Main | Family List (MO) | Family List (INBio) | Cutting Edge Draft Treatments | Guidelines | Checklist | Citing | Editors The Cutting Edge Volume XXIV, Number 3, July 2017 News and Notes | Leaps and Bounds | Germane Literature | Season's Pick ACANTHACEAE. Justicia secunda Vahl, a red-flowered sp. rather common in Panama (especially around the Canal Area and Prov. Coclé), not known to be commonly cultivated anywhere, and never before reported from Costa Rica, appeared recently, as from nowhere, in the front yard of our friend and colleague Reinaldo Aguilar, on the Península de Osa near Puerto Jiménez (vouchered by Hammel & Aguilar 27328)! This sp. was mentioned in Flora costaricensis, but only with regard to its being known from "adjacent regions" of Panama and confusable (marginally so, if you ask us!) with the white-flowered J. urophylla (Lindau) D. N. Gibson. Investigation is pending (dry-season flowering) to resolve if it is: Cultivated in other yards in the area. Found in the locally adjacent forest. Neither of the above, and thus an anomaly in the taxosphere. In any case, honorable mention, if not full treatment, of this fine sp. is in order for the next and final volume of the Manual. See the images at Hammel's Flickr site here. APOCYNACEAE. Marsdenia dressleri Spellman, a vanishingly rare vine, has been known from just two collections, one from northeastern Nicaragua and the other from east-central Panama. However, three recent collections from Costa Rica by Manual co-PI Barry Hammel and his wife Isabel Pérez have plugged the gap and augmented our knowedge of the sp. The new collections, from the southern Península de Nicoya, were first thought (quite logically) to perhaps represent Marsdenia nicoyana Pittier, a similarly rare (at least in Costa Rica) sp., before their identity was ultimately nailed by Barry and later confirmed by family specialist Doug Stevens (MO). The Costa Rican distribution of M. dressleri may be further specified as "bosque húmedo," at ca. 150 m elevation, with flowering taking place (sometimes in the absence of leaves!) during April and May. For images, check Hammel's Flickr site. We anxiously await the fruits of this sp., which have not yet been described. CAMPANULACEAE. We could/should have reported the discovery of Lobelia fastigiata Kunth in Costa Rica a couple of years ago, when we first received the Manual draft treatment for this family co-authored by Alexánder Rodríguez (CR) and Daniel Solano. Thinking that said authors were going to announce it themselves, perhaps in Brenesia, we forgot about it. The first Costa Rican collection of this sp. (Liesner 5052) was originally determined as L. longicaulis Brandegee. Both that specimen and the only other Costa Rican record (Grayum et al. 12280) are from Prov. Guanacaste, in moist to wet forest at 300–600 m elevation. In the big picture, both spp. are rather widespread, but Lobelia longicaulis extends from Mexico to western Panama and has long been known from Costa Rica (as per its synonyms L. poasensis E. Wimm and L. urticifolia E. Wimm), where it is found in pluvial and oak forests at higher elevations; L. fastigiata, on the other hand, had been known previously only from Panama and southward. Thanks and a tip o' the hat to Daniel and Alex for bringing this (back) to our attention. Oh, and by the way guys, as of this writing, the Liesner specimen is still determined as L. longicaulis in the CR database! LAMIACEAE. While rummaging about in the CR herbarium, Manual co-PI Barry Hammel came upon Khan et al. 149, correctly determined (or so it would appear) as Ajuga reptans L. The specimen in question (which is not duplicated at MO) was collected not far from the Museo Nacional itself, at ca. 1150 m elevation, along roadsides and in waste ground, flowering in January. Had we known of this evidently naturalized occurrence, A. reptans would have been treated in full in Manual Vol. 6 (2007). A European native, this low stoloniferous herb with blue flowers (according to the label of the Costa Rican collection) is widely planted as an ornamental ground cover. It is well-characterized, among Costa Rican Lamiaceae, by the combination of actinomorphic calyces and corollas with the upper lip obsolete (reduced to three minute lobes). PONTEDERIACEAE. Manual co-PI Nelson Zamora (INBio) has discovered a new population of the enigmatic Eichhornia paradoxa (Schult. f. ex Mart.) Solms, a sp. that is widespread in the Neotropics but seldom collected, and in widely disparate locales. TROPICOS records a world total of just three prior collections, though clearly others exist. In Costa Rica, E. paradoxa was previously known only from the northeastern Atlantic slope, in the basin of the Río Sapoá (the Manual distribution statement alleging an occurrence on the Pacific slope was in error). While Nelson's population is not all that far away from the other Costa Rican sites, it lies on the opposite side (west of) the Carretera Interamericana, along the road leading to the Península de Santa Elena, and thus represents the first record from the Pacific slope of Costa Rica (rendering the Manual distribution statement substantially correct after all!). Nelson's flowering collection (Zamora et al. 9063, CR) was made in September, so the phenology indicated in the Manual requires no modification. We believe his detailed photos to be the first ever taken of this sp. in life! RUBIACEAE. Chomelia costaricensis C. M. Taylor was described only seven years ago, based on a single flowering collection from 770 m elevation on the Atlantic slope of Volcán Rincón de La Vieja. Now it has been found again, by Costa Rican botanist Pedro Juárez, who has been scouring the country in search of Rubiaceae in connection with a study (involving the Universidad de Costa Rica and the University of Maryland) of endophytic fungi hosted by that family. Pedro not only recognized the sp., but knew that it had been collected just once before, and that its habit was uncertain and its fruits were unknown. Although his collection does not expand the geographic range of C. costaricensis significantly, Pedro's observations (here reproduced in his original English) do enlighten us as to the missing morphological details: the plant he found was a "scandent shrub, actually almost hemiepiphytic," and its fruits were "grape-like, pendulous, big (more or less 2 inches long) and reddish, very similar to Chomelia obtusa." Annotate your copies! And , thanks to Pedro, you can see photos here. TOP