Comarostaphylis spinulosa subsp. glandulifera Diggs

  • Family

    Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Comarostaphylis spinulosa subsp. glandulifera Diggs

  • Primary Citation

    Brittonia 38: 348. 1986

  • Description

    Description: Low, often densely branched shrubs to 2 m tall; bark furrowed and peeling, gray to orange-gray; young twigs sometimes red, glandular hirtellose to hirsute with stalked, swollen-headed glandular trichomes to 2 mm long, with short, uniseriate, hyaline hairs also present. Leaves coriaceous, elliptic to obovate or ovate, 2-7.4 x 0.8-3.7 cm, marginally serrate to serrulate, upper surface glabrate or with scattered glandular or eglandular trichomes, lower surface with dense white to ferriginous tomentum imparting a distinct color to the surface, also with multiseriate-stalked, swollen-headed glandular trichomes, especially along the midrib. Inflorescences terminal, racemose or paniculate, usually with few branches, 3.3-9.2 cm long; rachis, pedicels, and bracteoles densely glandular hirtellous to hirsute with stalked, swollen-headed glandular trichomes to 1.5 mm long, shorter hyaline hairs also present; floral bracts lanceolate to narrowly ovate, flattened to slightly navicular, 3-11(-20) x 0.4-2.5(-6) mm, tomentulose by eglandular trichomes, also with glandular trichomes, glandular-ciliate; pedicels 0.4-1(-1.4) cm long, bracteoles basal to medial, lanceolate, 2.5-5 mm long, glandular-ciliate. Flower buds sometimes red; calyx lobes triangular to broadly so, 1.5-2.1 x 1.3-1.4 mm acute, glabrous to densely pubescent with glandular or eglandular hairs, the trichomes often more dense at base of lobes, ciliate or not.

    Distribution: Endemic to Mexico and known only from N Oaxaca and extreme southern Puebla, with the exception of one collection (MacDougall s.n., NY) from south-central Oaxaca, in moist Quercus-Pinus-Arbutus forests, at elevations from 2000-2500 m. Flowering occurs from Jun-Feb; fruiting Jun-Feb.

    Type: Mexico. Oaxaca-Puebla border: W slopes of Sierra Zongolica, 1.5 km below summit, along road between Teotitlán del Camino and Huatla de Jiménez, ca. 8 km (by road) above Teotitlán (18°12'N, 97°01'W), 2000 m, 8 Jul 1972 (fl, fr), Breckon & Breckon 1315 (holotype, MEXU, photo, Diggs neg. 39: isotypes, DAV, ENCB, F, GH, K, NY, TEX, US, WIS, XAL).

    Illustration: Diggs (1995), fig. 18.

  • Floras and Monographs

    Comarostaphylis spinulosa subsp. glandulifera Diggs: [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.