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Home , Ericaceae, Vaccinieae, Vaccinium

A new (:) from Guerrero,Mexico

FRANK ALMEDA AND DENNIS E. BREEDLOVE

Almeda, Frank and Dennis E. Breedlove (Department of Botany, California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA 94118-4599). A new Vaccinium (Ericaceae: Vaccinieae) from Guerrero, Mexico. Brittonia 44: 50-53. 1992.-Vaccinium wilburii, a striking epiphyte with pink flowers and woody tu- berous roots, is described, illustrated, and compared with similar species. Key words: epiphyte, Mexico, Vaccinium.

Vaccinium, with about 450 species (Mab- axillis superioribus 1-5 orti, laxe (4)7-10(14)-flori; berley, 1987), is the largest of - rhachis angulata sicut pedicelli et calycis tubus glabra, 0.5-1.5 cm longa. Pedicelli graciles, 10-14 mm longi. fruited Ericaceae. Although the genus has a Calycis tubus cupulato-campanulatus, 2 mm longus, nearly worldwide distribution, it is best rep- limbus erectus 1.5 mm altus 5(6)-partitus, lobis del- resented in Malesia, where Sleumer (1967) toideis 1.5 mm longis. Corolla cylindrico-urceolata, recognized 240 species, nearly half of which 5-angulata, rosea, 9-11 mm longa, lobis erecto-paten- are restricted to New Guinea. tibus, 1.5 mm longis. Stamina 10; filamenta linearia, sparse breviter pilosa, ca 4-4.5 mm longa; thecae ob- About 25 of the approximately 40 species longae echinulatae, cum tubulis 5-6 mm longae. Discus of Vaccinium occurring in tropical America glaber. Bacca immatura globosa, ca 5 mm diam. are restricted to Mexico and Central Amer- ica, a region that has yielded several new Epiphytic to 2 m tall with arching and unusual species in the last 15 years (Lu- or pendent branches and woody spherical teyn & Wilbur, 1977; Wilbur, 1986; Wilbur tuberous roots to 2 dm across. Branchlets & Luteyn 1978). On a botanical expedition subquadrate to irregularly striate-angulate to southern Mexico in 1986, we collected and puberulent, older parts subterete, stri- an epiphytic Vaccinium with pink flowers ate-corticate and glabrous with enlarged and woody tuberous roots that cannot be warty scars. coriaceous, crenu- assigned to any described species. This spe- late, lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, 0.5- cies, which is described here as new, has 4.4 x 0.5-1.3 cm, apex bluntly acute to been found only twice since it was first col- obtuse, base acute, glabrous on both sur- lected by George B. Hinton in 1939. faces at maturity but sparingly and decid- uously puberulent adaxially, and on the Vaccinium wilburii Almeda & Breedlove sp. margins and basal portions of abaxial mid- nov. (Fig. 1) rib on young leaves; pinnately veined, the midrib with lateral and secondary veins el- TYPE: MEXICO. Guerrero: ridge with Pi- evated to create a conspicuous network on nus, Quercus, Clethra, and Cleyera W of both surfaces when dry, occasionally the re- Puerto del Gallo along road to Toro Muerto, ticulation only slightly raised and obscure 2530 m, 9 Oct 1986, Breedlove & Almeda abaxially; petiole 1-5 mm long, canalicu- 65040 (HOLOTYPE: CAS!; ISOTYPES: DUKE!, late, moderately puberulent initially but gla- MEXU!, MICH!, MO!, NY!). brate with age. Inflorescence typically axil- lary but often aggregated distally and Frutex epiphyticus ca 2 m altus. Folia lanceolata vel racemes 2.5-3.5 cm elliptico-lanceolata, apice ipso acuta vel obtusiuscula appearing terminal, long basi acuta, coriacea, glabra, margine regulariter cren- with (4)7-10(14) flowers, each subtended by ulata, 0.5-4.4 mm longa, 0.5-1.3 cm lata. Racemi ex a floral bract and two opposite or subop-

Brittonia, 44(1), 1992, pp. 50-53. ISSUED: 20 March 1992 C 1992, by the New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 1992] ALMEDA AND BREEDLOVE: NEW MEXICAN VACCINIUM 5 1

