Taxon Details: Tococa meridensis Wurdack
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Narratives:
Family:
Melastomataceae (Magnoliophyta)
Melastomataceae (Magnoliophyta)
Scientific Name:
Tococa meridensis Wurdack
Tococa meridensis Wurdack
Primary Citation:
Phytologia 18: 157. 1969
Phytologia 18: 157. 1969
Accepted Name:
This name is currently accepted.
This name is currently accepted.
Description:
Description Author and Date: Fabian A. Michelangeli, January 2010, based on Michelangeli, F. A. (2005). Tococa (Melastomataceae). Flora Neotropica Monographs 98: 1-114.
Type: Venezuela. Mérida: Between Los Corrales y Las Cuadras, 1490-3210 m, 25 MAR 25, 1944, Steyermark 55766, (holotype US; isotypes F, NY).
Description: Shrub, often procumbent, up to 1.0 m tall. Stems with a mix of sparse minute (up to to 0.1 mm) clavate glands and non-glandular setae, 2-3 mm long, caducous, the nodes with tufts of glandular and non glandular trichomes up to 4-6 mm long. Petioles 6-10 cm long, red to crimson colored, densely to sparsely pubescent, the trichomes 0.3-1.1 mm long. Leaves isophyllous, elliptic to ovate, (5-) 8-12 x (4-) 6-9 cm, apex obtuse to acute, base cordulate, adaxial side glabrous to very sparsely glandular setose, abaxial side glabrous, but the primary and secondary veins adpressed-setose, the surface red to crimson in the younger leaves, then turning light green, with 2(-3) pairs of secondary veins, basally nervate to slightly (less than 0.5 cm) plinervate, membranaceous to chartaceous, entire, slightly crenulate to ciliate; domatia absent. Inflorescence a terminal panicle, the distal flowers secund, 4-7 (-10) cm long, with 10-30 flowers, the axis green, terete; flower pedicels 0.7-1.5 mm long; bracts persistent, elliptic, 0.7-1.5 x 0.5-1.2 mm; hypanthium campanulate, 2.5-3.0 mm long, sparsely fine-setose, the trichomes glandular and eglandular; sepals broadly deltoid, fused at the base up to 0.3 mm, slightly imbricate, 1.5-2.0 mm long, calyx teeth narrowly deltoid, projecting upwards parallel to the sepals, but never reaching the same height, 1.0 mm long; the ring inside the torus with minute glandular trichomes. Petals 5, ovate-oblong, entire, 6.0-7.5 x 3-5 mm, smooth, glandular setulose towards the apex, white. Stamens of two different sizes, the filaments 4.0-5.0 mm long, glabrous; anthers blue; the connective without a dorsal-basal blunt tooth; thecae 2-3 mm long, opening by a upright pore. Ovary 5-locular, 1/2-2/3 inferior, the superior portion sulcate, the apex truncate, with a ring elevated 0.1-0.5 mm; style with sparse minute glands at the base, 6-7 mm long; stigma capitate. Fruits globose, 3.5-4.5 mm long, black, glabrous. The seeds evident through the pericarp, truncate-obovate, 0.5-0.8 mm long, without capitate trichomes in the raphal area, with sculpturing, anticlinal walls s-shaped, periclinal walls flat, boundaries between periclinal walls flat. Chromosome number n= unknown.
Habitat and Distribution: Andes of Venezuela, from 1500 to 3000 m. Growing in the understory of cloud and montane forests.
Taxonomy and Systematics: Tococa meridensis is a rarely collected species from cloud forests in the Andes of Venezuela. Three different recent attempts to collect this species have been unsuccessful, mostly due to the accelerated loss of habitat, by conversion of Andean cloud forests into grazing areas or coffee plantations (see also discussion under T. broadwayi). This species differs from closely related T. platyphylla in that it has smaller leaves, a decumbent habit and the lack of a blunt tooth on the dorsal anther connective. Tococa meridensis and related species (T. platyphylla, T. perclara and T. broadwayi) have been traditionally placed in Tococa due to similarities in the anther morphology. However, seed morphology and the thin hypanthium seem to place them closer to some species of Miconia than to Tococa sensu stricto (Michelangeli, 2000a). These four species are clearly closely related as noted by Wurdack (1969; 1973a). They share several characters that unite them as a probable monophyletic group: the presence of large trichomes in the stem nodes, glandular ring at the inner surface of the torus, blue anthers, thin pericarp, and seeds with sculpturing and anticlinal cell walls s-shaped (Michelangeli, 2000a).
