Thibaudia parvifolia (Benth.) Hoerold

  • Family

    Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Thibaudia parvifolia (Benth.) Hoerold

  • Primary Citation

    Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 42: 275. 1909

  • Basionym

    Ceratostema parvifolium Benth.

  • Description

    Description: Terrestrial shrub 0.3-3 m tall; stem terete, glabrous, grayish with thin, exfoliating bark; twigs terete to subterete or complanate and then bluntly to sharply angled, striate, puberulous. Leaves thick-coriaceous, congested, oblong- to ovate-elliptic, 1.2-2.3 x (0.5-)0.6-1.5 cm, base rounded and sometimes subcordate, apex bluntly acute, obtuse, or rounded, margin slightly to conspicuously revolute, remotely crenate with each tooth terminating in a glandular hair ca. 0.3-0.4 mm long, glabrous or puberulent along midrib on both surfaces and ciliate, bearing scattered, brownish glandular-fimbriae beneath; pinnately nerved with 2-3 lateral nerves per side, midrib impressed above and raised beneath, lateral nerves slightly impressed but inconspicuous above and obscure beneath, reticulate veinlets impressed above but inconspicuous and obscure beneath; petiole subterete, flattened to shallowly canaliculate above, rugose, to 2 mm long, puberulent to short-pilose. Inflorescence axillary, solitary, fasciculate, 1-2-flowered; rachis none; floral bract ovate, obtuse, ca. 2 mm long, marginally deciduously glandular-fimbriate; pedicel subterete, sharply ribbed to striate, nitid, 5-12 mm long, glabrous; bracteoles nearly basal to medial, ovate, acuminate-aristate, ca. 2 mm long, ciliate, marginally glandular-fimbriate. Flowers 5-merous, with calyx articulate, 6-8 mm long, short-pilose to puberulent; hypanthium cylindric, terete to ribbed or bluntly 5-angled, rugose, 2.5-3 mm long, bearing scattered, flat, reddish, glandular-fimbriae, green to dull red, limb conspicuously campanulate-spreading, 3-5 mm long; lobes triangular-ovate, acuminate to apiculate, 1-2.3 mm long, sometimes splitting irregularly; sinuses acute to rounded; corolla cylindric, rarely ± zygomorphic but somewhat curving upwards distally, 16-20 mm long and ca. 6 mm diam., glabrous to puberulent or sometimes densely short-pilose, also bearing scattered, reddish, glandular fimbriae to 1.5 mm long, dull to bright red to paler red distally with white lobes, the lobes oblong-triangular, bluntly acute, 2-5 mm long; stamen 10, slightly alternately unequal, 13-15 mm long; filaments connate into a tube 4-4 mm long, short-pilose distally and onto the connective; anthers 10-12 mm long; thecae smooth, 4.5-6.5 mm long; tubules distinct to base, 5-5.5 mm long, dehiscing by clefts 3-3.5 mm long; style equal to corolla or normally shortly exserted, 22-25 mm long, glabrous. Berry spherical, 8-11 mm diam., violet to blue-black.

    Distribution: Colombia and Ecuador; montane wet forest, elfin forest, subpáramo, to grass and Espeletia páramo, at 3000-4000 m altitude.

    Type: Colombia. Cauca: Near Laguna de Guanacas, 3660 m, Hartweg 1208 (holotype, K, fragment NY; isotypes, BM, BREM, CGE, G, K, OXF; photo of G type F neg. 28921).

    Uses: Ecuador: fruit edible, sweet.

    Illustration: Luteyn (1996), plate 6

  • Floras and Monographs

    Thibaudia parvifolia (Benth.) Hoerold: [Article] Smith, Albert C. 1952. Plants collected in Ecuador by W. H. camp. Vaceiniaceae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 8 (1): 41-85.

    Thibaudia parvifolia (Benth.) Hoerold: [Article] 1909. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 42: 275.