Graffenrieda pedunculata Gleason
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Authority
Maguire, Bassett, et al. 1953. The Botany of the Guayana Highland. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 8 (2): 87-160.
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Family
Melastomataceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Latin Diagnosis - Frutex, caulibus tumidis glabris; folia oblongo-lanceolata vel oblongooblanceolata, obtusa, basi angustata, 1-nervia, supra glabra, subtus argentea; pedunculus elongatus; flores 4-meri sessiles; calyx calyptriformis, circumscissus; petala magna.
Species Description - Low branching shrub with thick stems and short internodes, each branch bearing 2 or 3 pairs of leaves near the summit. Petioles up to 8 mm. long. Blades firm, oblong-lanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate, up to 6.5 cm. long and 1.5 cm. wide, obtuse, entire, gradually tapering to the base, 1-nerved, above glabrous, yellowish-green, and somewhat shining, beneath silvery with a fine close indument. Peduncle slender, erect, 8-15 cm. long, bearing a terminal glomerule of 4-8 sessile 4-merous flowers and sometimes a smaller subterminal 4-flowered glomerule. Hypanthium cup-shaped, 5.4 mm. long, very thinly gray-tomentulose. Calyx in bud conic, blunt, about as long as the hypanthium and with similar indument, circumscissile about 2.6 mm. from the torus. Petals rotund-obovate, 10 mm. long, 11 mm. wide. Stamens isomorphic; filaments 3.6-4.2 mm. long; anthers slightly arcuate, subulate, 6.6-6.9 mm. long; spur conic, 0.2 mm. long. Ovary superior, apparently 2-celled, glabrous except for a few minute delicate hairs at the summit; style 11 mm. long; stigma punctiform.
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Discussion
TYPE: from savannas at the summit of Cerro Sipapo, Bassett Maguire & Louis Politi 28669; New York Botanical Garden. Paratypes: Maguire & Politi numbers 27365, 27522, and 27932.