Utleya costaricensis Wilbur & Luteyn

  • Family

    Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Utleya costaricensis Wilbur & Luteyn

  • Primary Citation

    Brittonia 29(3): 267. 1977

  • Type Specimens

    Specimen 1: Isotype -- J. L. Luteyn 4412, verif. R. L. Wilbur, 1977

  • Description

    Description: Epiphytic shrub ca. 1 m tall; mature stems glabrous, subterete and usually with narrow, corky wings; bark gray; immature stems and twigs of new growth glabrous, sharply angled, 3-5-winged with wings to ca. 1 mm broad, reddish-brown when dry. Leaves alternate, exstipulate but with pseudostipules in the form of subulate bud scales 2-2.5 mm long; lamina broadly elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 2.5-5(-6) x (1-)1.5-3.5 cm, basally cuneate and decurrent onto the petiole, apically short-acuminate with the apex ultimately either acute or obtuse, glabrous on both sides but with scattered, reddish, glandular fimbriae, margins slightly revolute, entire or distally crenate; pinnately nerved, midrib very prominent above and raised proximal 1/3-1/2 but plane to slightly impressed distally, carinate beneath, lateral nerves arcuate and anastomosing near the margins, slightly impressed above but raised beneath, veinlets reticulate and slightly raised on both sides; petioles 4-12 mm long, sharply angled, canaliculate or carinate above, carinate beneath, glabrous but with scattered glandular fimbriae. Inflorescence racemose, 3-4-flowered; rachis glabrous, 3-6 mm long, sharply angled, with 2-4 tiny (less than 1 mm long), ovate bracts at base; floral bracts ovate, ca. 1 mm long; pedicels articulate with the calyx, subterete, striate, angled, 12-14 mm long and ca. 0.5 mm in diam., glabrous but with scattered glandular fimbriae; bracteoles basal, ovate, acute, 1-1.5 mm long, glandular-fimbriate marginally. Flowers with calyx 5.5-8 mm long and 7-9 mm across the top including the wings, broadly 5-winged, the wings alternate with and produced beyond the lobes, 2-3 mm broad; hypanthium obconic, 2-2.5 mm long, glabrous but glandular-fimbriate basally; limb spreading, ca. 2 mm long including the lobes; lobes apiculate, ca. 0.5 mm long; corolla fleshy, urceolate, pentagonal in cross-section, strongly constricted at the throat, ca. 4 mm long and 6 mm diam. including the spurs, glabrous without but densely pilose within at throat, light pink with white lobes, the tube bearing behind each lobe vertically oriented, ovate-obtuse laterally compressed spurs about twice as tall as the lobes proper, spurs ca. 1.5 mm broad at widest point, the lobes triangular, ca. 1 mm long, slightly reflexed at anthesis; stamens 10, equal, ca. 3 mm long; filaments distinct, ca. 2 mm long, densely long-pilose in distal 1/2; anthers 1.5-1.75 mm long; thecae strongly curved inwards at the base, ca. 1 mm long, surface slightly granular; tubules 0.5-0.75 mm long, dehiscing introrsely although somewhat latrorsely their entire length and somewhat onto the theca itself; style ca. 2 mm long, glabrous, included. Fruit not seen.

    Distribution: Endemic to central Costa Rica and known from fewer than 6 collections.

    Type: Costa Rica. Cartago: Steep roadside slopes on property of ICE hydroelectric plant, ca.15-20 km beyond the suspension bridge over the Río Grande de Orosí, 1300-1800 m, 20 Dec 1974 (fl), Luteyn et al. 4412 (holotype, DUKE; isotypes, DUKE, F, GH, MICH, MO, NY, US).

    Conservation status: Rare and endangered.

  • Sorry, no descriptions available for this record.