Vaccinium petelotii Merr.

Nguyen, Thi Thanh Huong, Tagane, Shuichiro, Averyanov, Leonid V., Dang, Van Son, Fritsch, Peter W., Tong, Yi-Hua, Souladeth, Phetlasy & Nuraliev, Maxim S., 2025, Vaccinium bidoupense (Ericaceae), a new species from Vietnam and Laos, with notes on V. petelotii and V. pseudobullatum, PhytoKeys 266, pp. 75-96 : 75-96

Vaccinium petelotii Merr. , Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 13 (6): 138 (1926).

Fig. 1

= Agapetes parviflora Dunn , J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 35: 515 (1903). Type: China. Yunnan Province • Meng-tze [ Mengzi County], A. Henry 10488 A [fr.] ( lectotype, designated by Sleumer 1941: 446, US, 00116973 , image!) .

Type.

Vietnam. Lao Cai Province • Chapa [Sapa] , 1500 m a. s. l., April 1925, P. A. Pételot 1772 [young fr.] ( holotype: UC, UC 259692 , image!; isotypes: A, 00015962 , image!; P, P 00647843 , image!; US, 00116935 , image!) .

Notes.

Based on the specimens cited in Appendix 1, we have clarified the morphological variation of the species as follows:

In the treatments by Fang (1991) and Fang and Stevens (2005), Vaccinium petelotii is described as having corollas 6–11 mm long. However, the specimens of this species examined in our study bear corollas 4–5 mm long, consistent with the description by, e. g., Huang and Fang (1991) who indicated corollas about 6 mm long. At the same time, the specimen P. I Mao 82-172 (SWFC, 00004475 & 00004478) from Yunnan assigned to V. petelotii by R. C. Fang in 1984 demonstrates remarkably larger flowers with corollas up to 12 mm long. We suppose that the indications of large corollas were based solely on this specimen. Apart from flower size, this specimen differs from typical V. petelotii in larger leaves and shorter pedicels that remain straight (rather than becoming curved) when fruiting. We therefore exclude this specimen from V. petelotii and consider it a possible hybrid between V. petelotii and V. pseudobullatum .

Fang and Stevens (2005) indicated the stamen filaments of Vaccinium petelotii as being 0.5 mm long, in which case the anthers would seem to be nearly sessile. We could not detect any reason for this indication and consider it erroneous because the specimens of this species studied here uniformly have filaments 2.5–3 mm long.

The ratio of anther tubules to thecae was indicated by Fang and Stevens (2005) as ca. 3 for Vaccinium petelotii , which contradicts our observations (1.6–2.0) as well as the treatments by Fang (1991) and Huang and Fang (1991), both of which state a ratio of 1.5.

Distribution.

S China (SE Yunnan, SW Guangxi), N Vietnam ( Lai Chau, Lao Cai).

Figures

Figure 1. Vaccinium petelotii. A. Branch with leaves and flowers; B. Leaf blade, abaxial view; C. Inflorescence, lateral view; D. Post-anthetic calyx and disk; E – G. Flower, lateral, oblique and apical view; H. Longitudinal section of flower; I. Flower with perianth removed to show androecium and pistil; J. Stamen, lateral view; K. Stamen, dorsal view. Photos by M. S. Nuraliev, based on M. S. Nuraliev 2359.