Cassia astrochiton H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Authors

    Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

  • Authority

    Irwin, Howard S. & Barneby, Rupert C. 1978. Monographic studies in Cassia (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae). III. Sections Absus and Grimaldia. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 30: 1-300.

  • Family

    Caesalpiniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Cassia astrochiton H.S.Irwin & Barneby

  • Type

    Holotypus, UB; isotypi, F, GH, K, NY, RB, S, US. - Plate 2.

  • Description

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    Latin Diagnosis - Cassia astrochiton Irwin & Barneby, sp. nov., C. fuscescenti Benth. pube setosa stellatim villosula ac inf lorescentia paniculata si mi I is sed foliis subsessilibus (petiolo 4 usque, nec 12-20 mm longo) foliolis ovatis acuminatis (nec elliptico-oblanceolatis obtusis) primo intuitu diversa.

    Species Description - Amply leafy, paniculately branching shrubs up to 1-3 m, densely softly viscid-setulose and villosulous throughout with fine short hairs mixed with weak erect setules not over 0.5 mm stellately pubescent about the bulbous yellow base, the foliage bicolored, paler (when young yellowish) and tomentulose beneath, the exudate of stems and foliage often blackish in age, the corymbosely compound panicle exserted. Stipules subulate 1-1.5 mm, caducous. Lvs widely spreading (5-)6-17 cm, subsessile; pulvinus 1.5-2 mm, scarcely differentiated; petiole to 4 mm, obscurely sulcate; rachis 2.5-13 cm; lfts 4-7 pairs, well spaced along and spreading from the rachis on densely stellate, little dilated pulvinule 1-2 mm, in outline sub- obliquely ovate-acuminate, 2-6 x 1-2.5 cm, abruptly glandular-apiculate, at base strongly oblique and semicordate, the entire margins revolute, the blades firmly chartaceous, above dark-olivaceous or brownish, dull, thinly stellate-setulose and villosulous, beneath more densely villosulous with ± entangled hairs divergent from the stellate-setulose venules and standing erect between them, the costa and 7-11 pairs of secondary veins on upper face fine, pallid, superficial or almost so, sharply prominulous beneath, the tertiary veinlets impressed above, prominent beneath and enclosing deeply recessed areoles. Inflorescence of short, densely-fld racemes, leafy-bracted at base, leafless distally, the axis of each raceme becoming 3-6.5 cm, the fl at anthesis standing slightly below the succeeding buds; bracts subulate, brown, ±2 mm, caducous; pedicels ascending, becoming 12-15 mm, bracteolate 3-8 mm below calyx; bracteoles like bracts, scarcely smaller, caducous; buds ellipsoid obtuse, stellate-setulose; sepals (probably red-tinged when fresh) elliptic obtuse, ± 7-8 x 3-4 mm; petals yellow, 4 obovate-cuneate or -f label late, up to 12-13 x 6-7 mm, the fifth obliquely obovate, convolute; ovary densely yellow-setulose; ovules 7-8. Pod linear-oblong, slightly arched forward, 35-50 x 6.5-8.5 mm, the firmly chartaceous, at length reddish valves and their incrassate sutures densely villosulous and viscidly stellate- setulose; seeds obovoid or pyriform, compressed, 4-4.5 x 2.5-3 mm, the atrocastaneous testa highly lustrous, almost imperceptibly pitted in rows; 2n = 28. — Collections: 6.

    Distribution and Ecology - Cerrado with outcrops, along streams and margin of gallery forest, 950-1370 m, local, known only from centr. Sa. do Espinhapo within a circumference of 25 km of Diamantina, in centr. Minas Gerais. — Fl. IX-X.

  • Discussion

     

  • Distribution

    Minas Gerais Brazil South America| Brazil South America|