Tococa broadwayi Urb.

Description

Description Author and Date: Fabian A. Michelangeli, January 2010, based on Michelangeli, F. A. (2005). Tococa (Melastomataceae). Flora Neotropica Monographs 98: 1-114.

Type: Trinidad and Tobago. Tobago: inter Charlotte Ville et Parlatuvier in sylvis umbrosis humidis, m Nov. flor, Broadway 4281 (holotype B, destroyed). Neotype, designated by Michelangeli (2001a). Venezuela. Sucre: Península de Paria, Ladera Norte de Cerro de Humo, 14 km al N de Río Grande Arriba, arriba de Boca de Cumana y Punto Siparo, Noroeste de Irapa, 1060 m, 1 MAR 1966, Steyermark 94999 (neotype, VEN; isoneotypes, F, US).

Description: Erect shrub, up to 1.0-2.5 (-3.0) m tall. Stems with the trichomes arranged in two lines along the internodes, the trichomes 2-5 mm long, late caducous, the nodes with tufts of glandular and non glandular trichomes up to 4-9 mm long. Petioles 3-20 (-23) cm long, sparsely pubescent. Leaves isophyllous, oblong-elliptic, 30-60 x 20-40 cm, apex sliglty acute to obtuse, base round to obtuse, adaxial side glabrous to sparsely glandular setose, abaxial side glabrous but for the inframarginal area, which is covered by soft trichomes, light green, with 2(-3) pairs of secondary veins, plinervate, the secondary nerves diverging 3-7 cm above the base of the blade, chartaceous to coriaceous, entire to obscurely serrulate; domatia absent. Inflorescence a terminal panicle, 10-22 cm long, with 10-40 flowers, the axis green, terete; flower pedicels 1.2-1.5 mm long; bracts persistent, elliptic, 5-9 x 1-3 mm; hypanthium campanulate, 3-4 mm long, with very sparse minute clavate glands, otherwise glabrous; sepals ovate-oblong, fused up to 0.5 mm at the base, 2.5-3.5 mm long, calyx teeth narrowly deltoid, projecting upwards parallel to the sepals, not projecting beyond the sepals, sparsely setose, 2 mm long; the ring inside the torus with minute glandular trichomes. Petals 5, ovate-oblong, entire, 8-10 x 4-5 mm, smooth, glandular setulose towards the apex, white. Stamens all of the same size, the filaments 4.0-5.0 mm long, with small sessile glands; anthers blue; the connective with a dorsal-basal blunt tooth; thecae 4.5 mm long, opening by a upright pore. Ovary 5-locular, 1/2 inferior, the superior portion sulcate, the apex truncate, with a ring elevated 0.1-0.5 mm; style with sparse minute glands at the base, 8-9 mm long; stigma capitate. Fruits globose, 4.5-5.0 mm long, black, glabrous. The seeds evident through the pericarp, truncate-obovate, 0.5-0.8 mm long, without capitate trichomes in the raphal area, with sculpturing, anticlinal walls s-shaped, periclinal walls flat, boundaries between periclinal walls flat. Chromosome number n= unknown.

Habitat and Distribution: E Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago. Growing in the understory of tropical forests up to 1500 m.

Taxonomy and Systematics: Tococa broadwayi is a rarely collected species of the forest on Trinidad and Tobago and the Península de Paria in northeastern Venezuela. Vegetatively it is very similar to T. perclara, however, T. broadwayi has highly plinervate leaves (secondary nerves merging 3-7 cm from the base of the leaf), while in T. perclara the nerves merge only 0.5-1.7 cm from the base of the leaf. They also differ in the pubescence of the inframarginal portion of the leaf blade and that the calyx teeth are sparsely setose in T. broadwayi, while there are densely setose in T. perclara. For discussion of other affinities and its placement in the genus, see T. meridensis.

Floras and Monographs

Tococa broadwayi Urb.: [Article] Michelangeli, Fabián A. 2005. (Melastomataceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 98: 1-114.

Map Distribution

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Objects

Images

Tococa broadwayi: Illustration of flower by J. J. Wurdack. (image/jpeg)