Disterigma

Authority

Pedraza-Peñalosa, Paola. 2010. (Ericaceae, Vaccinieae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 108: 1-126. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family

Ericaceae

Scientific Name

Disterigma

Synonyms

Vaccinium (Disterigma) Klotzsch, Vacciniopsis, Killipiella A.C.Sm.

Description

Genus Description - Terrestrial or epiphytic shrubs, erect, scandent, sometimes prostrate and spreading by rhizomatous stems with caulinar roots and bract-like leaves (these either larger or smaller than normal leaves), or occa¬sionally forming compact cushions in paramos; branch¬ing usually fastigiate, forming clumps at the end of long shoots; young branches usually ridged and some¬what flattened; mature branches terete, bark grayish to brown, longitudinally fissured. Leaves alternate, spirally arranged, but sometimes oriented in one plane then appearing distichous; petioles short; lamina coria¬ceous, often fleshy (but rarely drying wrinkled), less than 5 cm long, margin entire or rarely minutely cre¬nate, the venation mostly plinerved but often obscure on both surfaces. Inflorescences axillary, 2-4(-11)- flowered fascicles, or flowers solitary, mostly axillary but rarely subterminal; inflorescence and floral bracts persistent, undifferentiated, usually inconspicuous, gradually increasing in length and width centripetally, cuculate, frequently chartaceous, adaxially glabrous; pedicel inconspicuous and hidden by overlapping bracts (subsessile flowers), or occasionally up to 3(—11) mm long and with a portion not completely obscured, ar¬ticulate with calyx, often with a ring of minute glan¬dular or eglandular hairs at articulation; bracteoles persistent, the most distal pair inserted directly at apex of pedicel and enveloping calyx to various degrees or rarely exceeding it by several millimeters, differentiated in size and shape from other bracts, in some species this differentiated pair of apical bracteoles is fused by one of their lateral margins to form "one" bracteole, or rarely fused at both lateral margins and then forming "one" ring-shaped bracteole (Disterigma utleyorum), the surface completely smooth, striate, or pustulate in herbarium specimens (striation usually also evident in fresh material but sometimes lost in liquid-preserved samples), usually adaxially glabrous. Flowers 4-merous or less often 5-merous. Calyx aestivation valvate or imbricate; tube in cross section 4-5-angled or terete, seldom shortly winged (D. dumontii), rarely abaxially pustulate; lobes mostly triangular, rarely ovate or oblong-lanceolate. Corolla aestivation valvate, urceo¬late, cylindric, or campanulate, bistratose or not, rarely abaxially pustulate, glabrous or with indumentum ad- axially, the hairs eglandular; lobes triangular. Stamens equal in length, 8-10(-12), adherent to corolla base, the tips sometimes exserted; filaments equal in length, distinct or less often connate, straight or geniculate, rarely spurred (D. appendiculatum), with or without indumentum, the hairs eglandular; anthers equal in length, dorsally attached near the base, rarely connate (D. synanthum); thecae straight in lateral outline or rarely basally prognathous, papillate, with or without a basal appendage that sometimes bears papillae or hairs; tubules (1-)2, dehiscing introrsely or apically by pores, slits, or rarely a cleft that runs from tubule tip to theca base (D. hiatus), lacking disintegration tissue; pollen lacking viscin threads. Ovary inferior, 4-5-locular, placentation axile; style filiform, the tip sometimes exserted, smooth and rarely micropapillose (D. hiatus); stigma truncate; nectariferous disk annular or quadran¬gular, pulvinate, usually glabrous. Fruit a fleshy berry, red, purple, violet, wine-red (almost black), white, or translucent white, usually spherical, crowned by per¬sistent calyx lobes, these usually spreading or erect but sometimes converging into a cone; seeds numerous per locule, ellipsoid, 1-1.5 x 0.5-0.8 mm, sometimes with a mucilaginous coat, rarely viviparous, testa reticulate.

Distribution

Disterigma is a neotropical genus of 32 species, ranging from southern Mexico through Central America, to northern Bolivia, and east to Mount Roraima at the border of Guyana, Brazil, and Venezuela.Disterigma is a neotropical genus of 32 species, ranging from southern Mexico through Central America, to northern Bolivia, and east to Mount Roraima at the border of Guyana, Brazil, and Venezuela.

Mexico North America| Central America| Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Bolivia South America| Brazil South America| Guyana South America| Venezuela South America|