Macrocarpaea

• Authority

  Maguire, Bassett. 1978. The botany of the Guayana Highland--part XI. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 32: 1-391.

• Family

  Gentianaceae

• Scientific Name

  Macrocarpaea

• Discussion

  1. Macrocarpaea (Grisebach) Gilg, Naturl. Pflanzenfam. 4(2): 94. 1895. Lisianthus sect Macrocarpaea Grisebach, Gen. Sp. Gent. 173. 1839. Type. Macrocarpaea glabra (L. f.) Gilg. There are four species of Macrocarpaea, as defined by Gilg (1895) and as recently limited by Weaver (1972), in Guayana. Their pollens are shed as monads and are the ''Glabra type" as described by Nilsson (1968). Species, of our area, with pollens forming tetrads, and elsewhere, included in Macrocarpaea are here removed from this genus. In macromorphology species are to be immediately associated with M. bracteata ofthe Venezuelan Andes in the State of Lara (and, interestingly, M. dominguensis ofthe Dominican Republic ?), and more generally to the largely cordiUeran complex. The genus is wholly neotropical. This report makes no attempt to evaluate the rather heterogeneous assemblage of some 30 species ranging from Costa Rica through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia to eastern Brasil and the West Indies. The revision of Ewan (1948) would serve as base for further critical study.