Nature Astronomy

Abstract Parablechnum is the most diverse genus in the fern family Blechnaceae, with about 70 species, mainly from Central and South America, the Austropacific, and a few in Africa. Species delimitation in Parablechnum is challenging, and regional studies vary in species recognized. This genus is generally found in humid mid- to high-elevation forests, especially in the Andes. Ecuador is notable for its high species richness, particularly in the poorly explored Cordillera del Cóndor, a sub-Andean range with a distinctive geology contributing to high plant diversity and endemism. Since the early 2000s, botanical expeditions have revealed numerous endemic species, highlighting the region's significance. In 2006, an unusual Parablechnum species was collected in the Cordillera del Cóndor. Here, we describe it as a new species, Parablechnum shuariorum. It grows on sandstone cliffs along small rivers and can be distinguished by its fertile fronds, which are shorter than its sterile ones, and its densely scaly rachis. This species, endemic to the Cordillera del Cóndor, is found at elevations of 900–1,600 m. It is named after the Shuar people, whose lands include the collection sites. Preliminary conservation assessment suggests that P. shuariorum is endangered due to a limited area of occupancy and threats from human activities, such as mining.

Macrolobium tukanorum, a new species of the legume subfamily Detarioideae with paniculate inflorescences and only known from the Upper Rio Negro basin in the Brazilian Amazon is described and illustrated. This new species is distinguished from all other congeners by the combination of 2–3-jugate leaves, abaxially glabrous leaflets, inflorescences frequently paniculate, and the ovary marginally pilose. Additionally, we report Macrolobium guianense, a species previously known only from French Guiana and Suriname, as a new record for the Brazilian flora.

Abstract Miconia andinodomatia is proposed as a new species in the M. sect. Cremanium, from the mountains of Colombia, where it is widely distributed in the sub-Andean and Andean forests of the Western, Central, and Eastern Cordilleras of Colombia. Miconia andinodomatia is similar to several species, such as M. cremophylla, M. lehmannii, M. theaezans, M. tovarensis and M. turgida. However, it can be distinguished from all these by a combination of characters, including occurrence of leaf domatia, presence of a prominent interpetiolar line, and anthers with four terminal pores. The new species is herein formally described and illustrated, and its relationships to morphologically closely related taxa are discussed. An identification key to the species with leaf domatia placed in the Miconia III clade from Colombia is also provided. Additionally, comments about its distribution, ecology, habitat, floral biology, phenology, uses and conservation status are presented. Finally, the possible novel role played by domatia in the species is discussed.

The new species Matisia boyacensis (Malvaceae) is described and illustrated. The species is assigned to the Calyculatae section of the genus Matisia and is compared to closely related species. Matisia boyacensis is only known from premontane forest matrices and pastures of Boyacá department, in the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia.

Strychnos (Loganiaceae: Strychneae) is a monophyletic genus of woody plants with c. 200 pantropical species (c. 80 spp. in the Neotropical region). Except for African S. sect. Spinosae and American S. sect. Breviflorae subsect. Eriospermae, most of the sections of Strychnos have been recovered as non-monophyletic in recent molecular studies. The latter group is distributed from central Mexico to southern Brazil, in moist to dry forests, savannas, or grasslands, inhabiting coastal to mountainous regions (sea level to 1,500 m) with tropical or subtropical climate, rarely temperate or semi-arid. The morphological, potentially synapomorphous character that defines this subsection is a fibrous testa enveloping the seeds like a bag; other remarkable features that are sometimes present are tendrils in 1–2 pairs, quadrangular (sometimes winged) branches, conspicuous lenticels, leaf blades usually darkened when dry, secondary and tertiary leaf veins generally inconspicuous (not strongly reticulated), and the underside of leaves with domatia. We present a taxonomic treatment of S. sect. Breviflorae subsect. Eriospermae, resolve nomenclatural issues, and discuss important and novel morphological traits. In total, we examined 511 collections from 42 herbaria. We recognize 12 species: Strychnos alvimiana, S. brachistantha, S. cerradoensis, S. malacosperma, S. mattogrossensis, S. neglecta, S. nicaraguensis, S. nigricans, S. pachycarpa, S. poeppigii, S. schunkei, and S. tarapotensis, a new synonymization (S. schultesiana under S. malacosperma), and provide descriptions, illustrations, maps, and identification keys. We designated four lectotypifications (S. alvimiana, S. malacosperma, S. mattogrossensis, and S. poeppigii) and two epitypifications (S. alvimiana, S. pachycarpa).

