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

Family:

Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Nov. Gen. Sp. (Kunth) 3: 269, pl. 254. 1818

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Common Names:

sagalita, gualicón

Description:

Description: Terrestrial or epiphytic shrub, sometimes lianoid, with branches to 5 m long, sometimes said to be small tree; stem terete, striate, glabrous; twigs subterete, complanate, striate, glabrous to puberulent, glabrate. Leaves coriaceous, ovate, elliptic-ovate, lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, (5-)8-22(-30) x (1-)2.5-6(-7.5) cm, base rounded to cuneate, apex acuminate, glabrous; (3-)5-7-plinerved with inner pair of lateral nerves arising 1-2 cm above base, midrib thickened and raised in the proximal 1-2 cm, then thin and impressed distally above and raised beneath, lateral nerves impressed above and raised beneath, reticulate veinlets plane to impressed above and slightly raised beneath; petiole subterete, somewhat winged, rugose, stout, (3-)5-10 mm long, glabrous. Inflorescence axillary, racemose, (7-)15-30(-40)-flowered, often appearing ramiflorous, sometimes loosely pin-cushion type with 3-5 inflorescences from the same axil borne on older branches after leaves have fallen; rachis subterete, angled, striate, (1-)2-9(-14) cm long, glabrous to puberulent, sometimes conspicuously glandular-fimbriate; floral bract ovate, obtuse to acuminate, concave, (1-)3-4(-6) mm long, ciliolate; pedicel subterete, ribbed, 5-19 mm long, glabrous to puberulent, sometimes moderately glandular-fimbriate; bracteoles nearly basal, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 1-1.5 mm long, ciliolate. Flowers with calyx continuous with pedicel, the calyx 4 mm long; hypanthium campanulate, terete to narrowly 5-angled, 2-3 mm long, glabrous but sometimes moderately glandular-fimbriate; limb campanulate, ca. 1-1.5 mm long; lobes triangular, to ovate-triangular, acute to acuminate, ca. 1 mm long; sinuses acute to rounded; corolla tubular, terete to strongly 5-angled, rarely extremely narrowly 5-winged, 9-20 mm long and 3-4 mm diam., red to pink to white, glabrous but often moderately glandular-fimbriate, the lobes ovate-triangular, obtuse, ca. 1-1.5 mm long; stamen 10, equal, 8.5-15 mm long; filaments distinct, 2-4 mm long, glabrous to marginally pilose; anthers 7.5-12 mm long; thecae 2.5-4 mm long, the base long-mucronate; tubules 5-8 mm long, dehiscing by clefts; style about as long as corolla, glabrous. Berry spherical, blue-black, 8-10 mm diam.

Distribution: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; lower montane moist forest, montane moist and rainforest, elfin forest, subpáramo to páramo, at 1600-3600 m altitude.

Type: Colombia. Cundinamarca: Near Santa Fe de Bogotá, 3000 m, Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (or by Mutis ?) (holotype, B?). The holotype, deposited in the Humboldt Herbarium at B according to A. C. Smith (1932: 413), was destroyed, but is represented in photo by F neg. 4627 and ACS neg. 132. There is a sheet at US designated "type collection" by A. C.Smith in 1932; this sheet is a Mutis collection, which has been given the number 2036, and could be a possible lectotype.

Illustration: Luteyn (1996), plate 6

Local names: Ecuador: gualicón, sagalita.

Uses: Fruits edible. Visited by male hummingbird Eriocnemis nigrivestis (Bleiweiss 1139).

Cultivated: HBA.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Thibaudia floribunda Kunth: [Article] 1818. Nov. Gen. Sp. (Kunth). 3: 269, pl. 254.