Themistoclesia pentandra Sleumer

  • Family

    Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Themistoclesia pentandra Sleumer

  • Primary Citation

    Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 71: 392. 1941

  • Description

    Description: Epiphytic, often slender and straggly shrub 3-6(-15) dm tall with ascendent branches; stems terete, striate, fissured, grayish to brown or reddish-brown, moderately to densely spreadly short-pubescent or pilosulose with hyaline trichomes 0.2-0.6 mm long, glabrate. Leaves spirally arranged, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, (1.5-)2-3.5(-4.5) x (0.8-)1.2-2(-2.5) cm, basally cuneate, less commonly rounded, apically acute to obtuse, entire, moderately but inconspicuously spreading pilosulose to puberulous on both the surfaces when young, becoming glabrate or more sparsely pubescent, the lower surface also inconspicuously moderately glandular strigillose; obscurely 3-5-plinerved, the midvein and the principal veins slightly elevated above and beneath, the lateral veins obscurely reticulate on both the surfaces. Inflorescence of axillary, solitary or very rarely paired flowers; floral bracts 2 or 4, triangular, 1-1.5 mm long; bracteoles 2, appressed, lanceolate, puberulous 1.2-1.5 mm long; pedicels terete, puberulous 1.5-2.5. mm long. Flowers with the hypanthium 3.4-4 mm long, conspicuously 4-5-winged, the wings conspicuously ciliate with hyaline trichomes 0.2-0.4 mm long, these trichomes occurring elsewhere on the surface, the surface of the hypanthium sparingly to moderately beset with minute, glandular trichomes; limb 0.8-1 mm long including the minute apiculate lobes; corolla sharply pentangular, tapering sharply to the throat, 3-4.5 mm long, basally 2-2.5 mm in diam., moderately hyaline pilosulose throughout, both internally and externally, light orange with a pale yellow tip, the lobes 4-5, narrowly triangular, acute, 1-1.5 mm long, erect or the tips slightly spreading; stamens 5-10, 3.2-3.5 mm long, equal or nearly so, about as long as the corolla tube; filaments glabrous or sparingly ciliate, ca. 1.5 mm long, flattened basally; thecae attached medially, slightly granular, 1-1.2 mm long; tubules smooth, conical, 1.5-1.8 mm long; stigma truncate; style 3-3.5 mm long or about as long as the corolla tube. Fruit 4-5-winged, the wings 1-2 mm wide, pale greenish, 5-7 mm long.

    Distribution: Costa Rica and Panama.

    Type: Costa Rica. Cartago: La Estrella, Standley 39374 (holotype, US).

  • Floras and Monographs

    Themistoclesia pentandra Sleumer: [Article] 1941. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 71: 392.