km 7, Seropédica, RJ, 23890-000, Brazil

    Marcelo da Costa Souza

  4. Universidade Federal do Ceará, Depto. Biologia, bl. 906, Campus do Pici Prof. Prisco Bezerra, Fortaleza, CE, 60440-900, Brazil

    Mariana Bünger

  5. Environmental consultant, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22261-001, Brazil

    Pablo Viany Prieto

Authors
  1. Thiago Fernandes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Davi Nepomuceno da Silva Machado
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Marcelo da Costa Souza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mariana Bünger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ana Angélica Monteiro de Barros
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Pablo Viany Prieto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. João Marcelo Alvarenga Braga
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thiago Fernandes.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fernandes, T., da Silva Machado, D.N., da Costa Souza, M. et al. Two new species of Eugenia (Myrtaceae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Kew Bull 78, 95–105 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-022-10070-z

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-022-10070-z

Key Words.

search

Navigation