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FIG. 1. Vacciniumwilburil. A. Habit, x l/2. B. Representativeleaves, abaxial surface (left), adaxial surface (right), x 2. C. Flower (longitudinal section) showing calyx tube, limb, lobes, and style, x 4. D. Corolla, longi- tudinally sectioned and spread apart, x 31/2. E. , lateral view (left), ventral view (right), x 6. F. Flower (right) and immature berry (left), x ca 3. G. Bracteole (adaxial surface), x 18. (All from the holotype.) 52 BRITTONIA [VOL. 44 posite bracteoles inserted on the proximal Sur, Mpio. Metlatonoc, Xatu Yahta, al W third or nearly halfway up the pedicel; floral de Coicoy'an (Oaxaca), terrenos de Atzom- bracts chartaceous to membranaceous, lan- pa, 17?15'N, 98?20'W, 2600 m, 20 Aug 1989, ceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 1-2 mm long, A. de Avila 737 (CAS); Galeana, Piedra An- 0.75-1 mm wide at base, glabrous to spar- cha, 3000 m, 29 Jul 1939, Hinton 14508 ingly pilose abaxially, the margins ciliate for (NY). their entire length and often irregularly be- The salient characters of this species are set with glandlike excrescences basally; lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate leaves, gla- rachis 0.5-1.5 cm long, glabrous, angulate- brous hypanthia and calyx lobes, and uni- sulcate and slightly winged when dry, gla- formly pink cylindric-urceolate corollas that brous. Pedicels terete but conspicuously are angulate and glabrous throughout. angulate-sulcate when dry, glabrous, 10-14 The affinities of V. wilburii appear to be x 0.5 mm, articulate with the flower. Brac- with V. haematinum Standley & Steyerm. teoles linear-lanceolate, 1. 5-2.5 x 0.5 mm, (including the conspecific V. minarum Stan- glabrous, ciliate at least distally. Flowers dley & Steyerm. and V. hondurense A. C. 5-merous; hypanthium campanulate to nar- Smith) of southern Mexico (Chiapas), Gua- rowly cup-shaped, 2 mm long and about 3 temala, and Honduras. These species have mm diam, glabrous, terete when fresh, calyx a similar corolla and androecial morphol- limb subcylindric to campanulate, 1.5 mm ogy but V. haematinum differs conspicu- long to the rounded sinuses, the 5(6) calyx ously by the shorter pedicels (5-6 mm) and lobes triangular, erect, 1.5 mm long and 1 shorter corollas (mostly 7 mm) that are mm wide at base. Corolla cylindric-urceo- moderately to copiously pilose like the in- late, angulate, pink, glabrous throughout, 9- florescence rachis, hypanthia, and calyx 11 mm long, lobes erect to somewhat lobes. The material of V. haematinum that spreading, rounded, inconspicuously papil- we have seen shows considerable modal lose abaxially, 1.5 mm long and 1.5 mm variation in foliar size. When many speci- wide at base. Stamens 10; filaments distinct, mens are examined from throughout its linear and complanate, moderately ciliate range, these differences begin to grade into adaxially and pilose on basal portions of the one another and it becomes impossible to connective abaxially, 4-4.5 mm long; an- formally recognize more than one taxonom- thers (including tubules) 5-6 mm long, ic entity. Although we are unable to account somewhat incurved basally; thecae oblong, for this variation in an entirely satisfactory echinulate when fresh but appearing some- way, we suspect that habit and habitat dif- what granulate when dry, 2.5 mm long, ferences are contributing factors. Vaccinium lacking awns or spurs; tubules 3 mm long, haematinum is a terrestrial shrub as well as cylindric, narrower than the thecae, gla- an epiphyte. from near the summit brous, dehiscing by ventrally inclined or lat- of Cerro Tres Picos in Chiapas and from erally oriented apical pores. Disk glabrous, rocky slopes in the Sierra de los Cuchu- conspicuous on the summit of the 5-locular matanes in Guatemala appear to reflect the ; style straight, glabrous, 10-11 mm exposure and edaphic factors at those sites. long. Immature berry globose, about 5 mm They have a more compact habit and short diam. (1-2 cm), crenate leaves but even this ex- Distribution and phenology: Known only treme variant differs consistently from V. from the Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero, wilburii in the characters enumerated above. Mexico where it occurs in montane forests In being restricted to the Sierra Madre of with and pines in the vicinity of Cerro Guerrero and having its closest relative in Teotepec and near the Oaxaca border at el- Chiapas and Guatemala, V. wilburii con- evations of 2530-3000 m. More precise co- forms to a pattern of distributional replace- ordinate and municipality information for ment exhibited by species pairs in other gen- the Hinton collection (cited below) is given era of flowering plants. This pattern is also by Hinton and Rzedowski (1972). found in Clethra (), Fuchsia PARATYPES. MEXICO. Guerrero: Sierra (Onagraceae), Quercus (Fagaceae), Ronde- 1992] ALMEDA AND BREEDLOVE: NEW MEXICAN VACCINIUM 53 letia (Rubiaceae), and Symplocos (Symplo- Acknowledgments caceae). In for example, S. hin- Symplocos, We thank Sheva Hill for the illustration tonfiLundell is restricted to the Sierra Madre and the curators and staffs of the following del Sur of Guerrero. Its closest relative, S. herbaria for making their institutional fa- tacanensis Lundell, is known only from cilities available for on-site study: DUKE, Volc'an Tacan'a and Cerro Boqueron in MEXU, MO, NY. southeastern Chiapas, Mexico. Vacciniumwilburii also has a superficial Literature Cited resemblance to narrow-leaved variants of V. lundellianum L. 0. Williams, an epi- Hinton, J. & J. Rzedowski. 1972. George B. Hinton, phytic species of Chiapas, Mexico, and collector of plants in southwestern Mexico. J. Ar- Huehuetenango, Guatemala (Williams, nold Arbor. 53(2): 141-181. Luteyn, J. L. & R. L. Wilbur. 1977. New genera and 1965; Standley & Williams, 1966). The lat- species of Ericaceae (Vaccinieae) from Costa Rica ter, however, is distinguished by a short and Panama. Brittonia 29(3): 255-276. subfasciculate inflorescence rachis (to 3-4 Mabberley, D. J. 1987. The -book. Cambridge mm), white, copiously pilose corollas, hy- Univ. Press, Cambridge. Sleumer, H. 1967. Ericaceae. In: Flora Malesiana. panthia, and pedicels, and short-pilose Ser. I. 6(5): 669-914. leaves. Standley, P. C. & L. 0. Williams. 1966. Ericaceae. We take pleasure in naming this species In: Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana, Bot. 24(8): 88- for Robert L. Wilbur (1925-), author of a 127. forthcoming revision of in Mex- Wilbur, R. L. 1986. An undescribed Panamanian Vaccinium Vaccinium: Vaccinium bocatorensis (Ericaceae). Sida ico and Central America and many other 11(4): 441-443. contributions to the of Meso- & J. L. Luteyn. 1978. Ericaceae. In: R. E. american Campanulaceae, Cistaceae, Eri- Woodson, Jr. and R. W. Schery, eds. Flora of Pan- caceae, and Gentianaceae. We also salute ama. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 65: 27-144. Williams, L. 0. 1965. Tropical American plants VII. him for the role he has played in training Fieldiana, Bot. 31(6): 167-174. and assisting a generation of neotropical plant systematists at Duke University.

