Taxon Details: Miconia crocata Almeda
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Family:
Melastomataceae (Magnoliophyta)
Melastomataceae (Magnoliophyta)
Scientific Name:
Miconia crocata Almeda
Miconia crocata Almeda
Primary Citation:
Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. ser. 4, 52(4): 39. 2000
Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. ser. 4, 52(4): 39. 2000
Accepted Name:
This name is currently accepted.
This name is currently accepted.
Description:
Description Author and Date: Frank Almeda, based on Almeda, F. (2009). Melastomataceae. In: G. Davidse, M. Sousa-Sânchez, S. Knapp, & F. Chiang (eds.), Flora Mesoamericana: Cucurbitaceae a Polemoniaceae. 4(1): 164-338.
Type: Holotype: Panama, Almeda et al. 5930 (CAS!).
Description: Shrub or small tree 2-5 m tall, the uppermost quadrate, carinate internodes, inflorescence, and hypanthia glabrous. Leaves of a pair equal or slightly unequal in size; blades 3-nerved with an additional pair of inconspicuous inframarginal nerves evident above the blade base and becoming inconspicuous at the apex, narrowly elliptic, 5-10 x 1.4-3.4 cm, apex acuminate, base narrowly acuminate, margin mostly entire toward the blade base, otherwise obscurely crenulate, glabrous on both surfaces or inconspicuously punctate-lepidote abaxially, petioles 0.6-3.2 cm long. Inflorescence a terminal corymbiform panicle 1.5-2.5 cm long; flowers 5-merous on pedicels 0.25 mm long or sessile; bracts and bracteoles oblong, 1.5 X 0.25 mm, early deciduous and typically absent at anthesis but leaving well-developed scars at upper nodes and at the base of floral pedicels. Calyx lobes glabrous throughout, broadly rounded-undulate, 0.5 mm long and 0.5-0.75 mm wide basally, exterior teeth broadly deltoid or evident as a thickening mostly less than 0.25 mm long, adnate to and mostly shorter than the calyx lobes when dry. Petals erect and concave, yellow or yellow with a flush of red or maroon apically, glabrous, oblong-ovate, 1.5 x 1-1.25 mm. Anthers isomorphic, 0.5 mm long, saffron yellow flushed with red apically when dry, infundibuliform to obliquely cuneate in profile view, 4-celled, the pore quadrate and strongly inclined ventrally; connective thickened and prolonged 0.75 mm abaxially the anther thecae but lacking appendages. Style glabrous, 2 mm long; stigma truncate to capitellate; ovary (at anthesis) 3-locular, inferior, globose, apex fluted and sparsely glandular- or furfurate-puberulent but becoming rounded to truncate and glabrate in fruit. Berry blue-green becoming white with a faint flush of blue when mature, 3-5 X 3-5 mm. Seeds pyriform, testa tuberculate, 0.5 mm long.
Habitat and Distribution: Low cloud forest. 480-1000 m. PANAMA (Aranda et al. 2849, CAS). (Endemic).
Taxonomy and Systematics: Among the species with a 3-locular ovary and obovoid, 4-celled anthers that open by a wide terminal pore, M. crocata appears to be most similar to M. chiriquiensis Almeda of Costa Rica and Panama. In both species the petals are erect and concave and the filaments are geniculate in a way that closely juxtaposes the anther pores in a ring around the stigma. However, M. chiriquiensis has leaf blades that are ciliate-serriilate distally, caudate-acuminate apically, and furfurate-punctate abaxially. Miconia crocata and M. chiriquiensis are allopatric and have different elevational ranges. The latter ranges from the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica southeast to the Volcan Barú region of western Panama and consistently occurs at higher elevations (1400-2600 m).
Notes: [Description based only on Mesoamerican specimens.]
Description Author and Date: Frank Almeda, based on Almeda, F. (2009). Melastomataceae. In: G. Davidse, M. Sousa-Sânchez, S. Knapp, & F. Chiang (eds.), Flora Mesoamericana: Cucurbitaceae a Polemoniaceae. 4(1): 164-338.
Type: Holotype: Panama, Almeda et al. 5930 (CAS!).
Description: Shrub or small tree 2-5 m tall, the uppermost quadrate, carinate internodes, inflorescence, and hypanthia glabrous. Leaves of a pair equal or slightly unequal in size; blades 3-nerved with an additional pair of inconspicuous inframarginal nerves evident above the blade base and becoming inconspicuous at the apex, narrowly elliptic, 5-10 x 1.4-3.4 cm, apex acuminate, base narrowly acuminate, margin mostly entire toward the blade base, otherwise obscurely crenulate, glabrous on both surfaces or inconspicuously punctate-lepidote abaxially, petioles 0.6-3.2 cm long. Inflorescence a terminal corymbiform panicle 1.5-2.5 cm long; flowers 5-merous on pedicels 0.25 mm long or sessile; bracts and bracteoles oblong, 1.5 X 0.25 mm, early deciduous and typically absent at anthesis but leaving well-developed scars at upper nodes and at the base of floral pedicels. Calyx lobes glabrous throughout, broadly rounded-undulate, 0.5 mm long and 0.5-0.75 mm wide basally, exterior teeth broadly deltoid or evident as a thickening mostly less than 0.25 mm long, adnate to and mostly shorter than the calyx lobes when dry. Petals erect and concave, yellow or yellow with a flush of red or maroon apically, glabrous, oblong-ovate, 1.5 x 1-1.25 mm. Anthers isomorphic, 0.5 mm long, saffron yellow flushed with red apically when dry, infundibuliform to obliquely cuneate in profile view, 4-celled, the pore quadrate and strongly inclined ventrally; connective thickened and prolonged 0.75 mm abaxially the anther thecae but lacking appendages. Style glabrous, 2 mm long; stigma truncate to capitellate; ovary (at anthesis) 3-locular, inferior, globose, apex fluted and sparsely glandular- or furfurate-puberulent but becoming rounded to truncate and glabrate in fruit. Berry blue-green becoming white with a faint flush of blue when mature, 3-5 X 3-5 mm. Seeds pyriform, testa tuberculate, 0.5 mm long.
Habitat and Distribution: Low cloud forest. 480-1000 m. PANAMA (Aranda et al. 2849, CAS). (Endemic).
Taxonomy and Systematics: Among the species with a 3-locular ovary and obovoid, 4-celled anthers that open by a wide terminal pore, M. crocata appears to be most similar to M. chiriquiensis Almeda of Costa Rica and Panama. In both species the petals are erect and concave and the filaments are geniculate in a way that closely juxtaposes the anther pores in a ring around the stigma. However, M. chiriquiensis has leaf blades that are ciliate-serriilate distally, caudate-acuminate apically, and furfurate-punctate abaxially. Miconia crocata and M. chiriquiensis are allopatric and have different elevational ranges. The latter ranges from the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica southeast to the Volcan Barú region of western Panama and consistently occurs at higher elevations (1400-2600 m).
Notes: [Description based only on Mesoamerican specimens.]