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Additional Resources:

Family:

Melastomataceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Trans. Linn. Soc. London 28(1): 133. 1871

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Common Names:

bimitsexe, Boyuyo plano

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: Brazil. Amazonas: in margine sylvarum et campestribus prope Coari, Ega (now Tefé), Flumen Nigri, Martius s. n. (holotype M).

Description: Shrub, to 3.5 m tall. Stems densely stellate puberulous, the trichomes deciduous, nodes glabrous. Petioles 1-5 cm long, stellate puberulous. Leaves isophyllous, oblong ovate to broadly lanceolate, 10-27 (-33) x (3-) 5-11 (-13) cm, apex acute to acuminate, base rounded to slightly cordate, the sinus up to 3 mm long, adaxial surface glabrous or sparsely strigose, abaxial surface glabrous or with a mix of setae up to 1 mm long and caducous stellate hairs, the nerves tomentose to sparsely setose, light green, with (1-) 2 pairs of secondary veins, basally nervate, chartaceous, entire to ciliate-serrulate; domatia absent, but in some cases the base of the blade is obscurely inflated resembling a small domatium. Inflorescence a terminal panicle, of 10-30 flowers, 7-18 c long, the axis green, flattened, glabrous or sparsely stellate puberulous. Flowers on pedicels 2-6 mm long, flared at the apex, sometimes articulate 1-2 mm below the hypanthium, subtended by caducous bracts, lanceolate, 1.0-1,5 x 0.2 mm; hypanthium conical, with an attenuate base, 5.0-7.0 mm long, pulverulent, and sparsely stellate puberulous, the apex sometimes sparsely glandular setose; sepals broadly deltoid, fused halfway to the apex, 1.0-1.7 mm long, calyx teeth reduced, stout, subulate, not or barely projecting beyond the sepals 0-1 mm; the ring inside the torus glabrous. Petals 5, obovate to oblong, 9-11 x 4-5 mm, base truncate to obtuse, retuse to slightly emarginate, granulosus, glabrous, pink. Stamens all of the same size, the filaments 6.5-7.0 mm long, glabrous; anthers blue to lila; the connective with a dorsal-basal blunt tooth; thecae 6-7 mm long, opening by a dorsally inclined or upright pore. Ovary 3-locular, totally to 4/5 inferior, the superior portion (when present) conical, the apex minutely glandular, or with a corona of small setae and lepidote trichomes; style glabrous or sparsely lepidote pubescent at the base, 12-17 mm long; stigma broadly infundibuliform, the apex with small papillae. Fruits urceolate, 8-13 mm long, blue, glabrous. The seeds not evident through the pericarp, narrowly ovate, 1.3-2.8 mm long, with capitate trichomes in the raphal area, without sculpturing, anticlinal walls straight, periclinal walls flat, boundaries between periclinal walls flat. Chromosome number n= unknown.

Habitat and Distribution: Growing in S Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil and NE Bolivia, and NE Peru. Growing on the lower portions of river banks, and flooded forests.

Phenology: Flowering during the dry season. Fruits ripe at the beginning or middle of the rainy season (because of T. subciliata is widely distributed north and south of the Equator, the actual months of the blooming and fruiting season vary across localities).

Taxonomy and Systematics: Tococa subciliata is a widespread species on the Amazon, Essequibo and Orinoco basins. It is closely related to T. caudata and T. coronata, with which it shares a subulate outer calyx, pubescent style, blue anthers and fruits and pubescent seeds. Tococa subciliata can be distinguished from sympatric species of Tococa by the absence of domatia and reduced inner calyx. Gleason determined specimens with short calyces as T. subnuda or T. subciliata regardless of the presence of ant domatia. I have chosen to adhere to the characters present in the type and to recognize T. subciliata as a non-domatia bearing species with reduced calyces, while domatia bearing specimens are all determined as T. coronata. The reasons for this are that there is a continuum of calyx sizes in specimens with domatia, while all specimens without domatia have reduced calyces (see also discussion under T. coronata). This criterion is also consistent with the characters seen in the types if T. subnuda, T. subciliata and T. coronata. Moreover, specimens without domatia are always found in the lower portions of the river-bank, where they remain covered by water for at least four months of the year. These populations flower during the dry season and are reproductively isolated in time from populations with domatia that inhabit the higher portions of the river banks and that bloom during the beginning of the rainy season. Tococa lasiostyla is here considered a synonym of T. subciliata given that the combination of characters used to differentiate them (completely inferior ovary and glabrous adaxial surfaces of the leaf blades) certainly falls within the range of intraspecific variation found in T. subciliata throughout its geographical range. The differences in calyx size, pubescence of the style, and shape of the stigma, mentioned by Cogniaux (1888) for T. lasiostyla, T. planifolia and T. subciliata were not observerd in the type specimens, and even if these do occur, it would certainly fall within the intraspecific variation observed in the field. Cogniaux (1888) refers to T. subnuda as a domatia-bearing species, however none of the type specimens have domatia, and their floral morphology fits the concept adopted here for T. subciliata. Wurdack (1993) had already considered T. subnuda as a synonym of T. subciliata. Some individuals of T. subciliata have small swollen concavities at the base of the leaf blade, resembling the domatia of the remaining species of Tococa. However, these structures are much smaller, often not connected to the exterior and do not house ants, although coccids have been observed to inhabit these cavities. These pseudo-domatia may be a relict of structures that have been secondarily lost, and not the intermediate step from species that lack domatia to species with ant domatia.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Tococa subciliata (DC.) Triana: [Article] Michelangeli, Fabián A. 2005. (Melastomataceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 98: 1-114.