Taxon Details: Lyonia alpina Urb. & Ekman
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Narratives:
Family:
Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)
Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)
Scientific Name:
Lyonia alpina Urb. & Ekman
Lyonia alpina Urb. & Ekman
Primary Citation:
Ark. Bot. 21A: 53. 1927
Ark. Bot. 21A: 53. 1927
Accepted Name:
This name is currently accepted.
This name is currently accepted.
Description:
Description: Evergreen, low, spreading shrub to ca. 0.5 m tall, with gray, longitudinally furrowed bark; twigs slightly angled, slender to stout, moderately lepidote, otherwise glabrous or very sparsely pubescent; buds ovoid, 1-2 x 1-1.8 mm. Leaf blades ovate to broadly elliptic to orbicular, 1.1-3.1 x 0.9-2.6 cm, ± flat, coriaceous, ca. 0.5-0.6 mm thick; base rounded to widely cuneate; apex truncate or rounded to nearly acute; margin plane to sometimes slightly revolute, apical portion obscurely and irregularly toothed, basal portion toothed to entire; venation brochidodromous, 3° veins ± reticulate; adaxial surface lepidote but scales usually quickly deciduous, sparsely pubescent on basal portion of midvein, veins obscure to sometimes faintly visible; abaxial surface moderately to densely lepidote, otherwise densely pubescent, with 2° and higher order veins usually obscure or nearly so (only very rarely raised and forming dense, fine reticulum); scales rust colored, persistent to deciduous, ca. 0.08-0.2 mm in diameter, usually ± erose; petiole 3-5 mm long, lepidote, otherwise adaxially pubescent; flower buds ± intermixed with vegetative buds. Inflorescences fasciculate, ca. 5- to 8-flowered; pedicels clearly articulated with calyx, slender, 2-6 mm long, lepidote, otherwise glabrous or very sparsely pubescent; bracteoles ± opposite, basal, narrowly triangular, 1.5-2 mm long; floral bracts to ca. 2.5 mm long. Flowers 4- or 5-merous; calyx lobes triangular, with acuminate apices, 1.5-2 x 0.7-1.4 mm, adaxial side pubescent, especially near apex, abaxial side lepidote, otherwise glabrous; corolla cylindrical, white, 5-6.5 x 3-4 mm, abaxially sparsely lepidote; filaments roughened, ca. 3.5 mm long, essentially unappendaged; anthers ca. 1.3 mm long; ovary lepidote, otherwise pubescent, placentae ± subapical. Capsules ± globose to short-ovoid, 3-4 x 3-4 mm, slightly lepidote, otherwise sparsely pubescent, especially near base, the pale, very thick sutures separating as unit from adjacent valves; seeds 1.4-2 mm long.
Distribution: Endemic to Haiti (Massif de la Selle), on open, windswept forest of Pinus occidentalis on limestone ridges, at ca. 2500-2650 m elev.
Type: Haiti. Massif de la Selle, Morne de la Selle, in steep limestone side hills nr. the top (above Fonds Verettes), 2550-2650 m, 1 Feb 1925, Ekman H3162 (holotype, S; isotypes, IJ, K, S).
Illustration: Judd (1995), fig. 11.
Description: Evergreen, low, spreading shrub to ca. 0.5 m tall, with gray, longitudinally furrowed bark; twigs slightly angled, slender to stout, moderately lepidote, otherwise glabrous or very sparsely pubescent; buds ovoid, 1-2 x 1-1.8 mm. Leaf blades ovate to broadly elliptic to orbicular, 1.1-3.1 x 0.9-2.6 cm, ± flat, coriaceous, ca. 0.5-0.6 mm thick; base rounded to widely cuneate; apex truncate or rounded to nearly acute; margin plane to sometimes slightly revolute, apical portion obscurely and irregularly toothed, basal portion toothed to entire; venation brochidodromous, 3° veins ± reticulate; adaxial surface lepidote but scales usually quickly deciduous, sparsely pubescent on basal portion of midvein, veins obscure to sometimes faintly visible; abaxial surface moderately to densely lepidote, otherwise densely pubescent, with 2° and higher order veins usually obscure or nearly so (only very rarely raised and forming dense, fine reticulum); scales rust colored, persistent to deciduous, ca. 0.08-0.2 mm in diameter, usually ± erose; petiole 3-5 mm long, lepidote, otherwise adaxially pubescent; flower buds ± intermixed with vegetative buds. Inflorescences fasciculate, ca. 5- to 8-flowered; pedicels clearly articulated with calyx, slender, 2-6 mm long, lepidote, otherwise glabrous or very sparsely pubescent; bracteoles ± opposite, basal, narrowly triangular, 1.5-2 mm long; floral bracts to ca. 2.5 mm long. Flowers 4- or 5-merous; calyx lobes triangular, with acuminate apices, 1.5-2 x 0.7-1.4 mm, adaxial side pubescent, especially near apex, abaxial side lepidote, otherwise glabrous; corolla cylindrical, white, 5-6.5 x 3-4 mm, abaxially sparsely lepidote; filaments roughened, ca. 3.5 mm long, essentially unappendaged; anthers ca. 1.3 mm long; ovary lepidote, otherwise pubescent, placentae ± subapical. Capsules ± globose to short-ovoid, 3-4 x 3-4 mm, slightly lepidote, otherwise sparsely pubescent, especially near base, the pale, very thick sutures separating as unit from adjacent valves; seeds 1.4-2 mm long.
Distribution: Endemic to Haiti (Massif de la Selle), on open, windswept forest of Pinus occidentalis on limestone ridges, at ca. 2500-2650 m elev.
Type: Haiti. Massif de la Selle, Morne de la Selle, in steep limestone side hills nr. the top (above Fonds Verettes), 2550-2650 m, 1 Feb 1925, Ekman H3162 (holotype, S; isotypes, IJ, K, S).
Illustration: Judd (1995), fig. 11.
Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):
Lyonia alpina Urb. & Ekman: [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.
Lyonia alpina Urb. & Ekman: [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.