Taxon Details: Gaultheria strigosa Benth.
Taxon Profile:
The Plant List
International Plant Name Index
Tropicos
Catalogue of Life
Global Biodiversity Information Facility
JSTOR Types
JSTOR
BHL
Encyclopedia of Life
WikiSpecies
Google Scholar
PubMed
Morphbank
IUCN
National Center for Biotechnology Information
Barcode of Life
Multimedia:

Narratives:

Family:

Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)
Scientific Name:

Gaultheria strigosa Benth.
Primary Citation:

Pl. Hartw. 221. 1846
Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.
Type Specimens:

Specimen 1: Isotype -- K. T. Hartweg
Description:

Description: Erect shrub (epiphytic), 0.5-2.5 m tall; mature stems terete, striate, scabrous (from persistent bases of deciduous strigose indumentum) to densely appressed-strigose with basally swollen, rigid, straight, eglandular, tan or golden to ferruginous hairs to 2.5 mm long (glabrate); bark brown to gray, cracking into thin, longitudinal strips; twigs subterete, striate, densely strigose as stems; buds ovate, complanate, scales brown, essentially glabrous. Leaves stiff-coriaceous, surface often strongly bullate, ovate to elliptic, upper surface smooth to pustulate, (1.1-)1.5-5.5(-9) x 0.4-1.6(-4) cm, base rounded to cuneate or ± attenuate, apex acute to acuminate, sometimes sharply and abruptly acuminate, margin remotely to compactly crenate with each tooth terminating in a usually persistent, rigid hair to 2 mm long, margin plane to tightly revolute, glabrous to sparsely strigose above and strigose beneath with a mixture of short to long hairs (0.5-3.5 mm), ± evenly spaced or concentrated along veins; midrib strongly impressed above and conspicuously raised beneath, reticulate veinlets slightly raised or impressed above and raised beneath; petiole terete, flattened above, 2-3(-10) mm long, strigose. Inflorescence racemose, 1-8(-13)-flowered, basally with 4-10 decussate, sterile bracts; rachis subterete, striate, 1-2.5(-4) cm long, densely strigose to villous-strigose with straight to somewhat crisped hairs; pedicels subterete, striate, 4-7 mm long, densely strigose or hirsute as on rachis; bracteoles apparently continuous with pedicels (connate at their bases), located at or just above the base, ovate, keeled, 2-2.5(-5) x 2-3 mm, acute to long-acuminate, sparsely strigose (ciliolate); floral bract apparently continuous with rachis, ovate, keeled, ± striate, 3-4.5(-8) x 1.5-2(-4) mm, long-acuminate, sparsely strigose (ciliolate). Flowers with calyx usually densely appressed- strigose to villous-strigose (lanate) with straight to crisped, golden to ferruginous hairs, surface obscured from view (glabrate to glabrous), 3-4 mm long, lobes ovate, 2-3 mm long, acute to long-acuminate, glabrous within; corolla cylindric-urceolate, bluntly 5-angled, 5-8(-10) x 4-6(-7) mm, strigose especially along angles with usually straight or crisped hairs, red when fresh, lobes oblong, ca. 1 mm long, obtuse; stamens 3.5-4.8(-5.2) mm long; filaments 2.4-4.2 mm long, glabrous or pilose; anthers 1.4-1.6(-2) mm long, awns minute; ovary sparsely to densely short-pilose; style 3-3.4(-4) mm long, glabrous (pilose especially at base). Fruiting calyx globose, 6-12 mm diam., persistently strigose or glabrate, blue-black or white, the fleshy calyx lobes usually spreading away from the capsule.

Distribution: Found from extreme W Venezuela to Ecuador with two collections from central Peru. The species inhabits cloud or montane forest edges, páramo scrub or thickets, and Sphagnum-Ericaceae bogs at elevations of (1800-)2400-3400(-3950) m. Flowering and fruiting occur throughout the year.

Type: Colombia. Cundinamarca: Páramo de San Fortunato nr. Bogotá, Hartweg 1211 (holotype, K, photo NY s.n., frag. NY; isotypes, B, destroyed, photo F neg. 476l, BM, C, CGE, E, frag. F, FI-Webb, G, GH, LD, NY, OXF, P, W).

Key to Varieties of Gaultheria strigosa: 1. Lamina with margins nearly plane or only slightly revolute, greater than 10 mm broad, basally acute to cuneate; calyx densely strigose or rarely glabrous; common in Colombia, rare in W Venezuela and C Peru ........... var. strigosa 1. Lamina with margins tightly revolute or conspicuously inwardly curled, 5-8 mm broad, basally rounded to obtuse or acute; calyx densely strigose; common at high elevations in Ecuador, less common in Colombia ............ var. revoluta

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Gaultheria strigosa Benth.: [Article] Luteyn, James L., et al. 1995. Ericaceae, Part II. The Superior-Ovaried Genera (Monotropoideae, Pyroloideae, Rhododendroideae, and Vaccinioideae P.P.). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 66: 560.