Ugni
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Authority
Maguire, Bassett. 1969. The botany of the Guayana Highland-part VIII. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 18: 1-290.
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Family
Myrtaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Genus Description - Berg recognized 10 species of this typically Andean genus, viz., 4 in Chile, 1 in Juan Fernandez, 4 in Central America and 1 in the northern Andes. Subsequent workers have mostly attempted to follow Berg by applying his names in the appropriate geographical areas, i.e., Ugni, or Myrtus, montana in Mexico; U. friedrichsthalii in Guatemala; U. oerstedii in Costa Rica; and U. myricoides in Venezuela and Colombia. The so-called species very much resemble one another, and some authors have questioned their distinctness. Standley (Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 23: 1039. 1924) considered what he called Myrtus friedrichsthalii as "probably not distinct from M . montana." Steyermark (Fieldiana Bot. 2 8: 1020-1022. 1957), on the basis of his own field experience on Mt. Roraima, reduced M . roraimensis N. E. Brown (described 1901) and M . stenophylla Oliver (1887) to varietal status under M. myi-icoides H.B.K. [= Ugni myricoides (H.B.K.) Berg]. In the Flora of Guatemala (Fieldiana Bot. 24(7): 403. 1963) I myself expressed the opinion that ah the Mexican and Central American plants of this ahiance are best treated as a single species, this "doubtfully distinct from U. myricoides." N o w after examination of much new material from the mountains of Guayana, and some previously unstudied collections from the Andes, I conclude that all the plants from Peru northward belong to a single highly variable species, U. myricoides (H.B.K.) Berg. Hardly any of the variation can be regarded as qualitative in nature, but a number of local montane populations are easily recognized in the herbarium by such features as presence or absence of pubescence, size (and especiahy width) of leaves, length of peduncles, length and width of calyx-lobes, and size of flowers. Berg attempted to separate the species he recognized on the basis of anther-shape and by the number of glands at the tips of the anthers; as I have noted in the Flora of Guatemala, neither of these features seems to be consistent.