CORRELL, ATELEIA
A NEW SPECIES OF ATELEIA (LEGUMINOSAE) FROM THE
BAHAMAS
DONOVAN S. CORRELL
IN RECENT YEARS the Bahama flora has been the subject of intensive
investigation. One of the results of careful field study has been the discovery
or elucidation of several localities where rare or unusual species occur. These
localities are believed to represent refugia where survival has been possible
for these plants despite what may be-or may previously have been-an
otherwise unfavorable environment. Wallenia laurifolia Sw. on Grand Bahama,
Tabernaemontana citrifolia L. on Eleuthera, Celtis iguanaea (Jacq.) Sarg.
on South Andros, and Ctenitis hirta (Sw.) Copel. on New Providence are
examples of such presumed refugia species. The plant now being described
not only survives in such a refuge area, but also apparently is a species
previously unknown in Ateleia (Moc. & Sesse ex DC.) D. Dietr., a very
distinct and natural genus.
Dr. Robert H. Mohlenbrock, who monographed Ateleia in 1962, was sent
material of this plant but declined to advance an opinion regarding its identity.
It is more closely related to such species as the Cuban A teleia apetala Griseb.
than to the only other species of this genus known from the Bahamas,
A. gummifera (DC.) A. Dietr.
Ateleia popenoei Correll, sp. nov. FIGURE 1.
Arbor ad 5 m. alta, corona lata ramorum gracilium. Truncus erectus glaber,
cortice cineraceo ad fumeo; rami et ramuli cineracei, pilis brevibus adpressis
porrectis et lenticellis conspicuis. Foliola 5 ad 11, tenui-herbacea, alterna
vel subopposita; petioluli graciles, 3-4 mm. longi, circa 0.5 mm. crassi, puberuli;
laminae typice orbiculo-ovatae ad elliptico-lanceolatae, ad circa 6 cm. longae
et 2.5 cm. latae, plerumque multo breviores, vulgo oblique ad basem rotundatae
et ad apicem obtusae ad acutae, integrae, prasinae, nervo medio prominente,
venatione minute reticulata. Flores et fructus generis typici.
TYPE: Bahamas, Great Exuma, on a high, coppice-covered rocky ridge
above roadway west of Moss Town, saplings and trees to 5 m. tall, October
3, 1980. D. S. Correll & John Popenoe 51420 (A, holotype; F, FTG, NY, US,
isotypes).
Tree to 5 meters tall, with widespreading crown of slender branches. Trunk
erect, smooth, with light gray to grayish brown bark; branches and branchlets
grayish, with short, appressed, porrect hairs and conspicuous lenticels. Leaves
exstipulate, alternate or subopposite; petioles slender, to about 3 cm. long;
� President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1981.
Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 62: 261-263. April. 1981.
1981]


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FIGURE 1. Ateleia popenoei: a, fruiting branchlet; b, section of fruiting rachis; c, pedicel and calyx: d, fruiting inflorescence: ;
e, seed. (Solitary petals, stamens, and pistils too disfigured by insects to be drawn.) Drawn by Priscilla Fawcett.
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CORRELL, ATELEIA
blades odd-pinnate, oblong-elliptic, to about 20 cm. long; rachis slender, terete,
with short, appressed, porrect hairs. Leaflets 5 to 11, thin-herbaceous, alternate
or subopposite; petiolules slender, 3-4 mm. long, about 0.5 mm. thick,
puberulent; blades typically orbicular-ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, to about
6 cm. long and 2.5 cm. wide, mostly much smaller, usually obliquely rounded
at base and obtuse to acute at apex, entire, bright green, with prominent
central vein and faint, minute reticulations. Flowers cream, in rather dense
axillary racemes to about 10 cm. long; floral bracts triangular-subulate, acute,
incurved, mostly less than 1 mm. long; pedicels slender, to about 3 mm.
long. Calyx cup shaped, about 2 mm. high, with an even, truncate apex.
Petal 1; claw about 3 mm. long; blade about 3 mm. long, cucullate, about
4 mm. wide when spread out. Stamens 10, free; filaments 3 mm. long; anthers
ovate to elliptic, about 1.3 mm. long. Fruit with slender, glabrous stipe 6-8
mm. long that is expanded into the I-seeded, obliquely semiorbicular to
semicordate legume; legume glabrous, flattened, reticulate veined, about 2
cm. long and 1.3 cm. wide, narrow wing along upper suture about 1.5 mm.
wide and extending to within 2-3 mm. of apex. Seed reniform-elliptic, turgid,
4-5 mm. long, dark reddish brown.
The small, thin-herbaceous leaflets with slender, elongate petiolules and
typically ovate to ovate-elliptic, weakly reticulate-veined, basally broadly
rounded blades are most characteristic. Those species of A teleia most closely
allied to A. popenoei, especially A. apetala of Cuba, have rather large,
subcoriaceous to thick-membranaceous leaflets with thick, shortened petio-
lules, and typically elliptic-lanceolate, strongly reticulate-veined blades that
are cuneate or very narrowly rounded at base.
It is a pleasure to name this species for Dr. John Popenoe, Director of
the Fairchild Tropical Garden, whose broad knowledge of the flora of the
Bahama Islands enabled him to recognize the uniqueness of this plant.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to the National Science Foundation for a grant (No.
DEB-7402135) in support of my work on the flora of the Bahamas, Turks
and Caicos Islands. The excellent drawing is that of Priscilla Fawcett, Staff
Artist of the Fairchild Tropical Garden, to whom I am most grateful. I
also wish to thank my wife and colleague, Dr. Helen B. Correll, for her
contributions to my research.
FAIRCHILD TROPICAL GARDEN
MIAMI, FLORIDA 33156
1981]