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Family:

Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 60: 106. 1933

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Common Names:

mistela, cacahuito, cacagüito

Description:

Description: Rhizomatous subshrub, often repent, usually 1-2 dm tall; mature stems subterete or bluntly angled, striate, moderately to densely hirsute with basally swollen, ferruginous, straight or crisped, eglandular or gland-tipped hairs to 2 mm long, glabrate, also provided with numerous, deciduous, striate, ovate, apically rounded, dorsally white puberulent, ciliolate and marginally glandular pubescent bracts to 5 mm long, each provided with a vegetative bud in its axil; twigs subterete to complanate, sometimes flexuous, glabrous or white puberulent to short-pilose, also densely hirsute as mature stem, reddish-brown when dry; buds terete, ovoid to ca. 5 mm long, scales numerous, ovate, acute to obtuse, striate, puberulent, ciliolate, marginally glandular pubescent. Leaves coriaceous, often bullate, usually obovate but also frequently elliptic to subrotund, rarely ovate, 2.5-6.5 x 1.8-4 cm, base acute or broadly cuneate to rounded, apex rounded or obtuse to acute, with a blunt, glandular mucro, margin obscurely crenate to crenate-serrate, with each tooth terminating in a deciduous, distally crisped, eglandular or gland-tipped hair to 2 mm long, lamina obscurely short-pilose along nerves above especially the midrib at base, also sometimes weakly hirsute with deciduous, minutely gland-tipped hairs to 1 mm long especially distally, moderately hirsute beneath with persistent or deciduous, distally crisped, eglandular or gland-tipped hairs these leaving punctae after they fall; midrib impressed above and raised beneath, thickened at base, lateral nerves 3-4 per side, impressed above or weakly impressed at base and plane towards apex, raised beneath, reticulate veinlets obscure to raised above, raised and ± conspicuous beneath; petiole subterete, flattened dorsally, narrowly canaliculate, rugose, 2-5 mm long, puberulent and hirsute with eglandular or gland-tipped hairs, glabrate. Inflorescence axillary, racemose (4-)6-12-flowered, surrounded at the base by numerous, striate, elliptic-ovate, obtuse, ciliolate bracts to ca. 5 mm long; rachis complanate, striate, 0.5-5 cm long, usually densely white puberulent, also usually moderately to densely hirsute with ferruginous, straight or crisped, eglandular or minutely gland-tipped hairs to ca. 1 mm long; pedicels terete, striate, 3-7 mm long, puberulent and usually also glandular pubescent as rachis; bracteoles subopposite, spreading, often striate, located along the middle of the pedicel, ovate, 3-4(-5) x 0.7-1.2 mm, acuminate, the lamina glabrous or dorsally short-pilose and sometimes glandular-hirsute, ciliolate; floral bract subcoriaceous, erect to slightly spreading, sometimes cochleariform, striate, elliptic-ovate to oblanceolate, 5-8 x 2.5-3 mm, acute, the lamina glabrous to dorsally short-pilose and sometimes glandular-hirsute. Calyx 4-6 mm long, white puberulent, also sometimes densely glandular-hirsute as rachis, lobes ovate, 3-4(-5) x ca. 2 mm, long-acuminate, smooth or striate, densely ciliolate, glabrous within; corolla urceolate, terete or pentagonal, 6-7 x 3.5-4.5 mm, short-pilose with white hairs without and also usually hirsute with translucent to ferruginous, short, eglandular to minutely gland-tipped hairs, short-pilose within, pink to dark rose or red when fresh, lobes ovate, obtuse, to 1 mm long, whitish; stamens 10, 4.5-5 mm long; filaments 4 mm long, short-pilose especially basally; anthers 2.7 mm long, awns prominent; ovary puberulent; style 3-4 mm long, inserted, glabrous or weakly short-pilose at base. Fruiting calyx 5-8 mm diam., blue-black.

Distribution: Western Venezuela to northeastern Colombia and disjunct to Bolivia and Peru (?), in rocky and humid soils of upper cloud forest to páramo, often creeping amongst mosses in seepage areas at elevations of 2800-3600 m. Flowering throughout the year, but fruits have only been collected from Aug to Feb.

Type: Colombia. Norte de Santander: Páramo de Santurbán, toward Mutiscua, 3600-3900 m, 20 Feb 1927 (fl), Killip & Smith 19626 (holotype, US, photo NY neg. 12069, frag. NY).

Common names: Venezuela: cacahuito, cacagüito, mistela (Mérida).

Uses: Fruit said to be edible (Ruiz Terán & López-Palacios 1574).

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Gaultheria hapalotricha A.C.Sm.: [Article] Luteyn, James L., et al. 1995. Ericaceae, Part II. The Superior-Ovaried Genera (Monotropoideae, Pyroloideae, Rhododendroideae, and Vaccinioideae P.P.). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 66: 560.