Passiflora purii (Passifloraceae), a new species in honor of the originating peoples of Serra da Mantiqueira, Southeastern Brazil

During fieldwork in Serra Negra da Mantiqueira, Minas Gerais state, southeastern Brazil, a new taxon of Passiflora , subgenus Astrophea , was collected in cloud forest areas. Passiflora purii , the new species, is characterized by the conical trochlea and the totally vinaceous corona, and was named in honor of the Puri ethnic group that inhabited the mountain range where its population was located. Detailed data on the distribution, habitat, reproductive phenology, and conservation status of the new species, as well as a key to closely related taxa of subgenus Astrophea are provided


Introduction
Passiflora is the largest and most representative genus of the Passifloraceae family.It contains about 500 species occurring mainly in the Americas (Bernacci et al. 2022), with only 20 distributed in India, China, southeast Asia, Australia, and Oceania islands (Bernacci 2003).The majority of Passiflora are herbaceous or woody climbers, but there are also shrubs and trees among this genus (Ulmer & McDougal 2004).In addition to the ornamental potential of its exuberant flowers, the genus stands out for its medicinal and economic importance, with several species presenting phytotherapic properties or producing fruit for consumption in natura (Moraes et al. 2020).
Passiflora is recognized by possessing six subgenera, distributed mainly in the Americas (Feuillet & MacDougal 2003;Kronisck et al. 2013;Buitrago et al. 2018).Passiflora subgenus Astrophea (DC.) Mast.contains about 60 species with a Neotropical distribution.However, recent studies have shown an increase in this group, especially in Brazilian territory (Mezzonato-Pires et al. 2020).Most species of the subgenus Astrophea occur in unexplored areas of the Amazonian domain, which makes specimen collection very difficult.
The Atlantic domain comprises only four species from this group: P. elliptica Gardner, P. haematostigma Mart.ex Mast., P. pentagona Mast., and P. rhamnifolia Mast.All of these are characterized by two glands located laterally at the petiole apex, white-greenish flowers, and a beige or yellow-greenish corona with vinaceous spots.
Serra da Mantiqueira (SM) is a Brazilian mountain range that extends through the Atlantic domain between the limits of Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo states.SM is an area of special biological importance with priority for conservation, and it presents a great species richness of the flora and fauna, many of which are rare, endemic, and threatened (Drummond et al. 2005;Furtado & Menini Neto 2018;Gonzaga et al. 2018;Santiago et al. 2018;Pereira et al. 2020).According to Moraes et al. (2020), recent descriptions of new Passifloraceae taxa for SM reinforce the importance of this area for Passiflora studies.
After a thorough analysis of specimens collected in the Serra Negra region, which is part of the SM complex, we proposed a new species for Passiflora subgenus Astrophea.In this paper, we provide a full description, illustration, and conservation assessment, as well as comments on the etymology and morphological relationship of the new species with similar taxa.

Study area
The Serra Negra da Mantiqueira region is in the Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais state, southeastern Brazil, and it integrates the central portion of the SM (Fig. 1A).The local climate is Cwb (Köppen), characterized by dry and cold winters and wet and mild summers.The annual averages of temperature and precipitation are 20.6ºC and 1376 mm, respectively (Oliveira-Filho et al. 2013).
The new species was found in the rural area of the municipality of Rio Preto (21º58'456" S, 43º41'424" W) at 1179 m a.s.l. and a few meters from the limits of the newly established Serra Negra da Mantiqueira State Park.This Conservation Unit and its surroundings are inserted into a vegetation mosaic of the Atlantic Forest, where cloud forests, dwarf cloud forests, cloud shrubs, and cloud shrubby savannahs are the predominant phytophysiognomies in most preserved areas (Oliveira-Filho et al. 2013).In the areas impacted by anthropic actions, grasslands intended to raise dairy cattle are the predominant vegetation.

