Lateropora ovata A.C.Sm.

  • Family

    Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Lateropora ovata A.C.Sm.

  • Primary Citation

    Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 28: 334. 1932

  • Type Specimens

    Specimen 1: Isotype -- H. F. Pittier 3234, verif. T. A. Zanoni, 2023

    Remarks: Fluid-preserved

  • Description

    Description: Epiphytic or terrestrial shrub, 2-3 m tall; branches and branchlets subterete, glabrous, striate, thick and widely divergent. Leaf blades coriaceous, ovate to broadly elliptic, 6-13 x 4-6(-9) cm, glabrate or with appressed, reddish-brown, strigillose trichomes 0.2-0.6 mm long, basally cuneate, acute to obtuse apically, entire; pinnately veined, the 3-5 secondary veins arcuate and the veinlets conspicuously reticulate, slightly elevated both above and beneath; petioles glabrous, 0.5-1.5 cm long and 1.5-3 mm in diam. Inflorescences compact axillary, umbelliform racemes, the glabrous, stout peduncle and rachis 12-16 mm long, basally bracteate; floral bracts broadly ovate, thick, scale-like, ciliate, 4-5 x 3.5-4.5 mm; pedicels 3-10 mm long and 2 mm in diam.; bracteoles 2, subopposite, broadly ciliate, keeled, ovate, 3-4 x, 4-5 mm, borne near the base of the pedicel. Flowers with the calyx disarticulating from the pedicel by a marked groove and with a fringe of glandular trichomes 0.1-0.2 mm long; hypanthium campanulate, thick walled, 4-5 mm high and 4 mm in diam., sparingly strigillose with appressed glandular trichomes; limb glabrous, 1-1.5 mm high; lobes erect or incurved, broadly triangular, acute, 2-3 x 4-5 mm, short-ciliate; corolla broadly cylindric or subglobose, pale greenish-white, 6-8 mm long, medially 7-8 mm in diam., sparsely pubescent outside near the middle with appressed trichomes, 0.4-0.6 mm long, the lobes spreading to reflexed, triangular, acute, ca. 3 x 4.5-5 mm, densely tangled villous within with white trichomes 0.4-0.7 mm long; stamens 10; filaments flattened, 3-4 mm long, broadened basally to ca. 1 mm wide, tapering gradually upwards to ca. 0.6 mm, glabrous for about the basal third, strikingly pilose above with trichomes 0.5-1 mm long; anthers medially attached, 3-4 mm long; thecae conspicuously granular, the base strongly incurved; tubules submembranous, vestigal, to 0.3 mm long; anthers dehiscing by a longitudinal slit extending from the apex to the base; style ca. 7 mm long.

    Type: Panama. Chiriquí: summit of Cerro de la Horqueta, 2268 m, 18 Mar 1911 (fl), Pittier 3234 (holotype, US, photo of holotype, DUKE, NY).

    Distribution: E Costa Rica and W Panama.

    Conservation Status: Rare and endangered.

  • Floras and Monographs

    Lateropora ovata A.C.Sm.: [Article] 1932. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 28: 334.