Axinaea scutigera subsp. ecuadorensis Wurdack

  • Authority

    Wurdack, John J. 1967. Plants collected in Ecuador by W. H. Camp. Melastomataceae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 16: 1-45.

  • Family

    Melastomataceae

  • Scientific Name

    Axinaea scutigera subsp. ecuadorensis Wurdack

  • Description

    Latin Diagnosis - Folia 5-nervata margine inconspicue denticulato.

  • Discussion

    Type Collection: H. Jorgensen & F. Prieto JP-50A (holotype US 2404649; isotype NY), collected at Hacienda Anganuma, at the headwaters of the Rio Cashiyacu, west slopes of the Cordillera Condor, about 46 km south of Loja, Prov. Loja, Ecuador, elev. 2900 m, 13-16 Jul. 1944. “Shrub 2 m. Flowers rosy purple.’’ The typical subspecies, apparently never recollected in Antioquia, Colombia, has the second pair of leaf primary veins 3-4 mm from the margin and a very faintly developed third pair of primaries; the marginal teeth are raised 1-1.5 mm. In subsp. ecuadorensis, the second pair of primaries are 1.5-2 mm from the margins and the marginal appressed teeth are raised at most 0.2 mm (the margin appearing essentially entire). In other species-diagnostic features (scutum, cordulate-based leaf blades, hypanthia) , the Ecuadorian collection quite conforms to a fragment of Triana’s type collection (US)