Justicia oxapampensis R. Villanueva & J. R. I. Wood 2025

43.Justicia oxapampensisR. Villanueva & J. R. I. Wood, sp nov. Type. Peru • Pasco, Prov. Oxapampa, Dist. Palcazú, P. N. Yanachaga-Chemillén, Estación Biológica Paujil, 10°19'26"S, 75°15'50"W, 399 m, 10 Aug. 2014, R. Vásquez 39073 (holotype MO-6720846, isotype USM). Diagnosis. A new species with no obvious affinity to other Peruvian species but superficially resembling Justicia holgueri Wassh. and J. balslevii Wassh. from Ecuador in the lax subterminal spikes with near white corollas, but distinguished from both by the larger corollas, c. 19 mm long (not 11–12 mm) and the distinctive broadly oblong-elliptic, slightly oblique, pilose leaves up to 8 cm wide (not subglabrous, <4 cm wide). Description. Erect herb 50–60 cm high; stems hirsute with patent white, large-celled hairs mixed with shorter curled gland-tipped hairs. Leaves petiolate, lamina 6–16 × 3–8 cm, broadly oblong-elliptic, apex acuminate, base somewhat oblique, broadly to narrowly cuneate and decurrent on the petiole, margin entire to obscurely crenulate, cystoliths prominent, adaxially thinly pilose, abaxially pilose, more densely so on veins, lateral veins 7–8 pairs; petioles 2.5–5 cm, pilose. Inflorescence of lax pedunculate spikes 4–7 cm long, terminal or arising from the upper leaf axils, pilose with gland-tipped hairs; peduncles 1–6 cm, pilose; flowers in opposite pairs, 3–10 mm apart; bracts at base of spike 2–4 cm long, resembling reduced leaves, floral bracts 9–10 × 1.3 mm, narrowly oblong or oblanceolate, glandular-pubescent; bracteoles 4–5 × 0.75 mm; calyx subequally 5 - lobed, lobes 7 × 1 mm, lanceolate, pilose with gland-tipped hairs; corolla c. 1.9 cm long, white with pale blue lower lip, glandular-puberulent, tube 10 mm long, scarcely widened upwards to 2 mm, upper lip 5 mm long, ovate, obtuse, minutely notched, lower lip with pale blue “ herring bone ” patterning, 3 - lobed, central lobe suborbicular, rounded, laterals oblong; anther thecae oblong 1.25 × 0.5 mm, superposed, the connective stout, lower theca with a white appendage; pollen c. 32 × 18 μm, 2 - aperturate, colporate, 1 row of c. 7 indistinct insulae on either side of aperture (Fig. 52 D). Capsule 16 × 4 mm, clavate, pilose with gland-tipped hairs, 4 - seeded; seeds lenticular, 2.5 × 2 mm, brown with pale margin, scabrous. Illustration. Figs 43, 44. Etymology. This species is one of several new taxa described from the Oxapampa region of Pasco in central Peru. Oxapampa is commemorated in this name because it seems to be a hotspot for endemic species of Justicia. Phenology. Flowers mainly in the winter dry season from May to August, with one isolated record from January. Habitat. Forested slopes, 380–1600 m. Distribution. Endemic to the Oxapampa area in Junín, Peru. Fig. 68. Material examined. Peru • Pasco / Junín: Pichis trail, Yapas [10°19'53"S, 74°53'28"W approx.], 1350–1600 m, 28–29 June 1929, E. P. Killip & A. C. Smith 25571 (US). • Pasco: Prov. Oxapampa, along road Chatarra – Cacazu, 10°32'S, 75°04'W, 890 m, 10 July 2003, H. Van der Werff 18236 (HOXA, MO, US); • ibid., Dist. Oxapampa, Comunidad Nativa Alto Lagarto-Convento (Reserva Comunal Yanesha), 10°08'04"S, 75°22'06"W, 500 m, 30 June 2014, R. Rojas & G. Ortiz 9280 (HOXA); • ibid., Dist. Palcazú, Iscozacin, 10°12'S, 75°15'W, 380 m, 11 Jan. 1984, R. Foster et al. 7872 (US, MO, USM); • ibid., Com Nativa Santa Rosa de Chuchurras, 10°08'24"S, 75°13'05"W, 27 Aug. 2007, L. Hernan 0300 (USM); • ibid., P. N. Yanachaga-Chemillén, Est. Biol. Paujil 10°19'26"S, 75°15'50"W, 399 m, 10 Aug. 2014, R. Vásquez 39073 (MO, USM); ibid, Dist. Villa Rica, camino Bella Esperanza – Sares, 10°32'23"S, 75°04'19"W 696 m, 26 July 2010, R. Vásquez et al. 36722 (HOXA, USM). • Huánuco: Prov. Puerto Inca, Dist. Codo de Pozuzo, Pozuzo – Codo road, 9°40'27"S, 75°27'43"W, 395 m, 7 Aug. 2023, R. Villanueva et al. 963 (HOXA); • ibid., 28 Aug. 2019, I. Azevedo & R. Villanueva 156 (HOXA). Note. Once noticed the leaf shape and unusual leaf base combined with the relatively long petioles are very distinctive.