Taxonomic treatment
Habitat and distribution -To the best of our knowledge, P. purii has been registered in only one location in the southern part of the Serra Negra da Mantiqueira, at an elevation of 1179 m a.s.l., in a dwarf cloud forest remnant surrounded by pasture and unprotected by the Conservation Unit (Fig. 1B).The individuals grow in typical soils of the region (sandy quartzite soils), characterized by the exposure of colluvial material resulting from the process of quartzite erosion (Oliveira & Marques 2014).
Phenology -Passiflora purii can be seen collected with flowers in January and February and observed with fruits in August.
Etymology -The new taxon described here received this specific epithet in honor of the Puri ethnicity, which, before the arrival of the Portuguese, inhabited the regions of SM located in the basins of the Paraíba do Sul River and the upper Rio Doce (Nimuendaju 2002).Contact with the colonizers, especially in the 18 th and 19 th centuries, was catastrophic for the individuals of this ethnic group, who, in addition to being killed, enslaved, and kidnapped (especially women), do not own, to this day, their lands recognized by the National Indian Foundation (Ramos 2017).
The colonization process also severely impacted Brazilian ecosystems and caused large-scale suppression and fragmentation of highly diverse biomes, such as the Atlantic Forest.However, the adaptations to the colonizers' way of life were not enough to transfigure several characteristics inherited from their ancestors, and the Puri resisted due to the efforts of their descendants, who sought to rescue the history of their people.Likewise, the anthropic impacts observed in the location where P. purii was found were not sufficient to prevent the survival of this species.Precisely where the Puri lived a few centuries ago, they are honored not only with the epithet of a new species but also, indirectly, with the creation of a State Park and other Conservation Units in the Serra Negra da Mantiqueira destined for the preservation of the home of our native peoples, the forest.
IUCN conservation assessment -We estimate that the population of P. purii has less than 50 mature individuals.The individuals inhabit an isolated fragment of a dwarf cloud forest surrounded by pasture (Figs.1B, 4), established alongside a tenuous watercourse.The place of occurrence of P. purii is private property unprotected by Conservation Units.
In recent years, the flora of Serra Negra da Mantiqueira has been intensively studied (Abreu et al. 2011;Mezzonato-Pires et al. 2013;Monteiro 2013;Salimena et al. 2013;Gonzaga et al. 2014;Cabral et al. 2016;Justino et al. 2016;Miloski et al. 2017;Mota et al. 2017;Cardoso et al. 2018).Nevertheless, at present, we are not aware of any other locality in the region where this new species may occur.Even recent studies of Passiflora in other locations of the SM (Moraes et al. 2020) and a recent taxonomic review performed in Passiflora subg.Astrophea (Mezzonato-Pires et al. 2020) did not record any specimens that could be the new taxon described herein.Therefore, we suggest its inclusion in the Critically Endangered (CR) category of threat under criterion D, which considers very small or restricted populations with less than 50 mature individuals (IUCN 2022).
With the description of P. purii, Minas Gerais contains 53 species of Passiflora, the largest and most important genus of Passifloraceae.Under Passiflora subg.Astrophea, Minas Gerais is now represented by four species.The three already known species are P. chlorina L.K. Escobar, P. haematostigma, and P. rhamnifolia.Passiflora chlorina is the most different and can be easily distinguished from P. purii by the crypts and puberulous indumentum on the abaxial veins of the leaf blade, dolabriform filaments of the first series with apex attenuate not gradually attenuate, and absent trochlea.Passiflora chlorina is the only species that occurs in the Cerrado, the other species (P.elliptica, P. haematostigma, P. pentagona and P. rhamnifolia) occur in Atlantic Forest.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Location of the study area.A. Distribution of P. purii in the Serra Negra da Mantiqueira, southeastern Brazil (red dot).B. Location of the P. purii population (red circle).Source of image B: Google Earth.Map data ©2022 Google.Images courtesy of ©2022 CNES Airbus via Google Earth.

Figure 2 .Figure 3 .
Figure 2. Illustrations of Passiflora purii sp.nov. A. flowering branch.B. leaf adaxial.C. detail glands on petiole.D and E. bracts, showing variation in the shape.F. longitudinal section of flower.G. operculum insertion.H. operculum apex detail.

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Habitat of Passiflora purii.A. General view from the top.B. General view of from under.C. View P. purii climbing.D. Detail of one climbing branch of P. purii.