Bejaria sprucei Meisn.

  • Family

    Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Bejaria sprucei Meisn.

  • Primary Citation

    Fl. Bras. (Martius) 7: 171. 1863

  • Type Specimens

    Specimen 1: Type -- R. Spruce 3994

    Specimen 2: Type fragment -- R. Spruce 3994

  • Common Names

    candelaria, itu-kuyó-kuyén, mause

  • Description

    Description: Shrub or tree 0.3-15 m tall; bark fissured, glabrous, hispid, or glandular-hispid, brownish-red, gray, or black and white striped; twigs terete, rusty-red, maroon, or gray, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid. Leaves coriaceous, flat, sometimes revolute, rarely longitudinally-curled, elliptic to narrowly elliptic or narrowly ovate to narrowly narrowly ovate, sometimes ovate or obovate, 1.5-5.3(-6.6) x 0.2-2.1(-2.9) cm, base cuneate (obtuse), apex acute to obtuse (acuminate or rounded), often mucronate, margin entire, ciliate or glandular-ciliate, both surfaces glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid, the hairs near the leaf apex sometimes forking; petiole subterete, 2-6(-7.5) mm long, glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid. Inflorescence terminal, axillary, or both, racemose, (3-)8-17-flowered; rachis brown, tan, or brownish-orange, (1.8-)2.8-7.4(-12) cm long, 0.6-1.4(-1.7) mm diam., glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid; pedicel 9-29(-33) mm long, 0.3-0.6(-0.8) mm diam., glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid; bracteoles inserted on the basal 1/2 of the pedicel, narrowly elliptic or narrowly oblong to linear, involute, 1-3(-3.3) x 0.2-0.6 mm, base truncate, apex obtuse or acute, margin glabrous, ciliate, ciliolate, or glandular ciliate, indumentum as on the leaves; floral bracts narrowly elliptic to elliptic or narrowly narrowly ovate, flat or involute, 1.8-6.9(-13.3) x 0.5-2.8(-3.1) mm, base cuneate or truncate, apex acute to acuminate, sometimes obtuse, margin entire, ciliate, glandular-ciliate, or ciliolate, indumentum as on the leaves. Flowers 5-7-merous; calyx 2.5-4.8 mm long; tube 0.5-2 mm long, 2.4-4 mm diam., brown, orange, or purple, glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid; lobes widely-ovate to depressed-ovate, sometimes ovate, apex obtuse to acute, 0.9-3.2(-4.2) x 1.1-3.3(-3.7) mm, the longest lobes 1.1-3.1(-4.2) mm long, margin entire, erose, dentate, ciliolate, or sometimes glandular-ciliolate, abaxial surface glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid; corolla tubular, pink to dark red (white), petals narrowly obovate, 7-28 x 2-7.6(-8.8) mm, margin entire, glabrous or distally slightly tomentose; stamens long exserted more than 1.2 times the petal length, rarely subequal to the corolla, (8-)13.5-36.5 mm long; filaments tomentose; anthers 1-2.6 mm long, 0.6-1.2 mm diam., glabrous; ovary glabrous; style exserted, 18.5-40.5 mm long; stigma capitate. Capsule depressed obovoid, 4-4.7 mm long, 5.5-6.8 mm diam., brown, exocarp not separating from the valves; seeds 0.6-1.5 mm long, 0.2-0.6 mm diam.

    Distribution: Guayana Highland (from the Cordillera de Macarena, Colombia, to the Pakaraima Mountains and the Kaieteur Plateau, Guayana), the mountains near Táchira and Anzoátegui, Venezuela and in NE Peru near San Martín. It grows in a variety of habitats including grassland, savannas, forests, and rarely on exposed rock faces, at 150-2200 m. elevation. It flowers and bears fruit sporadically throughout the year.

    Local Names: Candelaria (Peru); itu-kuyó-kuyén (Gran Savanna, pemón dialect).

    Illustrations: Clemants (1995), figs. 13A-I and 14A-B.

    Type: Peru. San Martín: Nr. Tarapoto, 1855-1865, Spruce 3994 (lectotype, designated by Mansfeld & Sleumer (1935): BR, photo NY neg. 11699; isolectotypes: BM, BR, C, E, G-DC, G-BOIS, GH, GOET, K, LD, LE, MPU, NY, OXF, S, W, fragments F, NY, photos F neg. 760, NY type herbarium microfiche #760/C9).

    Source: http://www.nybg.org/bsci/res/lut2/

  • Floras and Monographs

    Bejaria sprucei Meisn.: [Article] Luteyn, James L., et al. 1995. Ericaceae, Part II. The Superior-Ovaried Genera (Monotropoideae, Pyroloideae, Rhododendroideae, and Vaccinioideae P.P.). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 66: 560.