Cavendishia callista Donn.Sm.
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Description
Description: Epiphytic or terrestrial shrub, sometimes more or less scandent, 1.5-4 m tall, in very wet habitats rooting at nodes; stem base ca. 2.5-5 cm in diam. sometimes ± swollen; mature branches terete, glabrate or persistently white pilose; twigs terete to bluntly angled or complanate, light reddish-brown to flesh-colored, glaucous, striate, muricate with tiny reddish papillae, glabrous to densely pilose-hispid, often glabrate, trichomes white, tan or reddish- to yellowish-brown and 0.5-2 mm long; bark brown to reddish-brown. Leaves drying chartaceous to thickly hard coriaceous, often scabrous, nitid, ovate, lanceolate, elliptic, oblong or rarely obovate, (4.5-)7-23(-35) x (1-)2.5-10(-13) cm, basally obtuse, rounded, or truncate often cordate, apically acute to long-acuminate, sometimes abruptly short-acuminate, glabrous to moderately short-pubescent on lamina above, glabrous, glabrate, or densely hispid beneath especially along nerves; (3-)5(-9)-plinerved with nerves arising near base or inner lateral nerves arising up to 2 cm above base, midrib sometimes thick and raised through proximal 3.5 cm, or more commonly with midrib and lateral nerves shallowly to deeply impressed above, raised and very conspicuous beneath, midrib also often flattened proximal half beneath, veinlets slightly elevated on both surfaces or secondary lateral nerves and veinlets deeply impressed above giving lamina a strikingly bullate appearance; petioles subterete, rugose, (4-)6-13(-22) mm long, (1-)2-3(-5) mm in diam., glabrous to densely pilose with trichomes to 1.5 m long. Inflorescence elongate-cylindric in bud, at anthesis viscid, (3-)15-35(-52)-flowered, encircled at base by bracts which are rarely fimbriate; rachis bluntly angled, longitudinally ribbed, glabrous or infrequently weakly to densely sericeous, 4-12(-20) cm long and (3-)4-6(-10) mm in diam., rose-colored when fresh, but drying to yellowish- to orangish-brown, rarely provided with minute, reddish, clavate glands especially at base of floral bracts; floral bracts smooth or distally muricate, oblong, obovate, or oblanceolate, (15-)20-40(-60) x (7-)10-25(-35) m, basally narrowed and truncate, apically rounded or acute, glabrous, pink to deep rose, tips rarely reflexed; pedicels smooth or rugose, usually longitudinally ribbed, usually swollen at both ends, glabrous or infrequently weakly to densely sericeous, 6-15(-20) mm long and 0.5-1.5(-2) mm in diam., rarely with sessile, reddish glands or cartilaginous teeth at distal tip; bracteoles located near base or to 1/3 up pedicel, infrequently conspicuously nerved, ovate-lanceolate, sometimes cucullate, 1-5(-8) x 1-2(-3.5) mm, basally sometimes auriculate-clasping, apically glandular-callose (rarely glandular-callose for nearly entire length), glabrous or rarely sparsely pilose. Flowers: calyx glabrous or infrequently sparsely to densely pilose-hispid, 5-9(-11) mm long, viscid; hypanthium cylindric, coarsely ribbed, rugose, often muricate, (1.5-)2-4(-5.5) mm long, strongly apophysate basally, apophysis 1-1.5 mm long, pinkish-green at anthesis becoming green; limb cylindric or spreading to campanulate, smooth or striate, often muricate, 3.5-6(-8) mm long, dark rose at anthesis becoming pale rose to pink; lobes triangular, 1-2.5(-4) x 2-3 mm, erect after anthesis, glandular-callose, the callus tissue covering lobes completely or restricted to distal 1/3-1/2, green to brownish-green when fresh; sinuses obtuse to broadly acute; corolla cylindric, narrowed to throat, viscid, (15-)18-30(-42) mm long and 4-8 mm in diam., glabrous or densely sericeous without with translucent trichomes 0.5-1.3 mm long, moderately pilose or glabrous within, tube white to grayish pearl-white or with a pinkish hue basally, lobes triangular, 1-3 x 2-3 mm, reflexed at anthesis, white with purple margins; stamens (13-)18-34 mm long; filaments distinct or weakly coherent at base, long filaments pilose distal 1/2 ventrally, short ones pilose distally or glabrous, alternately (1.5-)3-4.5(-6) mm and (4.5-)6-12 mm long; anthers alternately (11-)16-32 mm and (8.5-)12-26 mm long; thecae 5-10(-18) mm long; style (17-)20-35(-40) mm long. Mature berry not seen.
Distribution: Widely distributed in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, central Panama, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Magdalena Dept.), the Pacific lowlands of western Colombia, and in the Guayana Highland from southwestern Venezuela eastwards to French Guiana and Pará, Brazil, rare in north-eastern Ecuador; in cloud forest and woods (sometimes over limestone), tidal forest, mangrove swamps, river margins, roadsides, caatinga forest, and summit of tepuis, at elevations of 0-2000(-2900) m.
Local names: Guatemala: jolonajtzó (Alta Verapaz); Costa Rica: colmillo de perro (Cartago); Colombia: mata-palo (Nariño).
Uses: Standley and Williams (1966) record it as cultivated in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala [probably as an ornamental].
Type: Guatemala. Alta Verapaz: Between Cobán and Samac, 1400 m, May 1886 (fl), von Tuerckheim 941 (holotype: US, photo DUKE s.n.; isotypes: F, G, GH, K, NY1, NY2, P).
Source: http://www.nybg.org/bsci/res/lut2/
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Floras and Monographs
Cavendishia callista Donn.Sm.: [Article] Luteyn, James L. 1983. Ericaceae--part I. Cavendishia. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 35: 1-290.
Cavendishia callista Donn.Sm.: [Article] Luteyn, James L. 1976. A revision of the Mexican Central American species of Cavendishia (Vacciniaceae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 28 (3): 1-138.
