Conostegia attenuata Triana

Kriebel, Ricardo, 2016, A Monograph of Conostegia (Melastomataceae, Miconieae), PhytoKeys 67, pp. 1-326 : 120-122

Conostegia attenuata Triana

Conostegia attenuata Triana, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 28: 98. 1872. Type: Colombia. Secus flumen Patia prov. Barbacoas Novae Granatae, Triana 3941 (holotype: BM!; isotypes: BR, COL!, GH, K!, P).

Conostegia attenuata var. peruviana MacBride, Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 13: 341. 1941. Type: Ecuador. Esmeraldas: below Playa Rica, forested river bank, Parroquia de Concepción,100 m, 12 December 1936, Y. Mexía 8485 (lectotype: NY! designated here; isolectotypes: BM, F, GR, MO!, NA, S, UC, US!).

Description.

Shrub to small tree 0.5-3 m tall with terete glabrescent stems that are beset with an inconspicuous indument of minute sessile stellate or branching trichomes; the nodal line present but inconspicuous. Leaves equal or unequal at each node. Petiole 0.5-2.4 cm. Leaf blades 2.5-15 × 1-3.5 cm, 3-nerved, linear to ellip tic, the base attenuate, the apex acuminate, adaxially glabrous and inconspicuously glandular puncticulate, abaxially with small stellate trichomes mostly on the primary and higher order veins, entire to more commonly denticulate. Inflorescence terminal panicles 3.5-7.9 cm long branching above the base, but sometimes appearing branched at the base because of multiple inflorescences arising at opposing meristems at the terminal node, accessory branches present or absent, the rachis glabrescent with few scattered stellate trichomes, bracts and bracteoles 1-5 mm long, linear, persistent. Flowers (5-)6-8 merous, calyptrate. Flower buds 3.9-8.6 × 2.3-4.6 mm, not to slightly constricted in the middle, pyriform to obovate, flattened at the base, acute to short apiculate apically, the calycine and hypanthial portions weakly differentiated, the hypanthium 3-4.5 × 3-5 mm, inconspicuously stellate. Petals 5-9 × 4-7.2 mm, white or pinkish, broadly obovate-spatulate, glabrous, the apex emarginate. Stamens 16-21, 4.1-5.5 mm long, the filament 2.3-3 mm long, anthers 1.8-2.5 × mm, linear or narrowly oblong, straight to slightly recurved, laterally flattened, the base sagittate, with a small bump on the anther connective dorsally at the filament insertion, yellow, the pore ca. 0.1 mm wide. Ovary (4-)5-6 locular, glabrous, inferior and elevated into a conspicuous collar around the style base. Style 4.7-5.7 mm long, vertical distance from the anther to the stigma ca. 1.5 mm, horizontal distance absent; stigma capitate, 0.6-1 mm wide. Berry 4-5 × 4-5 mm, dark purple to black. Seeds ca. 0.4 mm long, pyramidal, the testa smooth.

Distribution

(Fig. 116 ). Colombia to northern Ecuador, 0-600 m in elevation. Also reported from Panama by Schnell (1996). Conostegia attenuata var. peruviana is known only from a single infertile specimen in Peru and cannot be positively identified at this time. Thus, Peru is excluded in the present distribution of the species.

Floral measurements of Schnell are quite small in comparison to those of Gleason. The latter author measured three specimens of which the drawings are deposited at NY. With regards to staminal morphology, Gleason also noted in his drawings that "thecae are prolonged below the insertion of the filament. Connective minutely gibbous on the back just above apex the filament." This morphological feature is common and only present in section Australis . Schnell (1996) and Almeda (2009) reported Conostegia attenuata from Costa Rica. The Costa Rican specimens cited by these authors (Skutch 2734, 4941 - NY) differ quite a bit from typical Conostegia attenuata material. The main differences are that the Costa Rican material is glabrous to inconspicuously lepidote, has plinerved leaves, and most notably has short styles. The typical Conostegia attenuata has stellate trichomes on the branch apices and floral buds, nerved leaves and exserted styles. Both specimens were also annotated as a probable new species on the NY specimens by Schnell. Given that they are highly reminiscent to Conostegia montana and have not been recollected, I consider them a narrow leaf variant of Conostegia montana for the time being.

Specimens examined.

COLOMBIA. Chocó: Carretera Medellín-Quibdó, Adelante de Ciudad Bolívar, Km. 171 río La Playa, Forero, Jaramillo and McElroy 1082 (NY); Quibdó, Quebrada La Platina, I Cuatrecasas 2700 (F, MO, NY). El Valle: Costa del Pacifico , Rio Yurumangui , entre Isla de Golondro y La Amargura, Cuatrecasas 16063 (NY); Rio Calima ( región del Chocó), Quebrada de La Brea , Cuatrecasas 21265 (NY); Costa del Pacifico , rio Cajambre , Barco, Cuatrecasas 17170 (NY); Buenaventura, Quebrada San Joachim, Schultes and Villareal 7310 (NY) . Nariño: Quebrada La Toma, Rio Telembi betw. Rio Pimbi and Rio Cuembi , Ewan 16858 (NY) .

ECUADOR. Carchi Border area between Prov . Carchi and Esmeraldas about 20 km past Lita on road Lita-Alto Tambo, van der Werff et al. 12000, 12018 (NY) . Esmeraldas: Río San Juan and Río Camumbi, primary tall forest at Tobar Donoso junction of Rio San Juan , Játiva and Epling 1119 (NY); Parroquia de Concepcion below Playa Rica, Mexia 8485 (NY); San Lorenzo, Reserva Indígena Awá, Canon del Rio Mira 10 km al oeste de Alto Tambo, Comunidad "La Unión”, Rubio et al. 1173 (MO, NY) .

Figures

Figure 116. Distribution of Conostegia attenuata.