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Studies in Capparaceae XXII. Capparis sclerophylla, a novelty from arid coastal Peru and Ecuador

Abstract:

Capparis sclerophylla (subg. Cynophalla), Capparaceae, a sharply distinct new species of shrub or small tree, differs from other, often dominant, related, but often difficult to distinguish species of subgenus Cynophalla by thick, hard, stiff, xerophyllous leaves, these subsessile on short (1-4 mm), dark-brown to black, rigid and fragile petioles; by large white flowers spirally disposed with reflexed petals usually borne on thick, congested, short, and rigid raceme axes; by long-gynophored, usually slender siliques with white pulp, white seed arils and green embryos; and by its restriction to arid deciduous thornscrub near the Pacific Ocean from northwestern-most Peru to west-central Ecuador. Its closest relative appears to be C. verrucosa of Mexico to Venezuela. A cytotaxonomic survey of subgenus Cynophalla proves it to be a polyploid series, with base number of n = 14, 2n = 28 (x = 14, 28, 56, 84), represented by C. flexuosa and other species; several of these chromosome numbers are reported here for the first time, but the number for C. sclerophllya is as yet unknown.