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Wigandia ecuadorensis (Hydrophyllaceae), a new species of the very dry tropical forest west of Ecuador

Abstract:

Wigandia ecuadorensis Cornejo is a new shrubby to treelet species restricted to the fragmented and disturbed tropical dry forests in the province of Manabí, on the coast of Ecuador. It is somewhat similar to W. urens (Ruiz & Pavón) Kunth s.l. but differs by having larger ovaries (5-8 mm vs. 3-4 mm), longer styles (16-28 mm vs. (4-)6-12(-15) mm), filaments completely glabrous versus pubescent with patent to retrorse hispid trichomes, and larger corollas (2-3.5 cm) with divergent lobes versus smaller ones (1.2-1.5(-2) cm) with patent to more or less reflexed lobes. This new species is a subwoody colonizer in sunny, open places, having a high tolerance to low moisture levels; it may be used to recover the native vegetation and also to protect the loose soils in the very dry tropical forest life zone of coastal Ecuador and northwesternmost Peru.