Dicliptera squarrosa Nees

  • Authority

    Wasshausen, Dieter C. & Wood, John R. I. 2004. Acanthaceae of Bolivia. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 49: 1-152.

  • Family

    Acanthaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Dicliptera squarrosa Nees

  • Type

    Type: Brazil, Minas Gerais, Reidel 34 (lectotype, here chosen, GZU; isolectotype NY). Dicliptera sericea Nees, in Mart. Fl. Bras. 9:161. 1847. TYPE: Brazil, Sao Paulo, Sorocoba, Riedel & Lund 1984 (lectotype LE, here chosen; isolectotype NY). Dicliptera pohliana Nees, in Mart. Fl. Bras. 9:162. 1847. TYPE: Brazil, Minas Gerais, Tazenda de Roma, Pohl 2973 (lectotype, W, here chosen). Dicliptera tweediana Nees, in DC., Prodr. 11:482. 1847. TYPE: Uruguay, Porto Alegre, Sellow 13 (585), 16 (4531) (syntypes B, destroyed) Dicliptera niederleiniana Lindau, Bot. Jahr. 19 Beibl. 48:18. 1894. TYPE: Argentina. Entre Rios, Primer Misionero de Hernandez, Puck & Fernandez 42 (holotype B. destroyed). Dicliptera imminuta Rizzini, Arquiv. Jard. Bat. Rio de Janeiro, 8:348. 1948. TYPE: Brazil, Santa Catarina, Reitz C861 (holotype RB). Dicliptera razehii Wassh., Beitr. Biol. Pflanzen 63:425. 1988. TYPE: Peru, Cuzco, prov. Urubamba, Machu Picchu, Rauh & Hirsch P804 (holotype HEID).

  • Description

    Description - Variably pubescent perennial, sometimes erect, to 2 m, sometimes decumbent (especially in open, grazed habitats); leaves ovate or elliptic; inflorescence of terminal, leafy spikes with flowers in clusters in upper leaf axils; bracts oblong or oblanceolate, 6-12 x 1-3 mm; corolla orange-red, 18-23 mm long, not resupinate. In moist gullies in disturbed, usually seasonally dry forest and, less commonly, in rough, disturbed grassland, 200-2400 m. Dicliptera squarrosa is an exceptionally widespread species extending from Brazil south of the Amazon region westward to the eastern slopes of the Andes in Bolivia and Peru and then southward to Uruguay and northern Argentina. Its occurrence further north is uncertain though we feel that Dicliptera rauhii Wassh. from Peru belongs to this species and probably also several species described by Leonard from Colombia. D. squarrosa is very variable with a welter of different forms throughout its range all intergrading with each other and forming no discrete units except perhaps at a very local level. Presently we can make out the following 6 rather imprecise geographical forms, 5 of which occur in Bolivia.

    Phenology - They flower throughout the winter season from about March to September.

  • Discussion

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