Gonzalagunia spicata (Lam.) M.Gómez

  • Authority

    Maguire, Bassett. 1972. The botany of the Guayana Highland--part IX. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 23: 1-832.

  • Family

    Rubiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Gonzalagunia spicata (Lam.) M.Gómez

  • Description

    Distribution and Ecology - Distribution. Greater and Lesser Antilles (specimens examined from Porto Rico, Santo Domingo, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Sta. Lucia, St. Vincent, Hispaniola, Dominica, Virgin Islands, Tortola, St. Jan, Martinique, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Antigua, St. Croix, Tobago, and Trinidad), British Guiana, and Venezuela. VENEZUELA. Nueva Esparta: Copei, Margarita, alt 400 m, 28 Aug 1953, Foldats 2811; Margarita Island, San Juan Mountain, 11 Jul 1903, Johnston 100; Margarita Island, El Valle, 24 Jul 1901, Miller & Johnston 217 (paratype of Gonzalea grisea); Tragaplata, Margarita, alt 300 m, 25 Aug 1953, Foldats 2865. Sucre: forest river bank, Aricagua, vicinity of Cristobal Colon, 5 Jan-22 Feb 1923, Broadway 556; vicinity of Cristobal Colon, 5 Jan-22 Feb 1923, Broadway 314; Puerto de Hierro hacia el Valle y Serranías de Patao, 8 Aug 1961, Aristeguieta & Agostini 4741; Cerro Patao, norte de Puerto de Hierro, noreste de Guiria, quebrada pedregosa, alt 100-300 m, 23 Jul 1962, Steyermark & Agostini 91256. BRITISH GUIANA. Maguire & Fanshawe 22878.

  • Discussion

    Lygistum spicatum Lam., Tabl. Encycl. 1: 286. 1791.

    Coccocypselum spicatum H.B.K., Nov. Gen. & Sp. 3: 406. 1820.

    Gonzalea incanescens DC., Prodr. 4: 437. 1830.

    Duggena incanescens (DC.) Williams & Cheesman, FI. Trin. & Tob. 2(1): 15. 1928.

    Gonzalagunia hirsuta K. Schum., Mart. FI. Bras. 6(6): 291. 1889 pro parte, non A. DC.

    Justicia hirsuta Jacq., Stirp. Am. 4. 1760, not Vahl.

    Duggena hirsuta (Jacq.) Britton ex Williams & Cheesman, FI. Trin. & Tob. 2(1): 14. 1928.

    Gonzalea grisea Wernh., Jour. Bot. 51: 219. 1913.

    Duggena grisea (Wernh.) Standi., Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 18: 125. 1916.

    Barleria hirsuta Jacq., Obs. Bot. 7. pl 32 1764.

    Type. West Indies.

    In their Flora of Trinidad and Tobago, Williams and Cheesman (p 14) attempt to separate Duggena hirsuta and D. incanescens, namely: “Leaves hairy beneath, not silky” for D. hirsuta, and “Leaves thickly silky beneath” for D. incanescens. An examination at NY of the Williams 11089 specimen, cited by these authors under D. incanescens, shows the lower leaf surface somewhat more floccose-pannose than in most other specimens, but this type of pubescence is found to some degree on the lower surface of younger leaves of such specimens from Tobago as Sandwith 1623, Eggers 5478, and Purseglove 6218 in varying degrees of density. However, transitional stages occur from the lesser density of this pannose type to the more conspicuously pannose pubescence found in the specimen of Williams 11089, upon which D. incanescens was based in part. So far as length and sericeous pubescence of corolla and elongated calyx lobes are concerned, these characters are evident in both taxa, and there appears to be no good reason to keep them apart. In general, the amount of pubescence on the lower leaf surface varies in G. spicata from slightly sericeous to floccose-pannose (as described in D. incanescens).

    None of the Venezuelan specimens cited match the holotype of Gonzalea grisea Wernh., based on Fendler 401 from Trinidad, in all details, but Aristeguieta & Agostini 4741 approach Fendler’s specimen better than the other specimens from Venezuela, except that the lateral nerves on the lower surface are not as prominent as in the Fendler type. Maguire & Fanshaw 22878 from British Guiana also approaches the holotype specimen of Gonzalea grisea. Coccocypselum spicatum H.B.K., collected near “Santa Cruz Cumanensium” in Estado Sucre, Venezuela, is synonymous with the present taxon.

    The fruits of G. spicata vary in color from blue, lavender, to white.

  • Distribution

    Distribution. Greater and Lesser Antilles (specimens examined from Porto Rico, Santo Domingo, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Sta. Lucia, St. Vincent, Hispaniola, Dominica, Virgin Islands, Tortola, St. Jan, Martinique, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Antigua, St. Croix, Tobago, and Trinidad), British Guiana, and Venezuela.

    Venezuela South America| Puerto Rico South America| Dominican Republic South America| Saint Kitts and Nevis South America| Saint Lucia South America| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines South America| West Indies| Dominica South America| Virgin Islands South America| Martinique South America| Montserrat South America| Guadeloupe South America| Grenada South America| Antigua and Barbuda South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| Guyana South America|