Columnea rubromarginata (Gesneriaceae), a new species from the western Andean slopes of Colombia and Ecuador

2025/12/29 by John L. Clark, Sofía Ballesteros, Laura Clavijo · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Plant Diversity and Evolution #Plant Taxonomy and Phylogenetics #Plant and Fungal Species Descriptions

paper · pdf · doi:10.3897/phytokeys.268.174855

openalex created_date 2025/12/29 · openalex publication_date 2025/12/29 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02

Abstract

Field expeditions to the western Andean slopes of Colombia and ongoing herbarium research resulted in the discovery of a new species of Columnea (Gesneriaceae). Columnea rubromarginata J.L.Clark & Clavijo, sp. nov. is described from the Chocó Biogeographic Region in the premontane wet forests of Esmeraldas in northern Ecuador and the departments of Chocó and Valle del Cauca in Colombia. The new species is vegetatively remarkable for the presence of a rarely observed broad dark red submarginal band on the abaxial leaf surface. Based on International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines, a preliminary conservation status of Vulnerable (VU) is recommended for C. rubromarginata .

Discussions

• 🌿Through field expeditions and continuous herbarium research, a new goldfish #plant has been discovered in the Chocó #biogeographical region of Ecuador: 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘯𝘦𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘢. [bsky, 3 points, 0 comments]

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