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Family:

Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Nov. Gen. Sp. (Kunth) 3: 266, pl. 251. 1818

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Common Names:

frijundilla, manzanilla del cerro, mortiño amargo, raspadura quemada, mortiño, congama, macha macha

Description:

Description: Terrestrial shrub to dwarf, procumbent or scandent subshrub, 0.2-2.5(-3.5) m tall, sometimes arising from lignotubers to 10 cm diam.; stem terete, rugose, sometimes "warty" from swollen nodes of fallen leaves, glabrous; twigs subterete to angled, or bluntly angled, striate to ribbed, glabrous to densely short, white pilose or cinereous. Leaves coriaceous, elliptic, ovate, to ovate-lanceolate, 9-22 x 4-11 mm, base cuneate to rounded, sometimes short-attentuate, apex rounded to acute, margin minutely crenate-serrate, each tooth terminating in a short, glandular hair, glabrous to minutely puberulent above or along margins or midrib proximally, usually minutely glandular-fimbriate beneath, midrib and other nerves and margins often lighter color beneath; pinnately nerved with 3-5 lateral nerves per side but these usually obscure, reticulate veinlets slightly raised on both surfaces or impressed above and raised beneath; petiole subterete, flattened above, ca. 2 mm long, short-pilose. Inflorescence axillary, racemose, 6-10-flowered; rachis subterete, angled, striate, to 1.5 cm long, glabrous to puberulent; floral bract deciduous, membranous, broadly elliptic to ovate, margin usually curved inwards, acute to rounded, 3-4.3 mm long, margin glandular-fimbriate distally; pedicel subterete, angled, striate, 1.8-5.5 mm long, glabrous to short-pilose; bracteoles nearly basal, similar to floral bract, nearly half as long as pedicel at anthesis, ca. 2.5-3 mm long. Flowers 4-5-merous (sometimes on same plant), with calyx articulate, ca. 3-4 mm long; hypanthium cylindric, ca. 1.3-2 mm long, glabrous to densely short-pilose, green to purplish, often heavily suffused with pink to red; limb erect-spreading, ca. (1.2-)1.8-2.2 mm long, glabrous; lobes triangular-ovate, acute or rarely obtuse, (0.8-)1-1.5 mm long, glabrous; sinuses acute; corolla cylindric, (5.5-)6-8 mm long, glabrous, white to pink or red, the lobes ovate-oblong, obtuse, ca. 1.5 mm long; stamen (5-)10, nearly as long as corolla, 3.8-6 mm long; filaments distinct, 2.3-3 mm long, glabrous or weakly to densely short-pilose; anthers 2.2-3.4 mm long; thecae 1-1.3 mm long, sometimes bearing 2 short spurs dorsally; tubules 1.2-2.1 mm long, dehiscing by oblique pores; style about as long as corolla, glabrous. Berry spherical, 5-8 mm diam., blue-black, glabrous, sometimes glaucous.

Distribution: Costa Rica (?), Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; lower montane dry forest, premontane dry forest, montane moist to wet forest, montane cloud forest, subpáramo thickets, grass and Espeletia páramo, to superpáramo, at 1400-4350 m altitude.

Type: Peru. Amazonas: Cajamarca, Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (holotype, P-Humb. & Bonpl., photo F neg. 38235; isotype, P). The locality of "Cajamarca" is given in the protologue, since there is neither a locality nor a number on the labels of the P types.

Local names: Ecuador: manzanilla del cerro, mortiño, raspadura quemado.

Illustration: Luteyn (1996), plate 4.

Uses: Ecuador: fruit sold in local markets and often in cities, epecially in early November for the beverage "colada morada"; fruit cooked as a sweet; wood for fuel. Seemingly fire resistent and often sprouting vigorously after fire.

Cultivated: E, NCSC.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Vaccinium floribundum Kunth: [Article] Popenoe, Wilson. 1924. Economic fruit-bearing plants of Ecuador. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 24: i-ix, 101-134. pl. 34-49.
Vaccinium floribundum Kunth: [Article] 1818. Nov. Gen. Sp. (Kunth). 3: 266, pl. 251.
Vaccinium floribundum Kunth: [Article] Smith, Albert C. 1952. Plants collected in Ecuador by W. H. camp. Vaceiniaceae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 8 (1): 41-85.