Gaultheria myrtilloides Cham. & Schltdl.
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Authority
Luteyn, James L., et al. 1995. Ericaceae, Part II. The Superior-Ovaried Genera (Monotropoideae, Pyroloideae, Rhododendroideae, and Vaccinioideae P.P.). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 66: 560. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Ericaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Brazil. Minas Gerais: Itacolumi, Sellow 1302 (holotype, B, destroyed, photo F neg. 4590; isotypes, none seen).
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Synonyms
Pernettya brasiliensis, Gaultheria myrtilloides Cham. & Schltdl., Gaultheria alpina Mart. ex Meisn., Pernettya myrtilloides (Cham. & Schltdl.) Meisn., Pernettya myrtilloides (Cham. & Schltdl.) Meisn.
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Description
Species Description - Thin-stemmed, apparently rhizomatous shrub to subshrub to ca. 0.5 m tall; mature stems terete, striate, puberulent (or not) with white hairs and also densely hirsute with basally swollen, ferruginous, straight, eglandular hairs to 5 mm long, glabrate; bark cracking longitudinally, brownish; twigs subterete to bluntly angled, puberulent and densely strigose to hirsute; buds ovate, scales glabrous. Leaves thin-coriaceous, ovate to elliptic, (0.6-)1.2-2.5 × (0.3-) 0.5-1.5 cm, base rounded or obtuse, apex short-acuminate but not mucronate, flat but margin slightly revolute, obscurely and minutely serrate, glabrous or sparsely hirsute (minutely papillose) above, hirsute to somewhat strigose beneath with basally swollen, ferruginous, eglandular hairs to 2 mm long; midrib plane to slightly raised above, raised and conspicuous beneath, lateral nerves (2-3 per side) raised and conspicuous above and beneath, reticulate veinlets raised and conspicuous above and slightly raised to plane and ± obscure beneath; petiole subterete, flattened and slightly canaliculate above, 1.5-4 mm long, glabrous to puberulent above, hirsute beneath. Inflorescence with flowers solitary in axils of normal or slightly reduced leaves; pedicels terete, 2-3.5 mm long, much shorter than subtending leaves, densely puberulent and also densely hirsute with eglandular, straight or crisped hairs to 2-3 mm long; bracteoles 2, basal, ovate, 1.5-2 × 1-1.5 mm, acute, glabrous but ciliolate; floral bract similar to bracteoles. Flowers with calyx 2.5-4 mm long, hirsute with reddish to ferruginous, eglandular hairs 2-3 mm long, lobes ovate, 2.3-3.5 × 1.2-1.5 mm, long-acuminate, ciliate, densely short-white-puberulent within; corolla cylindric-campanulate, broadest distally, not noticeably constricted at throat, 3-3.5 x ca. 3 mm, white when fresh, glabrous without, densely short-sericeous around throat within, lobes oblong, obtuse; stamens 1.8-2.4 mm long; filaments 1.2-1.6 mm long, glabrous; anthers 1-1.2 mm long, inconspicuously bifid to short-awned apically; ovary glabrous or densely short-pilose; style ca. 2 mm long, glabrous. Fruiting calyx globose, 4-6 mm diam., hirsute.
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Discussion
Gaultheria myrtilloides is characterized by a combination of small, thin-stemmed, rhizomatous habit; stems, leaves, and calyx long- and densely hirsute; solitary, axillary flowers on very short pedicels; inconspicuously awned anthers; and persistently hirsute fruits. It is related to the other southeastern Brazilian species, viz., G. bradeana and G. ulei, all having in common solitary, axillary flowers, small basically thin-stemmed habit, small campanulate to cylindric-campanulate corollas, and inconspicuously awned or awnless anthers. Although G. myrtilloides is probably most closely related to G. bradeana and G. ulei, it has in common with G. itatiaiae the additional features of eglandular, long-hirsute to strigose stems, leaves, and pedicels, long-acuminate calyx lobes, and ovate leaves. Gaultheria itatiaiae is easily separated from G. myrtilloides, however, by its inflorescences in which the flowers are congested into pseudoracemes.
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Objects
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Distribution
I have no information about the habitat in which this species occurs. Flowering and fruiting Nov to Apr.
Brazil South America| Minas Gerais Brazil South America| Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America|