BOOK REVIEW

Weeds of Kentucky and Adjacent States. A leaves), she also provides full-pageillustra- Field Guide. By Patricia Dalton Haragan. tions of 122 species to aid in the identifi- The University Press of Kentucky, Lex- cation of Kentucky weeds. The most at- ington, KY 40506-0336. ISBN 0-8131- tractive aspect of Haragan'sguide is the art 1743-7. 1991. 278 pp. $29 (cloth). work of Amy Storey,the author'ssister. She provided approximately one third of the Field guides are a popular genre of bo- plates. Her distinctive style stands out when tanical literature. Typically some aspect of contrasted with the remaining illustrations a standard flora such as Gray's Manual of that were borrowedfrom Selected Weedsof Botany is simplified, reworked, and illus- the (illustratedby Regina 0. trated in order to appeal to a public disin- Hughes) and Britton and Brown's Illustrat- clined to learn how to use technical keys or ed Flora. One curious aspect of Haragan's botanical terminology. Haragan, adopting guide is the presentationof common names. the nomenclature of Gray's Manual, treats Phrases such as "mouse-ear cress" and 160 species of Kentucky weeds. Her iden- "shepherd's purse" are run together and tification scheme relies upon flower color punctuationis omitted so that one is forced and leaf arrangement. However, since most to read "mouseearcress," "shepherds- combinations of these characters are non- purse,"etc. -LAURENCE J. DoRR,New York exclusive (e.g., white flowers: alternate Botanical Garden.