Salvia claseana Fragoso & Salazar 2024, sp. nov.

Salvia claseana Fragoso & Salazar sp. nov. Fig. 1 Diagnosis. Similar to Salvia calaminthifolia, but with the stems strigose (vs. cinereous); the leaves rhombic to trullate with the base cuneate, decurrent, the margin crenate-serrate (vs. deltoid-ovate, base truncate, margin subentire); the flowers bigger, with the calyx 5.5–8 mm long and the corolla tube 7.7–9 mm long (vs. 5–5.5 mm long and 5–6 mm long, respectively), and the lower lip reclinate (vs. reflexed). Type. Dominican Republic. Azua, Las Charcas • Paraje Boquerón, cañada subiendo por el puente Juana Guayacán, a 4 km de la desviación de la carretera Sánchez (Bani-Azua); 18°21'0.9138"N, 70°31'51.8118"W; 307 m; 28 Nov 2016; I. Fragoso-Martínez, G. A. Salazar & T. Clase 529 (holotype: JBSD 129667; isotypes: MEXU 1512146, XAL 0154233). Description. Suffruticose herbs, ca. 0.5 m tall; stems strigose with antrorsely appressed trichomes, internodes 1.5–4 cm long. Leaves rhombic to trullate, 1.3–3.6 × 1–3 cm, base cuneate, decurrent, apex acute, margin crenate-serrate, ciliate; upper leaf surface bullate, glabrescent; lower leaf surface pale, densely pubescent, simple trichomes minute, white, with amber spherical glands; petioles 0.5–1.2 cm long. Flowers axillary, 4 (– 8) per node; pedicels 2.5–6 mm long, trichomes simple, adpressed. Calyx green, tubular-campanulate, 5.5–8 mm long, strigose, with simple and glandular trichomes; tube 4.7–6.5 × 3 mm; lobes deltate, apex apiculate, upper lobe 1.3–1.8 mm long, straight, 3 - veined, margin ciliate, lower lobes 1.3–2.5 mm long, straight. Corolla violet with white nectar guides in the lower lobe, ca. 1 cm long, tube 7.7–9 × 2.6–3 mm, ventricose, invaginate, internally epapillate; lobes unequal in length, upper lobe galeate, 3.8–6 mm long, densely pubescent, lower lobe 5–8 × 7.8–8.4 mm, tetralobate, reclinate. Stamens included in the upper corolla lobe, fused close to the corolla opening; filaments 1.5–2 mm long; connective 7–8 mm long, sparsely pilose, with a bilobed tooth close to the insertion with the filament, straight; upper arm of the connective shorter than the lower arm, 3–3.5 mm long, thecae 1–1.5 mm long; lower arm 4.5–5 mm long. Style 9–11 mm long, densely pubescent near the branches, upper branch longer than the lower one, lower branch spathulate. Nectary disc surface with spherical glands near the base of the mericarps, nectary horn ca. 2 mm long, oblong, laterally compressed. Mericarps ovoid, 1.6–2 × 0.7–0.9 mm, smooth. Phenology. Flowers were documented from November to May. Fruits have been observed after this period. Etymology. The epithet “ claseana ” honors the Dominican botanist Teodoro Clase, head of the Botany Department of the Jardín Botánico Nacional “ Dr. Rafael M. Moscoso ”. His botanical expeditions have resulted in ca. 12,000 collected specimens and he has described ca. 12 new species of angiosperms from Hispaniola. These contributions are undoubtedly crucial to the knowledge of the flora of Dominican Republic. Distribution, habitat and conservation status. Endemic to the dry forests with limestone soils from the Sierra Martín García in Azua, Dominican Republic (Fig. 3). Salvia claseana is represented by three collections, each from a different population. In the GeoCat (Bachman et al. 2011) analysis, the species’ extent of occurrence (EEO) is 22.86 km 2 with an area of occupancy (AOO) of 12 km 2. Considering these results, combined with the high level of endemism of the region, and taking into account the IUCN criteria (IUCN, 2022), we suggest that S. claseana is placed in the category of Critically Endangered (CR). Comments. Phylogenetically, this species is closely related to Salvia praeterita (Fig. 4); however, the latter has the flowers arranged into racemes, while the new species produces flowers in the leaf axils. Morphologically, Salvia claseana resembles Salvia calaminthifolia the most but differs from it by a number of characters (Table 2), from which the most conspicuous are: the pubescence, which is strigose in the former and cinereus in the latter, the shape and base of the leaves (rhombic to trullate, cuneate vs. deloid-ovate, truncate) and the size of its flowers (bigger in the new species, Table 2). Additionally, Salvia calaminthifolia is not closely related to the new species (Fig. 4) and it seems to be only distributed in Haiti (Liogier, 1994), despite the locality cited in the type specimen (Santo Domingo). No distribution data or collections from Dominican Republic were found representing this species either in the JBSD herbarium or global databases such as GBIF. org (GBIF Secretariat 2023). Additional specimens examined. Dominican Republic. Azua, Barreras • Sierra Martín García, en los alrededores de Barreras; 170 m; 11 Sep 1984; M. Mejía et al. 1180 (JBSD). Las Charcas • Parque Nacional Francisco Alberto Caamaño, paraje Boquerón; 18°21'38.4366"N, 70°31'51.24"W; 298 m; 9 May 2014; T. Clase & R. Ovidio S. 8645 (JBSD, MEXU).