Comarostaphylis lanata Small

  • Family

    Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Comarostaphylis lanata Small

  • Primary Citation

    N. Amer. Fl. 29: 88. 1914

  • Type Specimens

    Specimen 1: Holotype -- C. A. Purpus 4936

  • Description

    Description: (Erect evergreen shrubs?); young twigs densely hirsute with stalked, swollen-headed glandular hairs. Leaves congested at stem tips, coriaceous, lance-elliptic to elliptic, 3.5-6.6 x 0.9-2.2 cm, basally cuneate, apically acute, sometimes mucronate, marginally entire, revolute, upper surface pubescent with stalked, swollen-headed glandular and eglandular tricomes, becoming less so with age but never glabrous, lower surface lanate with dense gray to tan eglandular trichomes, scattered glandular trichomes also present, especially along the midrib; petioles 2-4.5 mm long, densely glandular hirsute as with young twigs. Inflorescences paniculate, often much branched, 5-10.9 cm long; rachis, pedicels, bracts, bracteoles, and calyx densely hirsute with stalked swollen-headed glandular hairs; floral bracts lanceolate to elliptic, 5-9 mm long, ciliate; pedicels 5-9 mm long; bracteoles basal to medial or slightly higher, to 2.8 x 1.3 mm, ciliate. Flowers: calyx lobes long triangular, 1.7-3.1 x 1.7-3.1 mm, acute to acuminate, ciliate; corollas 5.4-6.2 x 3.5-4.7 mm, subglabrous to pubescent with short hyaline hairs, lobes 0.9-1 x 1-1.4 mm; stamens 2.7-3.1 mm long; filaments 2.4-2.8 mm long, sparsely villous; anthers 1.1-1.3 mm long, the spurs 0.4-0.6 mm long; ovary villous; style 3.1-3.3 mm long, glabrous. Fruit drupaceous, dark purple to black at mturity, 4-7 mm in diam.; seeds 1.6-1.8 x 1-1.1 mm, surface reticulate.

    Distribution: Endemic to Mexico; known only from the type locality and one other nearby Purpus station, Bargre [=Bagre 22°08'N, 100°20'W], in southcentral San Luis Potosí. Specimens with flowers and fruit have been collected in May and Nov.

    Type: Mexico. San Luis Potosí: Buena Vista (22°13'N, 100°16'W), May 1911 (fl, fr), Purpus 4936' (holotype: NY, photos, Diggs neg. 19 & NY neg. 9849). Additional Purpus collections (4936, 4936a) are not isotypes, because they were collected on either a different date or at a different locality.

  • Floras and Monographs

    Comarostaphylis lanata Small: [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.