Agapetes forrestii W. E. Evans

Tong, Yi-Hua, Guo, Xiang-Long, Wang, Bing-Mou, Wang, Zi & Guo, Yong-Jie, 2024, Two new varieties of Agapetes (Ericaceae) from Xizang, China, PhytoKeys 249, pp. 1-11 : 1-11

2. Agapetes forrestii W. E. Evans in Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 15: 202. t. 220. 1927.

Type.

China. Yunnan: Lung-fan [ Long Fang ]; 25°34′N, 98°33′E; May 1925, G. Forrest 26583 (holotype E, barcode no. E 00078232, image!; isotypes: K, barcode no. K 000357892, image!, NY, barcode no. 00008156, image!, PE, barcode no. 00195226!) .

Description.

Evergreen shrub, 0.25–1 m tall, epiphytic on trees, with inflated root tubers. Tubers globose or spindle-like. Twigs slightly angled, 1–2 mm in diam., densely pubescent and sparsely setose. Leaves spirally scattered, glabrous; petiole 0.5–5 mm long; leaf blades leathery, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.1–4 × 0.5–1.2 cm, glabrous, mid-veins conspicuously raised on both sides, secondary veins 2–3 pairs, nearly transverse, strongly impressed adaxially, slightly raised abaxially, veinlets strongly impressed adaxially, inconspicuous abaxially, base rounded, without basal glands, margin slightly revolute when dry, each side with 5–7 serrulae, each serrula terminated with a gland, apex acute. Inflorescences corymbose, (2 –) 3–10 - flowered, axillary; peduncle slender, 0.8–2 cm long, glabrous or puberulent, with several sterile bracts; floral bracts ovate-triangular, ca. 0.5 × 0.5 mm, margin serrulate, apex acute; pedicels 7–15 mm long, nearly glabrous, slightly expanded upwards; bracteoles 2, basal, similar to floral bracts, but smaller, deciduous. Hypanthium nearly cupular, 0.9–4.5 × 1–3.5 mm, glabrous; limb 1.5–2 mm long, glabrous, nearly divided to base, lobes triangular to narrowly triangular, 1.5–2 × 0.8–2 mm, glabrous, apex acute. Corolla carmine, with 5–6 zig-zag transverse veins, green at the apex, tubular, 5 - angled, 9–20 × 2.5–5 mm, glabrous; lobes green, slightly reflexed, ovate-triangular, 0.8–2 mm long. Stamens 10, 9–15 mm long; filaments flat, 1–1.8 mm long, pubescent; anthers 8–13 mm long, thecae 1.5–5.5 mm long, echinate, each locule with a very small appendage at the bottom, tubules 6–8 mm long, each with an oblique pore ca. 3.5 mm long, without spurs on the back. Style slender, 1.2–1.9 cm long, glabrous; stigma truncate; ovary 10 - pseudoloculed, each locule with several ovules; disc glabrous. Mature fruit white, more or less with crimson dots, subglobose.