Thibaudia inflata Luteyn
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Description
Description: Climbing epiphyte or terrestrial shrub with branches to 3 m tall; stem terete to subterete, then bluntly angled, striate, glabrous; twigs subterete, complanate, broadly and bluntly angled, striate, glabrous but with scattered glandualr-fimbriae 0.2-0.3 mm long; bud scales narrowly lanceolate, long-acuminate, ca. 2 mm long; bark cracking longitudinally in thin strips. Leaves coriaceous, elliptic, (19-)24-38 x (5-)9-13 cm, base obtuse to rounded, apex shortly and abruptly acuminate, margin slightly revolute near base, glabrous on both surfaces, although with deciduous, scattered glandular fimbriae as on the twigs especially beneath; 5(-7)-plinerved with inner pair of lateral nerves arising in the proximal 2-5 cm, midrib prominent, thickened and raised in the proximal 2-5 cm, then impressed distally above, raised and prominent beneath, lateral nerves impressed above and prominent beneath, reticulate veinlets slightly impressed above and slightly raised beneath but not prominent on either surface; petiole terete, stout, rugose, 7-11 mm long and 3-4 mm diam., weakly puberulent, glabrate. Inflorescence pin-cushion type, bearing 1-several (apparently to 5) rachises, usually on older stems in axils of fallen leaves, racemes 2-10-flowered; rachis angled, 4-11 mm long, glabrous, surrounded at the base by a series of lose, ovate, acuminate bracts ca. 1.5 mm long; floral bract persistent, ovate, acute to acuminate, 1.5-2 x 1-1.5 mm, glabrous; pedicel subterete, striate, 7-11 mm long, glabrous or rarely puberulent but sometimes also glandular-fimbriate; bracteoles nearly basal to nearly midway along the pedicel, often subopposite, ovate, acuminate, 1-1.5 x ca. 0.5 mm, glabrous. Flowers with calyx continuous with pedicel, 3-5 mm long, glabrous or rarely puberulent; hypanthium campanulate-subspherical, terete not angled at anthesis, 2-4 mm long, rugose; limb erect-spreading, ca. 1 mm long; lobes triangular, 0.7-0.8 mm long; sinuses obtuse to rounded, ciliolate; corolla cylindric, sharply angled and narrowly winged over the entire length opposite the lobes (most conspicuous in the dried state), 17-23 mm long and 3-6 mm diam., red basally becoming white at throat, glabrous although with a few glandular fimbriae along edge of the wings, the wings ca. 0.3 mm broad, the lobes oblong-ovate, acute, ca. 2 mm long, white; stamen equal, ca. 20 mm long; filaments connate, ca. 5.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers ca. 16 mm long; thecae smooth, ca. 7 mm long, the bases long-tapering and there laterally coherent; tubules distinct to base, ca. 9 mm long, dehiscing by clefts 4-5 mm long; style about equalling corolla, glabrous. Berry spherical, ca. 10 mm diam. when fresh but drying parchment-thin and ca. 13 mm diam., purple to blue-black, glabrous.
Distribution: Endemic to Ecuador; rainforest and premontane wet forest, at 600-2200 m altitude.
Type: Ecuador. Pichincha: Quito-Santo Domingo de los Colorados old road, Reserva Florística-Ecológica Río Guajalito, near Km 59 at Las Palmeras, 1800-1900 m, 9 Apr 1992 (fl, fr), Luteyn et al. 14423 (holotype, NY-2 sheets; isotypes, AAU, MO, QCA).
Local name: trepadora.
Uses: fruit eaten by the bird "pava silvestre".
Conservation status: Rare and endangered.
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Floras and Monographs
Thibaudia inflata Luteyn: [Article] 1996. Fl. Ecuador. 54: 299.
