Lyonia tinensis Urb.

  • Family

    Ericaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Lyonia tinensis Urb.

  • Primary Citation

    Symb. Antill. (Urban) 7: 533. 1913

  • Type Specimens

    Specimen 1: Isotype -- M. D. Fuertes Lorén 1917, verif. W. S. Judd, 1978

  • Description

    Description: Evergreen, usually erect shrub or small tree to 5 meters tall, with grayish, longitudinally furrowed bark; twigs slightly angled, slender, sparsely to densely lepidote, otherwise glabrous to sparsely pubescent; buds ovoid, 1-2 x 0.8-1.3 mm, lepidote. Leaf blades ovate to elliptic, 1.7-3.5(-4.7) x 0.9-1(-2.8) cm, flat to moderately recurved, coriaceous, ca. 0.32-0.45 mm thick; base cuneate to rounded; apex slightly acuminate to truncate; margin plane to revolute, apical portion strongly to obscurely and irregularly toothed (nearly entire), basal portion strongly toothed to entire; venation brochidodromous, 3o veins ± reticulate; abaxial surface lepidote but scales usually quickly deciduous, moderately to sparsely pubescent on basal portion of midvein, 2o and 3o veins obscure to slightly visible (few 2o depressed); abaxial surface sparsely to moderately lepidote, otherwise densely pubescent, with all veins raised, forming dense and fine reticulum, often not visible without magnification; scales usually light brown, often becoming whitish, persistent, less commonly deciduous, ca. 0.08-0.26 mm in diameter, erose; petiole 2-4.5 mm long, lepidote, otherwise adaxially pubescent; flower buds ± intermixed with vegetative buds. Inflorescences fasciculate, ca. 3- to 10-flowered; pedicels clearly articulated with calyx, slender, (2.5-)3-7.5 mm long, lepidote, otherwise glabrous; bracteoles ± opposite, basal, narrowly triangular, 1-1.3 mm long; floral bracts to ca. 2 mm long. Flowers (4-)5-merous; calyx lobes triangular, with acuminate apices, 0.7-1.5 x 0.6-0.9 mm, adaxial side sparsely pubescent at margins and near apex, abaxial side lepidote, otherwise glabrous; corolla cylindrical, white, 4-5 x 2-3 mm, abaxially sparsely lepidote; filaments roughened, 2.5-3 mm long, unappendaged; anthers 0.8-1 mm long; ovary lepidote, otherwise pubescent, placentae subapical. Capsules usually narrowly ovoid, 3.5-6 x 1.5-3 mm, apex usually slightly constricted, slightly lepidote, otherwise sparsely pubescent, the pale, very thick sutures separating as unit from adjacent valves; seeds 1-2.9 mm long.

    Distribution: Endemic to the Dominican Republic (Cordillera Central), in low-elevation Pinus occidentalis forests, at ca. 1100-1700 m elev. Seldom collected in flower but probably blooming chiefly in May.

    Type: Dominican Republic. Azua: In Placer de la Tina, 1600 m, Jul 1912, Fuertes 1917 (holotype, B, n.v., destroyed; isotypes, L, NY, P, US, USD, W).

    Illustration: Judd (1995), fig. 9.

  • Floras and Monographs

    Lyonia tinensis Urb.: [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.