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A Remarkable New Species of Pachira (Malvaceae: Bombacoideae) from an Amazonian Hotspot of Endemism

Abstract:

Pachira condorensis is a new species collected in the white sand forests of the lowlands of the Cordillera del Cóndor in the Ecuadorian Amazon, a region with high levels of endemism. The new species is described and illustrated, and its affinities and differences from other morphologically close five-foliolate species of Pachira are discussed. It differs from these by having leaves with very short petioles, leaflets with yellow margins, adaxial surface of the leaflets being strongly glaucous and covered with scattered lepidote indument, and a globose-ovoid fruit with the apex strongly cuspidate. A key is also included to show the diagnostic characters that separate the new taxon from its mentioned relatives.