Lyonia jamaicensis (Sw.) D.Don

  • Family

    Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Lyonia jamaicensis (Sw.) D.Don

  • Primary Citation

    Edinburgh New Philos. J. 17: 159. 1834

  • Basionym

    Andromeda jamaicensis Sw.

  • Description

    Description: Evergreen, erect shrub to moderate-sized tree to 7(-10) m tall, with brownish to gray, longitudinally furrowed bark; twigs moderately ridged, slender, sparsely lepidote, otherwise densely to sparsely pubescent; buds ovoid, 0.6-2.5 x 0.5-1.5 mm. Leaf blades elliptic to slightly ovate or obovate, 2.5-8.5(-11) x 1-3(-5.5) cm, ± flat, coriaceous, ca. 0.27-0.34 mm thick; base narrowly cuneate to rounded; apex acute to acuminate, rounded, or truncate; margin plane to slightly revolute, apical portion entire to very obscurely toothed, basal portion entire; venation brochidodromous, 3o veins ± reticulate; adaxial surface lepidote but scales usually quickly deciduous, densely pubescent on midvein, especially basal portion, 3o and higher order veins faintly visible, 2o veins visible but usually not depressed; abaxial surface moderately lepidote, otherwise glabrous, the 3o and higher order veins ± flat or nearly so, often laxly reticulate, the 2o veins slightly raised to occasionally obscure; scales rust colored, becoming whitish with age, persistent, ca. 0.09-0.25 mm in diameter, erose to nearly entire; petiole 3-14 mm long, lepidote, otherwise pubescent adaxially or all around; flower buds above or intermixed with vegetative buds. Inflorescences fasciculate, ca. 5- to 15-flowered; pedicels clearly articulated with calyx, slender, 4-11 mm long, lepidote, otherwise glabrous to sparsely pubescent; bracteoles opposite to subopposite, basal or nearly so, narrowly triangular, 0.8-1.4 mm long; floral bracts to ca. 2.5 mm long. Flowers (4-) 5- (6-)merous; calyx lobes triangular, with acuminate apices, 1-2 x 0.6-1.3 mm, abaxial side sparsely pubescent, especially near apex, abaxial side lepidote, otherwise glabrous (sparsely pubescent near junction with pedicel); corolla cylindrical to less commonly long-urceolate, white, (4-)4.5-7 x (2-)2.5-4.5 mm, abaxially sparsely lepidote; filaments roughened, 3-4 mm long, essentially unappendaged; anthers 0.8-1.1 mm long; ovary lepidote, otherwise pubescent, placentae ± subapical. Capsules ellipsoid to ovoid, 4-6(-7) x 3-4 mm, slightly lepidote, otherwise sparsely to moderately pubescent, especially near base, the pale, very thick sutures separating as unit from adjacent valves; seeds 2-3 mm long.

    Distribution: Endemic to Jamaica (chiefly S slopes of Blue Mountains), in dry forests and thickets, at (150-)300-1300 m elev. Flowering chiefly late May through early August.

    Type: Jamaica. "alp.," Swartz s.n. (holotype, S; isotypes, B-Willd. (IDC 7440. 563: III. 5), G-DC (IDC Herb. genevense 1373: I. 8), L, M, S).

    Illustration: Judd (1995), fig. 17.

  • Floras and Monographs

    Lyonia jamaicensis (Sw.) D.Don: [Article] Luteyn, James L., et al. 1995. Ericaceae, Part II. The Superior-Ovaried Genera (Monotropoideae, Pyroloideae, Rhododendroideae, and Vaccinioideae P.P.). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 66: 560.