Description Author and Date: Fabian A. Michelangeli, January 2010, based on Michelangeli, F. A. (2005). Tococa (Melastomataceae). Flora Neotropica Monographs 98: 1-114.
Type: Venezuela. Mérida: Between Los Corrales y Las Cuadras, 1490-3210 m, 25 MAR 25, 1944, Steyermark 55766, (holotype US; isotypes F, NY).
Description: Shrub, often procumbent, up to 1.0 m tall. Stems with a mix of sparse minute (up to to 0.1 mm) clavate glands and non-glandular setae, 2-3 mm long, caducous, the nodes with tufts of glandular and non glandular trichomes up to 4-6 mm long. Petioles 6-10 cm long, red to crimson colored, densely to sparsely pubescent, the trichomes 0.3-1.1 mm long. Leaves isophyllous, elliptic to ovate, (5-) 8-12 x (4-) 6-9 cm, apex obtuse to acute, base cordulate, adaxial side glabrous to very sparsely glandular setose, abaxial side glabrous, but the primary and secondary veins adpressed-setose, the surface red to crimson in the younger leaves, then turning light green, with 2(-3) pairs of secondary veins, basally nervate to slightly (less than 0.5 cm) plinervate, membranaceous to chartaceous, entire, slightly crenulate to ciliate; domatia absent. Inflorescence a terminal panicle, the distal flowers secund, 4-7 (-10) cm long, with 10-30 flowers, the axis green, terete; flower pedicels 0.7-1.5 mm long; bracts persistent, elliptic, 0.7-1.5 x 0.5-1.2 mm; hypanthium campanulate, 2.5-3.0 mm long, sparsely fine-setose, the trichomes glandular and eglandular; sepals broadly deltoid, fused at the base up to 0.3 mm, slightly imbricate, 1.5-2.0 mm long, calyx teeth narrowly deltoid, projecting upwards parallel to the sepals, but never reaching the same height, 1.0 mm long; the ring inside the torus with minute glandular trichomes. Petals 5, ovate-oblong, entire, 6.0-7.5 x 3-5 mm, smooth, glandular setulose towards the apex, white. Stamens of two different sizes, the filaments 4.0-5.0 mm long, glabrous; anthers blue; the connective without a dorsal-basal blunt tooth; thecae 2-3 mm long, opening by a upright pore. Ovary 5-locular, 1/2-2/3 inferior, the superior portion sulcate, the apex truncate, with a ring elevated 0.1-0.5 mm; style with sparse minute glands at the base, 6-7 mm long; stigma capitate. Fruits globose, 3.5-4.5 mm long, black, glabrous. The seeds evident through the pericarp, truncate-obovate, 0.5-0.8 mm long, without capitate trichomes in the raphal area, with sculpturing, anticlinal walls s-shaped, periclinal walls flat, boundaries between periclinal walls flat. Chromosome number n= unknown.
Habitat and Distribution: Andes of Venezuela, from 1500 to 3000 m. Growing in the understory of cloud and montane forests.
Taxonomy and Systematics: Tococa meridensis is a rarely collected species from cloud forests in the Andes of Venezuela. Three different recent attempts to collect this species have been unsuccessful, mostly due to the accelerated loss of habitat, by conversion of Andean cloud forests into grazing areas or coffee plantations (see also discussion under T. broadwayi). This species differs from closely related T. platyphylla in that it has smaller leaves, a decumbent habit and the lack of a blunt tooth on the dorsal anther connective. Tococa meridensis and related species (T. platyphylla, T. perclara and T. broadwayi) have been traditionally placed in Tococa due to similarities in the anther morphology. However, seed morphology and the thin hypanthium seem to place them closer to some species of Miconia than to Tococa sensu stricto (Michelangeli, 2000a). These four species are clearly closely related as noted by Wurdack (1969; 1973a). They share several characters that unite them as a probable monophyletic group: the presence of large trichomes in the stem nodes, glandular ring at the inner surface of the torus, blue anthers, thin pericarp, and seeds with sculpturing and anticlinal cell walls s-shaped (Michelangeli, 2000a).
Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):
Tococa meridensis Wurdack: [Article] Michelangeli, Fabián A. 2005. (Melastomataceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 98: 1-114.
Tococa meridensis Wurdack: [Article] Michelangeli, Fabián A. 2005.