Taxon Details: Pentagonia lobata C.M.Taylor
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Family:
Rubiaceae (Magnoliophyta)
Rubiaceae (Magnoliophyta)
Scientific Name:
Pentagonia lobata C.M.Taylor
Pentagonia lobata C.M.Taylor
Primary Citation:
Novon 5(2): 202, f. 1D. 1995
Novon 5(2): 202, f. 1D. 1995
Accepted Name:
This name is currently accepted.
This name is currently accepted.
Description:
Author: Xavier Cornejo
Description: Treelets, unbranched or sometimes to 2-branched, 3 to 7 m tall. Stipules light green, triangular or lanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate, 4-8 x 1.3-4.5 cm, chartaceous, abaxially finely appressed-puberulous to sericeous. Leaves decussate, arranged toward apex of stem; terminal leaves with petioles 12-22 cm long, wingless; blades deeply pinnatifid, 60-100 x 30-70 cm, with 4 to 6 lobes on each side, the entire blade chartaceous to subcoriaceous, adaxially glabrous and smooth, abaxially glabrescent to usually spreading puberulous or shortly pilosulous on main veins, lamina with minor venation inconspicuous, the base truncate, sometimes decurrent to 2.5 cm onto petiole. Inflorescences axillary, subsessile, glomerulate; floral bracts ovate to oblong, 12-25 x 3-12 mm, greenish. Flowers: calyx spathaceous, greenish or creamish, the tube cylindrical to ellipsoid, 3-5 x 2-3 mm, the calyx limb 2.5-4 cm, the apex acute, glabrous; corolla funnelform, fibrous, the tube 38-46 mm long x 10-15 mm diam. (at apex), green to cream, glabrous, the lobes 5, deltoid, 4-8 mm long; stamens 5, included, the filaments attached ca. 1/3 of length of tube above base; style included. Infructescences sessile. Fruits 2-locular, 3-4 x 2.5-3 cm, at maturity elliptic (obovate when dry); calyx tube c. 5-10 mm long, the calyx limb 1-3.2 cm long. Seeds irregularly shaped, the testa yellow or reddish when immature.
Common names: Not recorded.
Distribution: Costa Rica, in San Jose and Puntarenas Provinces, and disjunct to Antioquia Department, Colombia (Zarucchi et al. 5006, MO). It is found from sea level to 950 m.
Ecology: In moist and wet forests. This infrequent species is persistent in secondary habitats and roadsides.
Phenology: This species has been collected with flowers from Dec to Feb, and Aug; and with fruits from Jan to Sep.
Pollination: Not recorded, but the flowers of this species are pressumably pollinated by hummingbirds.
Dispersal: Fruits predated and the seeds pressumably dispersed by birds.
Taxonomic notes: This species is distinguished by the combination of pinnatifid leaf blades with relatively long unwinged petioles, and spathaceous calyces. Pentagonia lobata vegetatively resembles P. tinajita Seemann of Costa Rica and Panama, with which it shares the pinnatifid leaf blades, but the latter differs by the subsessile terminal leaves and the flowers with 5-lobed calyces. In Mesoamerica, Pentagonia lobata is the only species of this genus with spathaceous calyces. Other species with spathaceous calyces occur in South America (e.g., the amazonian P. spathicalyx K. Schum. and P. gigantifolia Ducke), but they mainly differ by having entire leaf blades. Photos of the previously not seen fruits of this species (Taylor, 1995), are posted in this virtual flora.
Conservation: Not recorded.
Uses: Not recorded.
Etymology: The epithet of this species refers to the lobed calyx and leaves.
Author: Xavier Cornejo
Description: Treelets, unbranched or sometimes to 2-branched, 3 to 7 m tall. Stipules light green, triangular or lanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate, 4-8 x 1.3-4.5 cm, chartaceous, abaxially finely appressed-puberulous to sericeous. Leaves decussate, arranged toward apex of stem; terminal leaves with petioles 12-22 cm long, wingless; blades deeply pinnatifid, 60-100 x 30-70 cm, with 4 to 6 lobes on each side, the entire blade chartaceous to subcoriaceous, adaxially glabrous and smooth, abaxially glabrescent to usually spreading puberulous or shortly pilosulous on main veins, lamina with minor venation inconspicuous, the base truncate, sometimes decurrent to 2.5 cm onto petiole. Inflorescences axillary, subsessile, glomerulate; floral bracts ovate to oblong, 12-25 x 3-12 mm, greenish. Flowers: calyx spathaceous, greenish or creamish, the tube cylindrical to ellipsoid, 3-5 x 2-3 mm, the calyx limb 2.5-4 cm, the apex acute, glabrous; corolla funnelform, fibrous, the tube 38-46 mm long x 10-15 mm diam. (at apex), green to cream, glabrous, the lobes 5, deltoid, 4-8 mm long; stamens 5, included, the filaments attached ca. 1/3 of length of tube above base; style included. Infructescences sessile. Fruits 2-locular, 3-4 x 2.5-3 cm, at maturity elliptic (obovate when dry); calyx tube c. 5-10 mm long, the calyx limb 1-3.2 cm long. Seeds irregularly shaped, the testa yellow or reddish when immature.
Common names: Not recorded.
Distribution: Costa Rica, in San Jose and Puntarenas Provinces, and disjunct to Antioquia Department, Colombia (Zarucchi et al. 5006, MO). It is found from sea level to 950 m.
Ecology: In moist and wet forests. This infrequent species is persistent in secondary habitats and roadsides.
Phenology: This species has been collected with flowers from Dec to Feb, and Aug; and with fruits from Jan to Sep.
Pollination: Not recorded, but the flowers of this species are pressumably pollinated by hummingbirds.
Dispersal: Fruits predated and the seeds pressumably dispersed by birds.
Taxonomic notes: This species is distinguished by the combination of pinnatifid leaf blades with relatively long unwinged petioles, and spathaceous calyces. Pentagonia lobata vegetatively resembles P. tinajita Seemann of Costa Rica and Panama, with which it shares the pinnatifid leaf blades, but the latter differs by the subsessile terminal leaves and the flowers with 5-lobed calyces. In Mesoamerica, Pentagonia lobata is the only species of this genus with spathaceous calyces. Other species with spathaceous calyces occur in South America (e.g., the amazonian P. spathicalyx K. Schum. and P. gigantifolia Ducke), but they mainly differ by having entire leaf blades. Photos of the previously not seen fruits of this species (Taylor, 1995), are posted in this virtual flora.
Conservation: Not recorded.
Uses: Not recorded.
Etymology: The epithet of this species refers to the lobed calyx and leaves.