Lyonia longipes Urb.

Description

Description: Low shrub; twigs moderately to slightly angled, slender, sparsely lepidote, otherwise sparsely pubescent; buds ovoid, 0.8-1 x 0.6-1 mm. Leaf blades ovate to elliptic, 1-3.5 x 0.7-2.3 cm, ± flat, often strongly coriaceous, ca. 0.45-0.56 mm thick; base rounded to slightly cordate; apex acute to rounded; margin plane to slightly revolute, apical portion entire to sinuous or occasionally very obscurely toothed, basal portion entire; venation brochidodromous, 3o veins reticulate; adaxial surface lepidote but scales usually quickly deciduous, sparsely pubescent on basal portion of midvein, 3o and higher order veins visible to less commonly obscure, midvein not depressed, 2o veins not depressed; abaxial surface sparsely lepidote, otherwise glabrous (very sparsely pubescent on midvein near petiole), the 3o and higher order veins very slightly raised, slightly and laxly reticulate, as prominent as 2o (or nearly so), the 2o veins raised and visible; scales rust colored, persistent to deciduous, ca. 0.12-0.17 mm in diameter, ± entire; petiole 1-5 mm long, lepidote, otherwise pubescent all around or less commonly only adaxially flower buds ± intermixed with vegetative buds. Inflorescences fasciculate, ca. 1- to 10-flowered; pedicels usually clearly articulated with calyx, slender, 10-31 mm long, lepidote, otherwise sparsely to moderately pubescent; bracteoles subopposite to alternate, near base of pedicel, narrowly triangular, 0.5-1 mm long; floral bracts to ca. 2 mm long. Flowers (4-)5-merous; calyx lobes triangular, with acuminate to acute apices, 2-3 x 1-1.7 mm, adaxial side often sparsely lepidote near margins, otherwise sparsely pubescent, especially near apex, abaxial side lepidote, sometimes densely so, otherwise glabrous to moderately pubescent near base; corolla urceolate, pink(?), 5-7 X 3.5-5 mm, abaxially ± moderately lepidote, sometimes appearing golden; filaments roughened, ca. 3 mm long(?), usually with very short spurs to ca. 0.1 mm long near anther-filament junction; anthers ca. 1.2 mm long(?); ovary lepidote, otherwise pubescent, placentae ± subapical. Capsules ovoid, with straight-sided valves, 4-7 x 4-6 mm, lepidote, otherwise sparsely pubescent, the pale, very thick sutures separating as unit from adjacent valves; seeds 1.5-2.5 mm long.

Distribution: Endemic to Cuba (Prov. Oriente, Sierra de Cristal), in dense thickets, dwarfed Pinus cubensis forests, rocky slopes, or with Arthrostylidium, at ca. 600-1300 m elev.

Type: Cuba. Oriente: nr. summit of Sierra de Cristal, 1200-1300 m, 8 Mar 1916, Ekman 6824 (holotype, S; frag. of holotype, NY).

Illustration: Judd (1995), fig. 22.

Floras and Monographs

Lyonia longipes Urb.: [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.

Map Distribution

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