SYNGONIUM BASTIMENTOENSE
PROTOLOGUE: Syngonium bastimentoense , published in Novon 27: 54 (2019).
Syngonium bastimentoense O. Ortiz & Croat, sp. nov. It differs from Syngonium hoffmanii Schott by having stems and petioles not glaucous, leaf blades drying greenish gray, inflorescences solitary, and the spathe green, drying dark brown. Type: Panama. Bocas del Toro: Parque Nacional Bastimento, Área boscosa cerca del pueblo, bosque secundario, 09°18'56\"N, 82°08'52\"W, 49 m, 6 Oct. 2013, O. Ortiz, A. Zapata, J. Timoteo & R. Smitt 1719 (holotype, PMA-0107554!).
DISTRIBUTION: Panama: Panama.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Panama: Bocas del Toro Province.²
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Nomadic vine; appressed-climbing; sap milky; internodes longer than broad, epidermis drying yellowish brown, tightly, prominently and irregularly acute-ribbed, these finely and minutely granular. Leaves with petioles 26.5 cm long, sheathed to 15 cm, ca half its length, coarsely ribbed with surface minutely and closely ribbed, matte; sheath acute at apex, margin persisting intact; blades trisect, 30.5 cm long, 30 cm wide, about at long as broad, dark green and matte above, moderately paler and weakly glossy below, drying matte greenish gray above, much paler and weakly glossy below, narrowly long-acuminate at apex, acute at base; medial lobe 26 cm long, 10.2 cm wide, markedly inequilateral, one side 4 cm narrower; lateral lobes inequilateral, 7 cm wide (one side 1.6 cm wider), bluntly acute at apex, markedly auriculate on outer margin at base; auricle 4.7 × 1.7–1.9 cm, constricted to 9–12 mm wide; primary lateral veins 13 to 14 per side, departing midrib at 45°–50°; primary collective veins 8 to 12 mm from margin.³
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence solitary; peduncle 4.5 cm long, 4 mm diam., drying dark brown; spathe 8 cm long; tube 3.7 cm long, 1.7 cm diam., spathe blade green, drying dark brown, matte; spadix drying brown, 5.8 cm; staminate portion 4.6 cm; sterile staminate portion 1.4 cm, 1 cm diam. at base, tapering slightly upward, staminodia 1.5–2.0 mm diam., subrounded; pistillate portion 1 cm in front, 7 mm in rear, 5.5 mm diam.³
ECOLOGY:
Syngonium bastimentoense is endemic to Panama, known only from the type locality in Bocas del Toro Province at 49 m elevation in Tropical moist forest life zone.³ altitude: 49 m
ETYMOLOGY:
Named for Isla Bastimentos in Bocas del Toro Province, Panama, where the type was collected in the Parque Nacional Marino Isla Bastimentos. The Latinized ending-ense means "from that place."³
NOTES:
1. Syngonium bastimentoense is a member of section Syngonium and is characterized by tri-lobed, greenish gray–drying leaf blades with prominently and narrowly auriculate lateral lobes and solitary short-pedunculate green inflorescences. The species most closely resembles Syngonium hoffmannii Schott, which differs by having glaucous stems and petioles, blackish drying blades, up to three inflorescences per axil, and the spathe surface purplish outside. Syngonium bastimentoense also resembles Syngonium mauroanum Birdsey ex G.S.Bunting, but that species differs by having the auricle on the lateral lobes broad and more or less triangular. In Croat's Syngonium revision⁴, the species would key out as Syngonium triphyllum Birdsey ex Croat, which differs in having sharply triangular petioles with prominently raised margins, lacking conspicuous auricles on the lateral lobes, and having more numerous and more closely spaced primary lateral veins.³
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Syngonium bastimentoense
2. Novon 27: 54 (2019) — protologue.