Miconia jimenezii Judd & R.S.Beaman

  • Family

    Melastomataceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Miconia jimenezii Judd & R.S.Beaman

  • Primary Citation

    Brittonia 40: 386. 1988

  • Type Specimens

    Specimen 1: Isotype -- W. S. Judd 5192, verif. W. S. Judd, 2002

  • Description

    Description Author and Date: Walter S. Judd, 2010, based on Judd, W. S. (2007). Revision of Miconia sect. Chaenopleura (Melastomataceae) in the Greater Antilles. Systematic Botany Monographs 81:1-235.

    Type: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Prov. Independencia: Sierra de Neiba, International Highway, ca 30.6 km N of La Descubierta (as measured from town square) on rd to La Doscientos and Hondo Valle, ca 1600 m elev., fl, fr, 30 May 1986, W. S. Judd 5192 (holotype: FLAS!; isotypes: A!, DUKE!, F!, FLAS!, JBSD!, MO!, NY!, S!, US!).

    Description: Shrub or small tree to ca 6 (-8) mm tall. Indumentum of multicellular, ferrugineous, stellate hairs. Young twigs square, with 4 well developed ridges, becoming cylindric with age, 4-8 mm wide, the indumentum dense, ferrugineous, stellate, glabrescent; internodes 1.2-8 (-13) cm long. Leaves with petiole 0.5-3.5 cm long, the indumentum dense; blade 7.5-25.5 cm long, 2.2-9 cm wide, ovate, elliptic or oblong, flat, coriaceous, the apex usually acuminate, the base obtuse to acute (rounded), the margin plane, obscurely serrate, the largest teeth 0.2-0.5 (-0.6) mm long, becoming entire toward the base, ca 15-50% of margin entire; venation acrodromous, basal to slightly suprabasal, with midvein and 4 secondary veins, 2 inner secondary veins conspicuous and ca 2-10 mm in from margin and 2 outer, intramarginal, less conspicuous secondary veins, and numerous percurrent tertiary veins oriented perpendicular to midvein and separated by composite intertertiary veins (less strongly developed in leaves of rapidly growing sucker-shoots); adaxial surface dark green, the indumentum dense, glabrescent, the midvein and major secondary veins prominently impressed, intramarginal secondary veins slightly impressed, the surface appearing minutely papillose due to numerous druse crystals; abaxial surface pale-ferrugineous, densely (moderately) covered with multicellular, stellate hairs to ca 0.5 mm across, darker ferrugineous along veins, the midvein and major secondary veins prominently raised, minor secondary, and tertiary veins less conspicuously raised, higher order veins slightly to not at all raised. Inflorescences many-flowered, open, paniculate cymes of usually 4 or 5 (to 6) major branch-pairs, ca 5-15 cm long, 4-15 cm across; proximal segment of lowermost inflorescence branches 1.6-4.5 cm long, distal internodes increasingly shorter, the ultimate branches 1.5-8 mm long, all with dense ferrugineous indumentum; peduncle 3-9 cm long; each inflorescence branch associated with a caducous, linear to narrowly ovate bract, ca 3-6 mm long, 0.5-1.5 mm wide (and possibly larger), the apices acute to obtuse; flowers in dichasia, each flower associated with a pair of caducous, narrowly elliptic to ovate or linear bracteoles, ca 1.5-3 mm long, 0.5-1 mm wide, the indumentum dense, their apices acute to obtuse. Flowers with pedicel less than 1 mm long. Hypanthium ± cylindrical, free portion ca 1.2-2.3 mm long, the outer surface with moderate to dense stellate to globular-stellate indumentum, the inner surface glabrous and 10-ridged, the apices of ridges forming minute projections ca 0.1 mm long. External calyx lobes 5, ca 0.5-0.8 mm long, ca 1 mm wide, broadly triangular with acute to slightly acuminate apex, dense ferrugineous indumentum; internal calyx lobes 5, ca 1.5-2.7 mm long, 1.7-3.2 mm wide, broadly ovate, green to reddish, with sparse to dense ferrugineous indumentum on both surfaces, the apex rounded, the margin minutely erose; calyx tube 0.1-0.4 mm long. Petals 5, 2.5-5.6 mm long, 2.1-4.5 mm wide, broadly ovate to elliptic, glabrous, white, occasionally with purple coloration around the margin or near the apices; margin entire. Stamens 10, geniculate; proximal segment 1.4-1.7 mm long; distal segment 2.4-3.5 mm long, with minute dorsal projection, the anther ca 1.9-2.6 mm long, with fertile portion of anther sacs ca 1.5 mm long, the connective/distal part of filament extending 0.7-1 mm beyond the base of anther sacs. Ovary 5-loculate, ± half-inferior, ca 1.8-3 mm long, 2-4.3 mm in diameter, short-ovoid, glabrous and strongly 10-ridged, with minute apical projections to ca 0.3 mm long encircling base of style; style 2.5-3.5 mm long, glabrous; stigma truncate. Mature berries ca 7-10 mm in diameter, globose, blue (red when immature), moderately to sparsely covered with globular-stellate hairs. Seeds 0.6-0.8 mm long, angular-obovoid; testa smooth. Fig. 70, 71.

    Habitat and Distribution: Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Sierra de Neiba and Chaine des Cahos of the Montagnes Noires; cloud forests (or very moist forests of Pinus occidentalis); 1300-2000 m. Associated melastomes in the Sierra de Neiba include Mecranium integrifolium subsp. neibense, Meriania involucrata, Miconia favosa, Leandra lima, and Tibouchina longifolia. Miconia septentrionalis and M. calycina occur nearby at slightly lower elevations. Characteristic species of the moist forests at the type locality are listed in Skean (1987) and Santana (1993).

    Phenology: Flowering recorded from February through September.

    Taxonomy and Systematics: Miconia jimenezii is most closely related to M. septentrionalis, and can easily be distinguished from this species by its distinctive twigs that are square in cross-section and strongly 4-ridged (vs. lenticular to rhombic and 2- to only weakly 4-ridged); see also the key. These two species are geographically-elevationally isolated. Miconia septentrionalis has been collected in the Sierra de Neiba only at 1550 m altitude, while M. jimenezii is common in the moist forests there from 1580 to 2000 m. The species has previously been confused with M. subcompressa and M. selleana (Judd & Beaman 1988).

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