Myrceugenia pinifolia (F.Phil.) Kausel

• Authority

  Landrum, Leslie R. 1981. A monograph of the genus Myrceugenia (Myrtaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 29: 1-137. (Published by NYBG Press)

• Family

  Myrtaceae

• Scientific Name

  Myrceugenia pinifolia (F.Phil.) Kausel

• Type

  Type. Presumably Philippi s.n., "Habitat in Araucaria 1. d. Curanilahue, florebat mensi decembri" (apparent holotype, SGO-064202).

• Synonyms

  Eugenia pinifolia F.Phil., Myrceugenia stenophylla var. pinifolia (F.Phil.) Reiche

• Description

  Species Description - Shrub up to ca. 2 m high; hairs reddish-brown to whitish, a mixture of simple and dibrachiate; twigs densely pubescent when young, glabrescent with age, the hairs usually spreading; leaves narrowly elliptic to linear, 1-3 cm long, 0.2-0.8 m wide, 3-12 times as long as wide, glabrous to very sparsely pubescent, the hairs mainly appressed, dibrachiate; apex and base acute or obtuse; petiole channeled, densely pubescent, 0.5-3 mm long, 0.3-0.8 mm thick; midvein slightly impressed proximally to not at all above, moderately prominent to indistinct below; lateral and marginal veins indistinct; blades coriaceous to subcoriaceous, grey-green, often dark above, light grey-green to light yellow-green below, usually strongly discolorous, the surfaces dull; peduncles uniflorous, 5-10 mm long, 0.30.5 mm wide, densely pubescent, solitary in the axils of leaves; bracteoles ovate to lanceolate, (0.5-)0.7-1.8 mm long, 0.3-1 mm wide, 1.3-2.6 times as long as wide, subcoriaceous, glabrous or nearly so within, sparsely pubescent without, clasping the hypanthium; calyx-lobes bluntly ovate to shortly oblong, 1-2.3 mm long, 1-2.5 mm wide, 0.8-1.3 times as long as wide, subcoriaceous, glabrous or nearly so within, sparsely pubescent without, concave; hypanthium obconic, 1.5-2.5 mm long, densely pubescent; disk sparsely pubescent to glabrous, 1.5-2.5 mm across; style glabrous 6-7 mm long; stamens 100-140, 3-8 mm long; anthers 0.3-0.4 mm long when dry; petals glabrous, suborbicular ca. 3 mm in diam.; ovary 2-locular; ovules 6-12 per locule; fruit unknown.

• Discussion

  Myrceugenia pinifolia is closely related to and perhaps derived from ancestral stock similar to M. ovata var. nannophylla. The differences between the two are summarized below.

  M. pinifolia
  Leaves 1-3 cm long, 3-12 times as long as wide
  Hypanthium 1.5-2.5 mm long
  Ovules per locule 6-12
  M. ovata var. nannophylla
  Leaves 0.3-1.6 cm long, 1.2-2.6 times as long as wide
  Hypanthium 1-2 mm long
  Ovules per locule 3-8
  Myrceugenia ovata var. nannophylla, mainly Andean in distribution, is geographically separated from M. pinifolia except perhaps in the Cordillera of Nahuelbuta. Very likely in that region they are separated altitudinally, M. pinifolia growing at elevations below 200 m and M. ovata var. nannophylla at about 500 m.
  The differences between these entities are admittedly small but to unite Myrceugenia pinifolia with M. ovata would increase the intraspecific variation of M. ovata and decrease its distinctness from M. parvifolia, M. hatschbachii, M. smithii and M. leptospermoides. One would have to consider uniting all into one very large, variable species. I believe it preferable to retain M. pinifolia as a separate species in order to minimize confusion.
  Myrceugenia pinifolia is also compared to two other similar species, M. hatschbachii and M. lanceolata, in the discussion of those taxa.
  Myrceugenia pinifolia, a shrub growing along streams and around lakes, flowers in January and February. Fruiting specimens are still unknown. A map of its distribution is shown in Fig. 10.

• Distribution

  Chile South America| Maule Chile South America|