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Family:

Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 60: 104. 1933

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Type Specimens:

Specimen 1: Holotype -- E. P. Killip

Description:

Description: Semiprostrate to erect shrub, 0.3-2 m tall; mature stem subterete, striate, slightly ribbed, glabrous; bark cracking longitudinally, dark grayish-red; twigs subterete, striate, ribbed, shortly white puberulent, also hirsute with thin, straight, ferruginous, gland-tipped hairs to 1 mm long; buds terete, ovoid, to ca. 3 mm long, scales numerous, ovate, acute to rounded, striate, puberulent and ciliolate, reddish-brown. Leaves coriaceous, erect and somewhat clasping the stem, ovate, (1.7-)2.6-4.5 x (1.2-)2-3.5(-4) cm, base rounded, strongly cordate, apex short-acuminate with a blunt, glandular mucro, minutely serrate and also sometimes irregularly crenate, with each tooth terminating in a deciduous, basally swollen, gland-tipped hair ca. 0.5 mm long, lamina short-hirsute above with gland-tipped hairs 0.2-0.4 mm long, densely tomentose to somewhat floccose-tomentose beneath with soft, crisped, ferruginous, eglandular hairs to 2 mm long, sometimes glabrate; midrib, lateral nerves (3-4 per side), and reticulate veinlets all conspicuous and impressed above and slightly raised beneath; petiole subterete, slightly flattened above, rugose, papillate, 2-4 mm long, tomentose as the leaves. Inflorescence axillary, racemose, 8-16-flowered, surrounded at the base by numerous, striate, ovate to ovate-elliptic, acute to rounded, scarious and densely ciliolate, dorsally sparsely white pilose bracts to ca. 8 mm long; rachis subterete, relatively thin, 1.5-5.5 cm long, densely white puberulent, also densely hirsute with thin, straight to somewhat crisped, ferruginous, gland-tipped hairs to ca. 1 mm long; pedicels subterete, 7-14 mm long, puberulent and glandular pubescent as rachis; bracteoles spreading, located near base to just below middle of pedicel, subopposite (to 2 mm apart), striate, narrowly elliptic-ovate, 3.5-6 x 1-1.3 mm, acuminate, dorsally and marginally glandular pubescent; floral bract spreading to reflexed, striate, cochleariform, ovate-elliptic to oblanceolate, (6-)8-11 x 4-7 mm, acute to acuminate, ciliolate and marginally glandular pubescent, lamina dorsally glabrate to moderately appressed pubescent with ferruginous, minutely gland-tipped hairs. Calyx 6-8 mm long, white puberulent basally, also densely pubescent with thin, straight to somewhat crisped, ferruginous, gland-tipped hairs as rachis, lobes narrowly triangular to triangular-ovate, 4-6 x 2-3 mm, long-acuminate, ciliolate but not puberulent on lamina, landular-pubescent as calyx proper, glabrous within distally; corolla urceolate to urceolate-cylindric, terete to slightly angled, (6-)8-9 x 5-7 mm, sparsely pilose in basal half, also densely hirsute to somewhat strigose with thin, straight, ferruginous, minutely gland-tipped hairs to 1 mm long, glabrous to sparsely pilose within, whitish to pale or dark pink to deep rose when fresh, lobes ovate, 1-1.5 mm long, obtuse; stamens 5-6 mm long; filaments 3.5-4.5 mm long, pilose; anthers 2.7-3.5 mm long, awns short but conspicuous; ovary densely short-pilose; style ca. 5 mm long. Fruiting calyx not mature, but at least 6 mm diam, seemingly blue-black.

Distribution: Endemic to Colombia and know only from the departments of Santander and Norte de Santander, in open páramo at (2500-)2800-3900(-4100) m. Flowering seemingly throughout the year; fruiting specimens have only been collected in Jan, May, and Aug.

Type: Colombia. Santander: Near Vetas, 3100-3250 m, 16-20 Jan 1927 (fl), Killip & Smith 17303 (holotype, NY; isotypes, A, GH, photo NY neg. 11912, K, US).

Conservation status: Rare and endangered.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Gaultheria santanderensis 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.