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Article PHYTOTAXA
Copyright © 2015 Magnolia Press ISSN 1179-3163 (online edition)
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.217.1.2
Introduction
Magnoliaceae Jussieu (1789: 280) consist of ca. 330 species worldwide, nearly half of them in the New World
(Vázquez-García et al. 2014). There is no agreement on the internal classification, including the number of sections
(0–11), genera (1–13), subgenera (0–9) and subfamilies (0–2) (Figlar & Nooteboom 2004; Xia et al. 2008, Romanov
& Dilcher 2013) and despite various phylogenetic studies of Magnoliaceae in the last two decades, classification of the
family has not reached a consensus (Qiu et al. 1993, 1995; Kim et al. 2001; Azuma et al. 2001, Li & Conran 2003, Nie
et al. 2008, Kim & Suh 2013). Here we follow the classification of Figlar & Nooteboom (2004).
Neotropical Magnoliaceae Jussieu are represented by a single genus, Magnolia Linnaeus (1753: 535), and 129
recognized species (Vázquez-García et al. 2014), comprising three sections: 1) sect. Macrophylla Figlar & Nooteboom
(2004: 92; three species south of the Tropic of Cancer in México); 2) sect. Magnolia (23 species in México and
Central America, two in eastern United States and one in the Caribbean); and 3) sect. Talauma (Jussieu 1789: 281)
Baillon (1866: 66; 103 species), which is further subdivided in three subsections: a) subsect. Cubenses Imkhanitskaya
(1991: 60; ten species confined to the Caribbean region); b) subsect. Dugandiodendron (Lozano, 1975: 33) Figlar &
Nooteboom (2004: 90; 21 species confined to northern South America in the Andes and the Guyana Shield, seven of
them occurring in Ecuador); and c) subsection Talauma (72 species distributed from 20 degrees of northern latitude in
western and eastern México to 24 degrees southern latitude, just south of the Tropic of Capricorn, in Paraná, Brazil and
elevations from near sea level to 2800 m) the largest subsection in the family. Lozano-Contreras’s work included 31
Neotropical species in subsect. Talauma, 20 of which he described (Lozano-Contreras 1983, 1994), but the number of
species has more than doubled in the last five years (Serna et al. 2009; Dillon & Sánchez-Vega 2009, Vázquez-García
et al. 2012a, 2012b, 2013a, 2013b, 2013c, 2013d, 2014; Marcelo-Peña & Arroyo 2013, Arroyo & Pérez 2013, Arroyo
et al. 2013, Arroyo 2014). Additional (ca. 28) undetermined Neotropical species of Magnolia are currently under study
by various authors.
Magnoliaceae in Ecuador display a high level of endemism (78%), particularly in the Cordillera del Condor and
Amazonia, and to a lesser extent in the Andes and northern coast. It is noteworthy that the Zamora Chinchipe Province
currently with seven species of Magnolia is the richest Neotropical area for Magnolia, and possibly worldwide too,
and therefore the area should be considered a Magnolia hotspot for conservation (Vázquez-García et al. 2014).
There are 18 recognized species of Magnolia in Ecuador (Table 1), all belonging to sect. Talauma (authors of
all species names provided in Table 1): six belong to subsect. Dugandiodendron (five from Cordillera del Condor:
M. bankardiorum, M. lozanoi, M. jaenensis. M. shuarorum and M. yantzazana; and one from the Chocó region: M.
striatifolium); and twelve species from subsect. Talauma (five from the Amazonian lowlands: M. equatorialis, M.
kichuana, M. neillii, M. pastazaensis, and M. rimachii; two from the Chocó region: M. canandeana and M. dixonii; two
from the southern Cordillera Oriental: M. palandana, M. zamorana; one from Cordillera del Cóndor, M. crassifolia;
and two from the central Cordillera Oriental: M. llanganatensis and M. vargasiana, here proposed as new). There are
five other undetermined Ecuadorian species of Magnolia subsection Talauma currently under study (Table 1).
During vegetation sampling of several 0.25 ha plots in May 2014 with students from the University of Alabama,
Type:—ECUADOR. Tungurahua: near the Pastaza boundary, Cordillera Llanganates, ca. 7 km (straight line) northeast of Topo, east of
Río Zuñac, 01°22’06” S, 78°08’59” W, 2000 m, 23 August 2014 (fl bud, fl), Vázquez-García 10118 with D. Neill, A. Rosillo and the
Recalde family (holotype: ECUAMZ!, isotypes: IBUG!, MO!, QCNE!).
FIGURE 1. Magnolia vargasiana. A. Gynoecium. B. Stamen. C. Inner petal. D. Outer petal. E. Sepal. F. Flowering branch. G. Leaf. H.
Flowering bud. I. Hypsophylls. Drawing by Efrén Merino-Santi, Kichuan artist and student at Universidad Estatal Amazónica, based on
Merino-Santi et al. s.n.
Diagnosis: Magnolia vargasiana shares with Magnolia kichuana the sub-orbicular leaves and a similar number of
carpels, but it differs from the latter in having a narrower leaf 7.50–11.0 vs. 13.3–22.0 cm; smaller obovate-spathulate
FIGURE 2. Magnolia vargasiana A. Yajaira Malucín, student at Universidad Estatal Amazónica, holding a flower bud, with sepals all the
way down in day one (male phase) at 9:16 hrs, where flea beetles had just overnighted and are about to leave the flower in the afternoon.
