Tococa obovata subsp. neblinensis Wurdack
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Authority
Maguire, Bassett & Wurdack, John J. 1964. The botany of the Guayana Highland--Part V. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 10: 1-278.
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Family
Melastomataceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Latin Diagnosis - Folia supra bullis setiferis pustulata subtus foveolata.
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Discussion
Type. Shrub to 1 m, stems and lower leaf surface red-tinged, hypanthium maroon, petals outside 1/2-white and 1/2-pink, inside pink, frequent at Cumbre Camp, Cerro de la Neblina, Terr. Amazonas, Venezuela, alt. 1800 m, 12 Nov 1957, Bassett Maguire, John J. Wurdack, dc Celia K. Maguire 42055 (holotype US 2342602). Paratypes. VENEZUELA, Terr. Amazonas. Cerro de la Neblina: cumbre, Maguire, Wurdack, & Bunting 37038, 37118, 37305, 37330, Maguire, Wurdack, & Maguire 42270.
In the typical subspecies, the upper leaf surface is plane with slender-based hairs, while the lower surface is plane or with minute protuberances at the upper surface hair insertion points; in subsp. neblinensis, each upper surface hair insertion point is marked on the lower leaf surface by a prominent indentation. The mature flowers in the Neblina collections increase somewhat the bud dimensions as described by Gleason; petals are 21 X 9 mm, filaments 8.5 mm long, anthers 6.2 mm long, and style 17 X 1 mm. There seems no reason for the separation of T. montana Gleason from T. obovata, the characters cited in the original description either being minute quantitative ones or not holding for the type specimens. The young stems and lower leaf surface veins of Tate 593 are sparsely setose; the hypanthial setae of Tate 1009 are in part gland-tipped and the sepals are only about 2.5 mm long (rather than 4 mm cited in the original description). Two sprigs of 37330 and two of 42055 show development of spherical formicaria 0.5-1 cm long on a few of the leaves; this must be of infrequent occurrence, judging by the many duplicates of most collection numbers wdthout formicaria.