Authority:

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. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family:

Ericaceae

Synonyms:

Bejaria pallens var. tarapotana Meisn., Bejaria guianensis Klotzsch ex N.E.Br., Bejaria variabilis A.C.Sm., Bejaria schomburgkiana Klotzsch ex Mansf. & Sleumer, Bejaria puberula Klotzsch ex Mansf. & Sleumer

Description:

Species Description - Shrub or tree 0.3-15 m tall; bark fissured, glabrous, hispid, or glandular-hispid, brownish-red, gray, or black and white striped; twigs terete, rusty-red, maroon, or gray, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid. Leaves coriaceous, flat, sometimes revolute, rarely longitudinally curled, elliptic to narrowly elliptic or narrowly ovate to narrowly narrowly ovate, sometimes ovate or obovate, 1.5-5.3(-6.6) × 0.2-2. l(-2.9) cm, base cuneate (obtuse), apex acute to obtuse (acuminate or rounded), often mucronate, margin entire, ciliate or glandular-ciliate, both surfaces glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid, the hairs near the leaf apex sometimes forking; petiole subterete, 2-6(-7.5) mm long, glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid. Inflorescence terminal, axillary, or both, racemose, (3-)8-17-flowered; rachis brown, tan, or brownish-orange, (1.8-)2.8-7.4(-12) cm long, 0.6-1.4(-l.7) mm diam., glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid; pedicel 9-29(-33) mm long, 0.3-0.6(-0.8) mm diam., glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid; bracteoles inserted on the basal 1/2 of the pedicel, narrowly elliptic or narrowly oblong to linear, involute, 1-3(-3.3) × 0.2-0.6 mm, base truncate, apex obtuse or acute, margin glabrous, ciliate, ciliolate, or glandular ciliate, indumentum as on the leaves; floral bracts narrowly elliptic to elliptic or narrowly narrowly ovate, flat or involute, 1.8-6.9(-13.3) × 0.5-2.8(-3.1) mm, base cuneate or truncate, apex acute to acuminate, sometimes obtuse, margin entire, ciliate, glandular-ciliate, or ciliolate, indumentum as on the leaves. Flowers 5-7-merous; calyx 2.5-4.8 mm long, tube 0.5-2 mm long, 2.44 mm diam., brown, orange, or purple, glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid, lobes widely ovate to depressed-ovate, sometimes ovate, apex obtuse to acute, 0.9-3.2(-4.2) × 1.1-3.3(-3.7) mm, the longest lobes 1.1 -3.1 (-4.2) mm long, margin entire, erose, dentate, ciliolate, or sometimes glandular-ciliolate, abaxial surface glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid; corolla tubular, pink to dark red (white); petals narrowly obovate, 7-28 × 2-7.6(-8.8) mm, margin entire, glabrous or distally slightly tomentose; stamens long exserted more than 1.2 times the petal length, rarely subequal to the corolla, (8-) 13.5-36.5 mm long, filaments tomentose, anthers 1-2.6 mm long, 0.6-1.2 mm diam., glabrous; ovary glabrous, style exserted, 18.5-40.5 mm long, stigma capitate. Capsule depressed obovoid, 4-4.7 mm long, 5.5-6.8 mm diam., brown, exocarp not separating from the valves; seeds 0.6-1.5 mm long, 0.2-0.6 mm diam.

Discussion:

Bejaria sprucei is a variable and taxonomically difficult species characterized by tubular corollas, long-exserted stamens (more than 1.2 × petal length), short calyx lobes, 5- or 6-merous flowers, and thin pedicels (less than 0.6 mm diam.). Particularly striking are the tubular corollas and exserted stamens. I collected an oil-collecting bee (Centris flavifrons Friese) and a large wasp (Scolia sp.?) visiting flowers of this species.

Bejaria sprucei can be separated, with difficulty, from B. aestuans by its tubular corollas (vs. spreading, campanulate, or salveriform in B. aestuans), thin pedicels 0.3-0.6(-0.8) mm in diam. (vs. (0.4-) 0.6-1.2 mm diam in B. aestuans), often 5- or 6-merous flowers (only rarely 5-merous in B. aestuans), and the long exserted stamens (not evident in immature specimens). No single character is sufficient, but taken in combination these species can be separated.

Another closely related species, B. zamorae, known only from three specimens, can be separated by a number of characters (Table IV) including its 7-merous flowers, only slightly exserted stamens, acuminate or caudate leaf apices (vs. acute or obtuse in B. sprucei), and slightly larger flowers and leaves. Again, only a combination of characters can consistently separate these species.

Bejaria sprucei is highly variable. Several variants have been named as species in the past, including two from Peru and four from the Guayana Highlands. The Peruvian populations differ only slightly from the Guayana Highland ones. They have consistently 5-merous flowers vs. (5-)6(-7)-merous flowers in the Guayana Highlands and slightly shorter flowers. In addition, forked hairs are present on the adaxial leaf surfaces of many individuals from Peru, but these hairs are also found on leaves of a few Guayana Highland individuals.

Bejaria sprucei exhibits a variety of hair types, which, although consistent on individuals, are often variable in populations. Four synonyms of B. sprucei are based on differences in hair type (e.g., B. guianensis, with glandular-hispid pedicels and glabrous leaves; B. schomburgkiana, with glandular-hispid pedicels and tomentose leaves; B. puberula, with hispid pedicels; and B. variabilis, with variable pubescence). In the Gran Savanna there are specimens which are morphologically identical except for hair type; they would have been placed in different species in past treatments of Bejaria. Compare, for example, Clemants & Delascio 2479 with glandular-hispid hairs and Clemants & Delascio 2480 with hispid hairs. I concur with A. C. Smith (1931) that "too much emphasis has doubtless been placed upon pubescence as a specific character" and therefore hair type variants are not recognized as species in this revision.

In combining the Peruvian and Guayana Highland populations and the names based on the various hair types, I bring together most of the species Mansfeld and Sleumer (1935) placed in their fourth species complex. This group (not given formal rank) included B. sprucei, B. schomburgkiana, and B. variabilis as well as B. hispida (here placed in B. aestuans and B. sprucei) and B. sandiensis, a species of unknown position.

Distribution:

Colombia South America| Meta Colombia South America| Vaupés Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Amazonas Venezuela South America| Anzoátegui Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Táchira Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Brazil South America| Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| San Martín Peru South America|

Common Names:

candelaria, itu-kuyó-kuyén