Comolia ciliata is a new species endemic to the Colombian Amazon, occuring in the quartzitic sand savannas near the headwaters of the Cuduyarí River, in the Department of Vaupés, and also in the Serranía La Lindosa, in the Department of Guaviare. This species is described, illustrated, and compared with its most similar congeners, C. leptophylla and C. prostrata. Comolia ciliata is primarily known from two collections made by Richard Evans Schultes in the 1950s and 1960s, and from additional collections made in the early 2000s. Comolia ciliata is preliminarily categorized as Endangered according to IUCN criteria.

A new species of Glossoloma is described from the premontane forests of the Cordillera Oriental in the eastern Andean slopes of Colombia. Glossoloma parvulina Solano-C, D. Ruiz-Mol. & J.L. Clark is differentiated from other congeners by the presence of minute fimbriate calyx margins. The new species is compared with all other currently known species of Glossoloma with fimbriate calyx margins, most of which also share an unbranched subshrub habit. Based on IUCN guidelines, a preliminary conservation status is assigned as Endangered (EN).

During revisionary studies in the genus Bupleurum L. (Apiaceae) in India, we noted that types had not been designated for several names. Hence, the lectotypes were selected here for four species in this genus, viz. B. dalhousieanum (C.B. Clarke) Koso-Pol., B. jucundum Kurz, B. maddenii C.B. Clarke, and B. thomsonii C.B. Clarke.

We describe Chalybea boliviensis (Melastomataceae: Pyxidantheae), a new tree species from cloud forests in Bolivia and the twelfth species in the genus. This is the first species of Chalybea known from Bolivia and, remarkably, extends its range southward by almost 1,400 km. This novelty is described and illustrated, and photos of live plants are provided, along with a distribution map. We also include comments on the occurrence of Meriania franciscana in Bolivia, bringing the total of species of Meriania for the country to eight.

Three new species of Sciodaphyllum (Araliaceae) are described and illustrated, all from highland areas in the northern part of the eastern Andean Cordillera of Colombia. Sciodaphyllum bipyrenum is distinguished by its bicarpellate ovary with a disc that bulges above the calyx, a bifid stylar column in fruit, and fruits with two-ribbed, triangular or tetrangular pyrenes. Sciodaphyllum bullatifructum is characterized by dense, sericeous, whitish indument that covers the abaxial surface of the leaflet blades and the fleshy hemispheric protuberances on the exposed distal portion of the fruit. Sciodaphyllum foliobracteatum is unique in the genus in having each of its secondary inflorescence axes subtended by a stipular ligule at the base of a distinctly leaf-like structure, and it is also characterized by having 7 to 9 free petals and the largest fruits known in the genus. A distribution map is provided along with color photos of each species and a preliminary risk of extinction assessment (following the IUCN Red List criteria); S. bipyrenum and S. bullatifructum are assessed as Critically Endangered, whereas S. foliobracteatum is considered to be Endangered.

AbstractWe describe and illustrate Pentagonia plicatifolia A.F.Majín-L. & M.A.Jaram, a new species from the foothills and wet montane forest remnants (at elevations of 300–1,240 m) at Serranía de Las Quinchas, a region located in the Middle Magdalena Valley (the easternmost part of the Chocó Region), in the western slopes of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia (Boyacá department). We compared this new taxon with morphologically similar species by leaf characters (color and shape) and flower size. Colombia is the country with the largest number of Pentagonia species, likely because three important centers of diversification converge: the tropical Andes, the Chocó region, and the northwestern Amazon. A key to the 22 Pentagonia species occurring in Colombia is also presented.