Macleania benthamiana Walp.

Description

Description: Terrestrial shrub 2-5 m tall, sometimes sprawling or spreading, sometimes arising from lignotuber 30-50 cm diam.; stem subterete, smooth and sinuous, nitid, glabrous; twigs subterete, bluntly angled, smooth or striate, nitid, glabrous or short-pilose; buds with bracts narrowly ovate-lanceolate and with tips usually long-acuminate and strongly reflexed. Leaves coriaceous, elliptic, oblong, or ovate-oblong, (4-)7-18 x (1.5-)3-5(-9.5) cm, base rounded and sometimes short-attenuate to long-attenuate, apex obtuse to acute, sometimes rounded, margin subentire sometimes appearing remotely crenate, glabrous on both surfaces or rarely short-pilose especially along the nerves, also punctate due to deciduous, impressed glandular fimbriae; pinnately nerved with 2-5 lateral nerves per side or rarely 3(-5)-plinerved with acuminate apices, midrib thickened and slightly raised in the proximal 1 cm then distally slightly impressed above, strongly raised beneath, lateral nerves slightly impressed above and strongly raised beneath, reticulate veinlets plane on both surfaces; petiole subterete, flattened above, rugose, sometimes slightly winged, 6-20 mm long, glabrous or short-pilose. Inflorescence axillary, short-racemose, 8-20-flowered, all parts essentially glabrous or short-pilose, surrounded at the base by numerous, imbricate, persistent, oblong to ovate, or narrowly ovate-lanceolate, acuminate to long-acuminate, ciliolate, scarious-margined bracts up to 13 mm long, often with tips reflexed; rachis congested, subterete, coarsely angled, 6-15(-20) mm long; floral bract often persistent and totally reflexed, broadly ovate to narrowly ovate, acuminate, sometimes abruptly narrowly triangular distally and long-acuminate, 2.5-8 mm long, densely ciliolate, margin scarious, base seemingly coriaceous and dark in color with the distal 1/2-3/4 membranous and lighter in color; pedicel subterete, 5-10 mm long, rarely distally sparsely but conspicuously glandular-fimbriate at articulation; bracteoles nearly basal, oblong or ovate, obtuse to distinctly short caudate-acuminate, ca. 3-3.5 mm long, ciliolate, glandular-fimbriate margined. Flowers with calyx 4.5-7 mm long; hypanthium obconical, rugose, 2-3 mm long and 3.5 mm diam., the base truncate; limb spreading-campanulate, 2-4 mm long; lobes broadly deltate to ovate, apiculate, 1.5-2.2 mm long, thin-margined, sometimes tearing irregularly; sinuses rounded; corolla cylindric-urceolate, 12-15 mm long and 4-5 mm diam., sometimes with coarse short glandular fimbriae distally, crimson to coral or pale pink toward base, pale distally, the lobes oblong, acute, 1.5-2 mm long; stamen 10, 8-11 mm long; filaments distinct, ca. 2-2.2 mm long, pilose at margins distally with hairs to 0.4 mm long; anthers ca. 8-10 mm long; thecae 3.5-6 mm long; tubules 2, laterally connate with septa present or not then emptying into an apparent solitary tubule, ca. 3.5-4.5 mm long, dehiscing by clefts about half their length; style slightly to long-exserted. Berry cylindro-spherical, 20 mm long and to 15 mm diam.

Distribution: Ecuador and Peru; montane cloud forest to subpáramo and páramo at 2530-3500 m altitude.

Type: Ecuador. Cordillera de Loja, Jul (fl), Hartweg 786 (lectotype, Herb. Benth., designated by A. C. Smith (1932); isolectotypes, BM, K, NY fragment ex K, OXF; photo BM type NY neg. 12610).

Local name: guayapa, joyapa

Uses: fruits edible "sweet, but flat in comparison to real blueberries" (Camp E-3939).

Floras and Monographs

Macleania benthamiana Walp.: [Article] Smith, Albert C. 1952. Plants collected in Ecuador by W. H. camp. Vaceiniaceae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 8 (1): 41-85.

Macleania benthamiana Walp.:

Map Distribution

View all records of Macleania benthamiana Walp.

Objects

Images

James L. Luteyn 15138. Photo by: James L. Luteyn. (image/jpeg)

James L. Luteyn 15138. Photo by: James L. Luteyn. (image/jpeg)

Paola Pedraza-Peñalosa 1208. Photo by: Paola Pedraza-Peñalosa. (image/jpeg)

Paola Pedraza-Peñalosa 1208. Photo by: Paola Pedraza-Peñalosa. (image/jpeg)

Paola Pedraza-Peñalosa 1208. Photo by: Paola Pedraza-Peñalosa. (image/jpeg)