With dense “bosque siempreverde montano” in the background. B. Foliage. C. Detaching stipule. D. Branch with flower bud including
second hypsophyll. E. First hypsophyll. F. Flower bud in day 0 (0D, female phase), without hypsophylls. G. Flea beetles (Tribe Alticini,
Chrysomelidae) covered with pollen. (Photographs: B, C & E by Fausto Recalde, from the holotype; A, D, F & G by Lou Jost, from
Merino-Santi et al. s.n., ECUAMZ, IBUG).
Distribution and ecology:—Magnolia vargasiana is endemic to the Cordillera de los Llanganates, Tungurahua
(Ecuador) and is thus far only known from the type locality, consisting of two trees > 10 cm dbh within a permanent
forest inventory plot of 0.25 ha at 2000 m elevation in the Río Zuñac Reserve (Zuñac Plot 2). The Río Zuñac Reserve
is a privately held conservation area privately owned by an Ecuadorian non-government organization, the EcoMinga
Fundation. The plot itself is about 1 km outside the boundary of Llanganates National Park, located on a steep mountain
ridge above the canyon of the upper Rio Zuñac; this portion of the Llanganates is also known as the Cordillera
Abitagua. The climate is perhumid with annual rainfall greater than 4000 mm (Ministerio del Ambiente, 2012).
Vegetation is described as being a dense cloud forest, with about 800 trees ≥ 10 cm DBH per hectare and a closed
canopy about 25 m tall with abundant vascular epiphytes and bryophytes. In the classification system of terrestrial
ecosystems of Ecuador (Ministerio del Ambiente, 2012) the vegetation type at the site is “bosque siempreverde montano
del Norte de la Cordillera Oriental de los Andes”. The dominant tree species recorded in the 0.25 hectare include
Wettinia fascicularis (Arecaceae), Brunellia pallida (Brunelliaceae), Weinmannia pinnata (Cunoniaceae), Dicksonia
Timing of flowering:—Once the last hypsophyll has fallen from the flower bud, it is likely that the flower will
open within about five days (Fig. 2E). A slightly swollen top of flower bud (Fig. 2F) is a sign that the female phase,
day zero (0D) has started. At this phase, the flower will start opening for the first time in the afternoon from 16:49 to
18:00 h until the sepals (3) rotate ca. 90 degrees while the outer petals (5) open nearly 30 degrees and inner petals (3)
open < 15 degrees only (Figs. 3A–D); the flower remains partially open for nearly 3 h in order to receive incoming
pollinators, “flea beetles” (Tribe Alticini, Chrysomelidae) (Fig. 3E,K). The petals will close at about 21:00 h in the
evening, trapping pollinators inside overnight, whereas the sepals stay open overnight until they complete a rotation
of ca. 180 degrees (Figs. 3F–H). The following day, the male phase, first day (1D) the petals re-open earlier in the
afternoon, beginning at about 14:00 h, when inner the outer petals rotate simultaneously until reaching ca. 90 degrees
at about 15:00 h with most of the stamens detached and held in the concave naviculate petals, exposing the pollen and
its likely pollinator fully covered in pollen (Figs 3I–L). The outer petals will continue rotating until reaching about 135
degrees at about 18:30. The flower will remain basically unchanged the rest of the day, overnight, throughout most of
the following two days (Figs. 2D, 3D) until some or all petals fade and start falling (Figs. 3M–O). Flowers visited by
*Magnolia crassifolia has insufficient data in its protologue and therefore was excluded from the key; three other
species erroneously reported from Ecuadorian Amazonia were also excluded (Table 1): M. amazonica listed by Neill &
Ulloa (2011), based on Macia et al. 1180 (QCA!, MO), from Yasuní, Orellana, which corresponds to M. equatorialis;
M. hernandezii listed as doubtfully determined for the Catalogue of vascular plants of Ecuador (Liesner 1999), based
on Palacios 11401 (QCNE!), from Palora, Morona Santiago, which corresponds to M. kichuana; and M. ovata (Renner
et al., 1990), based on Øllgaard et al. 57126 (AUU!), from Añangú, Yasuni, Orellana, a sterile specimen and most
likely corresponds to M. equatorialis.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de la República del
Ecuador (PROMETEO program), the Universidad Estatal Amazónica (in Ecuador) and the Universidad de Guadalajara-
CUCBA, PROMEP-SEP, SNI-CONACyT, (in México). We thank John Clark, Laura Clavijo and their students from
the University of Alabama who conducted the initial field inventory of the two 0.25-ha tree plots in the Ecominga
reserve that resulted in the discovery of two Magnolia species new to science. Special thanks to Mark Chase and to
anonymous reviewers of Phytotaxa. The authors acknowledge the invaluable help of the field assistants of the Recalde
family (Fausto, Jesús, Luis, Santiago), Alex Rosillo, Efrén Merino-Santi and Yajaira Malucín; special thanks to the
Fundación EcoMinga, Lou Jost (photographer) and curators of several herbaria, ECUAMZ, Q, QCA, QPA, QCNE and
MO for use of their facilities and support. Efrén Merino-Santi is warmly thanked for the line drawing of M. vargasiana,
and Lou Jost identified the insect pollinator found in the flowers of Magnolia vargasiana.
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