Tococa stellata Gleason

  • Family

    Melastomataceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Tococa stellata Gleason

  • Primary Citation

    Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 57: 73. 1930

  • Description

    Description Author and Date: Fabian A. Michelangeli, January 2010, based on original description.

    Type: Colombia. Caquetá: Corea, near Hetucha, 20 JUL 1926, Woronow 6053 (holotype LE [n.v.]).

    Description: Young stems distinctly flattened, more or less sordidly pubescent in two opposite lines to each node or all around it, otherwise glabrous, the internodes 3-5 cm long; leaves dimorphic, large leaves: free petioles 10-15 mm long, sordid pubescen on upper side; formicaria didymous, semiobovoid, glabrous, 20-25 mm long, adjecent to the blade but below it; blades thin, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, as much as 9 by 25 cm, long- acuminate, obscurely denticulate and minutely ciliate, obtuse or sub-rotund at base, 5-nerved, primaries and secondaries lightly impressed above, prominent beneath, the latter 6-10 mm apart, ascending at an angle of 70-80, the tertiaries inconspicuous and reticulate; upper surface mostly glabrous, but short setose toward the margin; lower surface very sparsely short-setose on the veins; small leaves: petioles 10 mm long, with small (5 mm) or no formicaria; blades as much as 5.5 by 13 cm, otherwise like the larger; inflorescence a narrow compact panicle; its branches strongly angular and freely short-setose; flowers 5-merous; hypanthium nearly cylindric, narrowly 5-winged, the wings densely hirsute with simple hairs, the side glabrous; sepals in line with the wings, depressed, semicircular, the exterior teeth conical, not projecting, densely hirsute; ovary-summit conic, 10-ribbed, truncate and crowned with about 30 straight bristles 1 mm long; style enlarge upward to the truncate stigma.

    Taxonomy and Systematics: Tococa stellata is known only from the type specimen, which was not seen by me. The description presented here is taken directly from the original publication by Gleason (1930). However, the characters mentioned in the description used to differentiate it from T. stephanotricha (leaf shape and pubescence and type of pubescence in the hypanthium) might not be sufficient to separate these two taxa, given the intraspecific variation seen in T. stephanotricha during the course of this study.

  • Floras and Monographs

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