Psammisia graebneriana Hoerold
-
Authority
1909. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 42: 304.
-
Family
Ericaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Type
Type: Ecuador. Pichincha: Río Pilatón, 800-1000 m, Sodiro 92/14 (lectotype, designated by A. C. Smith (1932), B, destroyed; neolectotype, designated by Luteyn (1996), NY fragment ex B, photo ACS neg. 145).
-
Description
Species Description - Terrestrial or epiphytic shrub, sometimes lianoid with branches to 4 m long; stem and twigs terete to subterete, often bluntly angular, stout, striate, nitid, glabrous. Leaves thick coriaceous, ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 7-30 x 3-11 cm, base rounded to cuneate, apex acute or short- to long-acuminate, margin entire and slightly revolute, glabrous on both surfaces; pinnately nerved with 2-4 lateral nerves per side, midrib and secondary nerves slightly impressed above and prominent beneath, reticulate veinlets nearly plane on both surfaces; petiole winged above, rugose, 4-12 mm long, glabrous. Inflorescence axillary, short-racemose, 8-16-flowered, glabrous in all parts; rachis subterete, congested, angled, stout, ca. 1-1.5 cm long; floral bract persistent, triangular-ovate to oblong, acuminate to obtuse,ca. 2.5-4 mm long, marginally glandular-fimbriate; pedicel subterete, sharply angled or ribbed, 20-40 mm long; bracteoles nearly basal, ovate, acute,ca. 2-2.3 mm long, margin glandular-fimbriate. Flowers with calyx 7-10 mm long; hypanthium short-cylindric, rugose, 4-6 mm long andca. 6 mm diam., very wrinkled and the base truncate when dry; limb spreading, cupuliform, 3-4 mm long; lobes triangular or ovate-apiculate, subacute, 2 mm long; sinuses acute; corolla thick-carnose, broadly urceolate, ventricose at base, 9-15 mm long andca. 6 mm diam. at base when dry (ca 11 mm diam. when fresh), the lobes spreading, 2-3.5 mm long; stamen 6-7.8 mm long; filaments distinct or connate, 2-3.5 mm long, glabrous, attached to the thecae near the top, the connectives thick, broad, lacking spurs or 2-spurred and then alternately more slender and more obviously spurred; anthersca. 7 mm long; thecae 4-4.5 mm long; tubules distinct, slender, 2-3 mm long, dehiscing by clefts nearly the entire length; style stout, nearly as long as corolla. Mature berry not seen, but immature spherical, at least 15 mm diam.
Distribution and Ecology - Colombia and Ecuador; premontane moist forest to montane rainforest, at 1800-3700 m altitude.
-
Discussion
Uses fruits edible.
-
Common Names
chaquilulo, gualicón de árbol