Monographs Details:
Authority:
1941. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 28: 451.
1941. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 28: 451.
Family:
Ericaceae
Ericaceae
Description:
Species Description - Epiphytic, much-branched shrub or woody vine with branches to ca. 2.5 m long; branchlets thick, subterete, angled when young, somewhat cinerous. Leaves coriaceous, glabrous, elliptic-oblong (4-)6-10(-16.5) x (2-)3-6(-10) cm, basally acute, cuneate or rounded, apically cuspidate, the obtuse acumen to ca. 4 mm long, entire, the margin often conspicuously recurved; 5-plinerved, the interior veins often originating 1-2 cm above the base, with the midvein impressed above and prominently elevated beneath; petioles rugose, glabrous, thickened, 6-10 mm long. Inflorescences borne on leafless branches, shortly racemose, 2-6-flowered; rachis slender, glabrous, 6-10 mm long; pedicels "coral pink," slender, distally slightly swollen, whitish puberulent, (6-)9-12 mm long; floral bract oblong, ca. 1.5 mm long, usually submedial but occasionally medial or supramedial, the bracteoles 2, inconspicuous, narrowly triangular, appressed, 1.5-2 mm long. Flowers with the calyx "coral pink," externally densely spreading puberulent with whitish, persistent trichomes ca. 0.2 mm long; hypanthium 1-2 mm long and 1-2(-3) mm in diam.; limb spreading erect, ca. 2 mm long, slighlty fleshy; lobes 5, deltoid, acute, ca. 1 x 2.5 mm; corolla "coral pink' but distally pure white, densely spreading puberulous throughout, fleshy cylindric, 10-13(-16) mm long and 2-3 mm in diam. basally and at the throat, the lobes 5, acute, ca. 0.7 x 1.3 mm; stamens 10, alternately ca. 4 mm long and 4.5 mm long; filaments glabrous, united in a pale, membranaceous tube 2.5-4 mm long; anthers alternately 2-3 mm long and 2.3-3.8 mm long; tubules opening by broad clefts ca. 0.6 mm long; stigma minute, subpeltate; style slender, 1-2 mm longer than the corolla or equalling it. Berry (4-)5-7(-8) mm in diam. and 3-4 mm high, capped by the inflexed, acutely deltoid calyx lobes and with a markedly swollen basal enlargement 3-5 mm in diameter just beneath the articulation.
Distribution and Ecology - Endemic to Panama, where it is found in premontane cloud forests.
Species Description - Epiphytic, much-branched shrub or woody vine with branches to ca. 2.5 m long; branchlets thick, subterete, angled when young, somewhat cinerous. Leaves coriaceous, glabrous, elliptic-oblong (4-)6-10(-16.5) x (2-)3-6(-10) cm, basally acute, cuneate or rounded, apically cuspidate, the obtuse acumen to ca. 4 mm long, entire, the margin often conspicuously recurved; 5-plinerved, the interior veins often originating 1-2 cm above the base, with the midvein impressed above and prominently elevated beneath; petioles rugose, glabrous, thickened, 6-10 mm long. Inflorescences borne on leafless branches, shortly racemose, 2-6-flowered; rachis slender, glabrous, 6-10 mm long; pedicels "coral pink," slender, distally slightly swollen, whitish puberulent, (6-)9-12 mm long; floral bract oblong, ca. 1.5 mm long, usually submedial but occasionally medial or supramedial, the bracteoles 2, inconspicuous, narrowly triangular, appressed, 1.5-2 mm long. Flowers with the calyx "coral pink," externally densely spreading puberulent with whitish, persistent trichomes ca. 0.2 mm long; hypanthium 1-2 mm long and 1-2(-3) mm in diam.; limb spreading erect, ca. 2 mm long, slighlty fleshy; lobes 5, deltoid, acute, ca. 1 x 2.5 mm; corolla "coral pink' but distally pure white, densely spreading puberulous throughout, fleshy cylindric, 10-13(-16) mm long and 2-3 mm in diam. basally and at the throat, the lobes 5, acute, ca. 0.7 x 1.3 mm; stamens 10, alternately ca. 4 mm long and 4.5 mm long; filaments glabrous, united in a pale, membranaceous tube 2.5-4 mm long; anthers alternately 2-3 mm long and 2.3-3.8 mm long; tubules opening by broad clefts ca. 0.6 mm long; stigma minute, subpeltate; style slender, 1-2 mm longer than the corolla or equalling it. Berry (4-)5-7(-8) mm in diam. and 3-4 mm high, capped by the inflexed, acutely deltoid calyx lobes and with a markedly swollen basal enlargement 3-5 mm in diameter just beneath the articulation.
Distribution and Ecology - Endemic to Panama, where it is found in premontane cloud forests.