Guettarda divaricata (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Roem. & Schult.) Standl.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Rubiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Guettarda divaricata (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Roem. & Schult.) Standl.

  • Discussion

    Dicrobotryum divaricatum H. & B. ex R. & S., Syst. Veg. 5: 221. 1819.

    Guettarda xylosteoides H.B.K., Nov. Gen. & Sp. 3: 420. 1820.

    Guettarda odorata of auth., not (Jacq.) Lam.

    Guettarda elliptica apud Standl., Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 7: 404. 1931, not G. elliptica Sw.

    Guettarda parviflora apud Standl., Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 7: 404. 1931, not G. parviflora Vahl.

    Guettarda rusbyi apud Standl., Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 7: 405. 1931, not G. rusbyi Standl.

    Type. Prope Angostura (Ciudad Bolívar), Bolívar, Venezuela, Humboldt & Bonpland.

    Recent collections from the general vicinity of the type locality of Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar), Venezuela, agree with the original descriptions of Guettarda xylosteoides H.B.K. and Dicrobotyrum divaricatum H. & B., and, as in the rest of the Venezuelan material examined belonging to this taxon, have an elongated corolla 14-22 mm long, mainly pilose, villous, or hirsutulous peduncles, petioles, lower midrib and lateral nerves of the leaves, and usually densely ciliolate margins of the leaf blades. The flowers are both tetramerous and pentamerous, rarely sexamerous, as shown in plate 292 of Guettarda xylosteoides H.B.K.

    In his Rubiaceae of Venezuela (Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 7: 403-404. 1931), Standley cited material from Venezuela assigned to G. divaricata, G. elliptica, and G. parviflora. Examination of these specimens shows that all pertain to one taxon, namely, G. divaricata. Guettarda elliptica Sw. is limited to the Greater Antilles, Florida, and Mexico, while G. parviflora Vahl = G. odorata (Jacq.) Lam. is shown in the present treatment to be distributed mainly in the Lesser Antilles, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, with an extension south to Trinidad, Tobago, and Isla Margarita of Venezuela.

    In his Rubiaceae of Colombia (Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 7: 65. 1930), Standley treated G. odorata (Jacq.) Lam. as a taxon having the leaves appressed-pilose beneath along the veins and with a corolla tube 10-15 mm long, and assigns to this species material collected from Cartagena and vicinity (Bro. Heriberto 345 and Jacquin’s type material described in part from Cartagena). The specimen of Bro. Heriberto 345 and other material I have examined from the vicinity of Cartagena, Colombia, agrees in all respects with G. divaricata (H. & B.) Standl., showing the more elongated corollas, more pubescent leaf blades with ciliolate margins, and more pubescent peduncles characteristic of G. divaricata. As indicated above under G. odorata, I have selected the Cuban plant mentioned in Jacquin’s original description as the lectotype of G. odorata (G. parviflora Vahl, G. parvifolia Sw.), and refer his Cartagena collection to G. divaricata, the latter taxon corresponding to all the material obtained from Cartagena and adjacent Atlantic Colombia.

    Standley (Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 7: 405. 1931) assigns G. rusbyi Standi, to Venezuela, based on specimens from Cumana (Funck 644) and La Guaira (Karsten). Examination of the Funck 644 specimen at NY (the label states “Columbia, 1862”) shows that it must be referred to G. divaricata. Standley probably misidentified the specimen because it shows larger leaf blades than most of the G. divaricata from Venezuela, but the proportions of the leaves in Funck 644 are matched by such other Venezuelan specimens as Aristeguieta 5885 with leaf blades 6-8 × 2.5-3.8 cm, by Cardona 685 with blades up to 9 cm long, and by Pittier 14052 with blades up to 8 × 3 cm. The Karsten specimen from La Guaira comes from an area in which G. divaricata has been collected, and is also placed with that taxon. True G. rusbyi Standi, from Colombia (type locality, Natagaima, Huila) differs at once from G. divaricata in having an elliptic-oblong or oblong fruit much longer than broad, instead of as broad as or broader than long. Also, the peduncles in G. rusbyi are much longer (3.2-8.5 cm instead of 1.5-4.5 cm), and the leaf blades are generally much larger (3.7-12.5 × 1.8-5.5 cm) with more acutely to acuminately longer apices. The ovary and fruit varies from 4- to 6-celled, and the corollas from tetramerous to pentamerous to sexamerous. From the other related taxa, namely, G. odorata and G. elliptica, the longer than broad fruit is immediately characteristic of G. rusbyi.

  • Distribution

    Distribution: Venezuela, Colombia, British Guiana, Trinidad, and Tobago.

    Venezuela South America| Colombia South America| Guyana South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America|