Geophila repens (L.) I.M.Johnst.

  • Authority

    Maguire, Bassett. 1972. The botany of the Guayana Highland--part IX. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 23: 1-832.

  • Family

    Rubiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Geophila repens (L.) I.M.Johnst.

  • Description

    Distribution and Ecology - Distribution. Mexico, Central America, West Indies (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hayti, Jamaica, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Jan, St. Thomas, and Trinidad), and South America, where widely distributed from the Guianas, Colombia, and Venezuela south to Brazil, Bolivia, and Argentina.

  • Discussion

    Rondeletia repens L., Syst. ed. 10. 928. 1759.

    Psychotria repens (L.) L. ex Sandmark, Amoen. Acad. 5: 377. 1759.

    Carinta repens (L.) Smith & Downs, Sellowia 7: 88. 1956.

    Carinta repens (L.) Brem., Verh. Kon. Nederl. Akad. Wetens 54: 118. 1963.

    Psychotria herbacea Jacq., Enum. Pl. Carib. 16. 1760.

    Mapouria herbacea (Jacq.) Muell.-Arg., Mart. Fl. Bras. 6(5): 427. 1881.

    Geophila herbacea (Jacq.) Schum., Engl. & Prantl. Nat. Pfl. IV. 4: 119. 1891.

    Geophila cordata Miq., Linnaea 17: 72. 1843.

    Mapouria cordata (Miq.) Muell.-Arg., Mart. Fl. Bras. 6(5): 426. 1881.

    Cephaelis reniformis H.B.K., Nov. Gen. & Sp. 3: 377. 1819, in part, as to Humboldt & Bonpland 1301 from Havana, Cuba, not Geophila reniformis D. Don.

    Geocardia herbacea (Jacq.) Standi., Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 17: 444. 1914.

    Carinta repens var americana Brem., Verh. Kon. Nederl. Akad. Wetens, 119. 1963.

    Type. Jamaica (Violae folio baccifera repens, flore albo pentapetaloide, fructu dispermo, Sloane, Jam. Cat. 115. 1696 and Hist. 1: 243. n.42, as to Linnaean reference of Rondeletia repens).

    This species, originally described by Linnaeus from collections based in part on Jamaican plants (as Rondeletia repens in Syst. ed. 10. 928. 1759, and later as Psychotria herbacea in Sp. Pl. ed. 2. 1: 245. 1762), is documented by such Jamaica collections as Nichols 175, Britton 3640, and Norman 215, all from Bath, Parish of St. Thomas. Jacquin described Psychotria herbacea from Martinique collections, well illustrated in his Stirp. Sur. Sel. pl. 46. 1763, and documented by such specimens as Pere Duss 1455 from l’Ajoupa-Bouillon. The leaf blades are generally of small size, varying from 1.2-5.5 × 1.2-5 cm, usually rounded to obtuse at the apex, or sometimes acutish, the basal lobes overlapping or with a closed or narrow sinus, the upper surface of the leaf blade varying from glabrous to minutely scabridulous with minute hairs 0.1-0.3 mm long, the lower surface glabrous or pilose on the basal portion of the midrib. As contrasted with G. macropoda (R. & P.) DC., the fruits, when mature, are red, orange, or scarlet, those of G. macropoda, on the other hand, turning black. Some authors (Standley, Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 7: 76. 1930, and 423. 1931) have presumed that the fruit color could vary or that the red changed to black, but as collectors’ notes and field observations have shown, the fruits of G. macropoda are always black at maturity, whereas those of G. repens remain some type of red or orange-red.

    Geophila cordata Miq., described from Suriname, was maintained by Muell.-Argoviensis [Mart. Fl. Bras. 6(5): 426. 1881] as Mapouria cordata as distinct from M. herbacea (= Geophila repens) on the basis of a calyx twice (instead of 2 1/2-3 times) longer than the ovary, and the leaves “laevigata obtuse acutata” instead of “non laevigata, obtusa v. subobtusa.” I have not been able to correlate such differences in the material examined, as there is variation in the apex of the leaves, the degree of glabrity or pubescence on the upper leaf surface, and the calyx lobes vary from 1-3 mm in length, their size depending partly on their stage of maturity. The type collection of G. cordata (Focke 471) has calyx lobes 2.5 mm long, Jamaican specimens of G. repens have calyx lobes 3 mm long in anthesis, other West Indian specimens varying from 2-3 mm long.

    The Humboldt & Bonpland 1301 collection at P, from Havana, Cuba, was treated as Cephaelis reniformis H.B.K., and the Cuban locality cited in their original description (Nov. Gen. & Sp. 3: 377. 1818). An examination of this collection shows it to be conspecific with G. repens with pilose spreading hairs 0.3-0.4 mm long from the inner margins of the petioles and the basal lobes of the leaf blades forming a closed sinus rather than a hippocrepiform sinus as in the specimen of Cephaelis reniformis collected by Humboldt & Bonpland from Yavita, Venezuela, which proves to be a taxon distinct from G. repens.

  • Distribution

    Distribution. Mexico, Central America, West Indies (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hayti, Jamaica, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Jan, St. Thomas, and Trinidad), and South America, where widely distributed from the Guianas, Colombia, and Venezuela south to Brazil, Bolivia, and Argentina. In northern South America and Amazonian Brazil the following specimens are representative.

    Mexico North America| Central America| West Indies| Cuba South America| Puerto Rico South America| Haiti South America| Jamaica South America| Dominican Republic South America| Martinique South America| Guadeloupe South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| South America| Guyana South America| French Guiana South America| Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Brazil South America| Bolivia South America| Argentina South America| Suriname South America| Peru South America| Ecuador South America|