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Family:

Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Mant. Pl. 242. 1771

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Common Names:

alcaparrosa, Andean azalea, azahar de angel, azajarillo, carbón, carbonero, chinchini, clavelito, congama, coyopolin, curioito, encillo, flor blanca, flor de María, flor de mayo, fragua, guinda, jara, madroño del agua, meloso

Description:

Description: Shrub or tree 1-15 m tall; bark smooth or fissured, glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid, gray or dark brown; twigs subterete, glabrous, hispid, or glandular-hispid, gray or brown. Leaves coriaceous, flat, rarely revolute or longitudinally-curled, elliptic to narrowly elliptic (narrowly ovate, narrowly obovate or ovate), (0.8-)1.5-8(-12.5) x (0.1-)0.7-2.5(-3.2) cm, base cuneate (obtuse), apex obtuse or acute (retuse or acuminate), often mucronate, margin entire, ciliate, or glandular-ciliate (slightly crenate), both surfaces glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid; petiole slightly flattened in cross-section, (1-)3-12 mm long, glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid. Inflorescence terminal, axillary, or commonly both, racemose, 5-14(-25)-flowered; rachis (0.5-)1.8-18 cm long and (0.7-)1-3.3 mm diam., glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid; pedicels (3-)9-45 mm long and (0.4-)0.6-1.2 mm in diam., indumentum as with the rachis; bracteoles usually inserted on the basal 1/2 of the pedicel, flat (revolute or involute), narrowly oblong, narrowly ovate, or narrowly elliptic, (0.8-)1.3-3.8(-5.2) x 0.2-1(-1.5) mm, base cuneate or truncate, apex acute to acuminate (obtuse), margin entire, ciliolate, ciliate, or glandular-ciliate, indumentum the same as the leaves; floral bracts flat or sometimes revolute, narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate or narrowly obovate, (0.9-)1.8-15(-30) x (0.4-)0.6-3.6(-8.4) mm, base cuneate or truncate, apex acute to obtuse (acuminate), margin entire, ciliolate, ciliate, or glandular-ciliate, indumentum the same as the leaves. Flowers (5-)7(-11)-merous; calyx 2.6-6.1 mm long; tube 0.5-3 mm long, 2.5-5.6 mm in diam., glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid, brown, red, green, tan, or orangish-brown; lobes ovate to broadly ovate, apex obtuse to acute, often mucronate, margin entire, erose, dentate, ciliolate, ciliate, or glandular-ciliate, (0.8-)1.4-3.7(-4.6) x 1.2-3.5(-4.7) mm, longest lobes (0.9-)2.3-3.7(-4.6), abaxial surface glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid; corolla campanulate or spreading (narrowly salveriform), pink to white, sometimes red, petals narrowly obovate (elliptic), (8.5-)12-27.5(-45) x 2.4-8.8 mm, margin entire or undulate, sometimes distally tomentose; stamens included to slightly exserted, (9-)13-27(-43) mm long (very rarely more than 1.2 times the length of the petals); filaments tomentose, very rarely glabrous; anther 1.2-2.9(-3.9) mm long, 0.5-1.6(-2) mm in diam., glabrous or proximally tomentose; ovary glabrous (pilose); style included to exserted, 6.7-39(-49.5) mm long; stigma capitate or 7-lobed. Capsule depressed obovoid, 4-8 mm long, 6.2-15 mm diam., brown, exocarp not separating from the valves; seeds 1.2-2 mm long, 0.3-0.6 mm in diam.

Distribution: Southern Durango, México to southern Bolivia and across the Coastal Cordillera of Venezuela to the State of Sucre, in pine woods and cloud forests in México and Central America to cloud forests, dry montane forests, shrub páramos, grasslands and roadsides of South America, at (300-)1000-3000(-3500) m. Although it flowers and bears fruit all year, specific populations often have a distinct phenology.

Local Names: México: peosle, jara (Guerrero), flor de mayo (Hidalgo), flor blanca (Jalisco), rosa del monte, madroño (Oaxaca), coyopolin (Puebla), madroño del agua (Sinaloa). Guatelmala: azajarillo (Zacapa). Colombia: carbonero, encillo (Antioquia), carbón (Cundinamarca), guinda (Magdalena), clavelito, pegamoscos, pegajosa, pegajoso (Norte de Santander). Venezuela: rosa del Avila (Distrito Federal); paramito clavirosa (Lara); melote, meloso, rosa de los Andes, pega-pega, pegosito, pegasita, meotero, curioito, pegasa, flor de María (Mérida); azahar de angel (Táchira). Ecuador: payama (El Oro). Peru: laurel (perhaps misapplied) (Cuzco), andean azalea, palo de acer, and palo acero (Junín), rosa rosa (Huánuco).

Uses: The wood is used as fuel in México, Colombia, and Peru. Woytkowski 6570 (Junín, Peru) states '[The] best charcoal [comes] from roots, which are large and thick'. In Venezuela the flowers are used to catch flies. Crushed leaves are used medicinally in Venezuela 'to heal bone aches' (Luteyn et al. 5270). In Bolivia Mexia 4270 states '[the] fruit [when] eaten produces great discomfort and dizziness, but if [it is] used for some time, [the] person is greatly stimulated'. The species is reported to be toxic to cattle in Peru (Junín and Huánuco).

Cultivated: ABG, E, NCSC.

Illustrations: Clemants (1983), figs. 8A-J and 9A-B.

Type: Colombia. Santander: Road above Río Chicamocha, 60 km NNE of Barbosa, 1700 m, 9 May 1979 (fl), Luteyn et al. 7616 (neotype, NY; isoneotype, COL). For a discussion of the typification and realignment of Bejaria aestuans see Clemants (1996).

Source: http://www.nybg.org/bsci/res/lut2/

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Bejaria aestuans Mutis ex L.: [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.