Rusbya taxifolia Britton
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Description
Description: Epiphytic shrub, branches swollen at the nodes and distinctly marked by leaf scars, glabrous; bud scales subulate, persistent. Leaves alternate, evergreen, coriaceous, crowded, linear-oblong, 20-30 x ca. 2 mm, base cuneate, apex rounded or slightly emarginate, glabrous, margin entire and slightly thickened; venation 1-nerved, the midrib impressed above and plane beneath, continuing to apex; petiole canaliculate, less than 1 mm long. Inflorescences sparse, axillary, solitary, with 1 flower; bracts at base of inflorescence inconspicuous, ovate, ciliate, ca. 0.6 x 0.2 mm; pedicel 10-12 mm long; bracteoles basal, deciduous, oblong-ovate, acute, ciliate, ca. 0.8 mm long. Flowers 5-merous, without odor; aestivation valvate; calyx continuous with pedicel; hypanthium obconical or campanulate, narrowly 5-angled, rugose, ca. 3 mm long; limb suberect, ca. 2 mm long including lobes; lobes elongate-triangular, ca. 1.5 x 1.3 mm, with prominent midnerve; sinuses acute; corolla cylindric-urceolate, 8-9 mm long and ca. 4 mm diam., narrowing to 2 mm diam. at throat, glabrous, the lobes reflexed, oblong, subacute, ca. 1.5 x 1 mm; stamens 10, nearly equalling corolla, alternately unequal, ca. 7 mm and 7.2 mm long; filaments distinct, alternately unequal, ca. 1.5 mm and 2.5 mm long, pubescent at margins, lacking spurs, shorter than anthers; anthers alternately unequal, basifixed, without disintegration tissue; thecae alternately unequal, ca. 3 mm and 2.7 mm long, smooth to very slightly granular; tubules equal, ca. 3.4 mm long, broad, dehiscing by elongate clefts more than half the length; pollen without viscin threads; ovary inferior; style filiform, nearly equalling corolla, ca. 7.5 mm long; nectariferous disc not seen. Fruit not seen.
Distribution: Endemic to Bolivia and known only from two collections.
Type: Bolivia. Dept. La Paz: Yungas, 1250 m, Rusby 2692 (holotype, NY; isotype: US).
Conservation status: Rare and endangered.
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Floras and Monographs
Rusbya taxifolia Britton: [Article] 1893. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club. 20: 68.
