Bishopanthus H. Rob., Phytologia 54(1): 63. 1983.

Funk, Vicki A., Robinson, Harold & Tangerini, Alice R., 2013, Whatever happened to Bishopanthus (Compositae, Liabeae)?, PhytoKeys 30, pp. 65-73 : 70-71

Bishopanthus H. Rob., Phytologia 54(1): 63. 1983.

Type species.

Bishopanthus soliceps H. Rob.

Type.

Peru; Amazonas, mountains behind Tingo, 6500 Ft., 21 Jan 1983, R.M. King & L.E. Bishop 9280 (holotype: US).

Description.

Shrubs to 0.5 m tall, moderately to multi branched; stems with latex, pale reddish, internodes short, jointed, densely white-wooly strongly invested by leaf bases. Leaves opposite, bases strongly vaginate, vagination usually ca. 5 mm long, longer than the internode, imbricate parts of vaginate bases wooly-tomentose externally; petioles short, ca. 0.5 mm long; blades oblong-ovate, mostly 2-4 cm long and 8-16 mm wide, base rounded, margins with many distinct small teeth, apex shortly acute, sub-longitudinally trinervate from near base, upper surface bullate with bulging areoles, major nerves sunken and diffusely arachnoid-tomentose, undersurface densely, grayish-wooly tomentose, major veins raised. Inflorescence abruptly terminal on leafy branches. Heads solitary, over-topped by lateral branches, ca. 10 mm high, ca. 12 mm wide, excluding rays; involucral bracts subequal, ca. 25, in ca. 2 series, oblong-lanceolate, 7-8 mm long and ca. 1.5 mm wide, outer bracts with apices reflexed, outer surface distally green, subglabrous, below densely white wooly-tomentose, inner bracts not reflexed distally, acute, subglabrous. Ray flowers ca. 20, female; corollas yellow, basal tube 2.5-3.5 mm long, narrowly funnelform with sparse spreading trichomes; limbs linear, 11-12 mm long, to 2 mm wide, apices tridentate, basally with minute, short biseriate trichomes, distally rather densely arachnoid-tomentose and gland-dotted. Disc flowers ca. 25, bisexual; corollas yellow, 7.0-7.5 mm long, basal tube ca. 2.5 mm long, hirtellous with sparse straight-spreading trichomes, trichomes with one row of cells, throat ca. 2.5 mm long, subcylindrical, below with few short biseriate trichomes and fewer uniseriate trichomes, distally with almost no trichomes and sparsely gland-dotted, lobes linear, ca. 2.8 mm long and 0.5 mm wide, near margins distally with few stomata and many glandular dots, rather densely arachnoid-tomentose. Anther filament collars ca. 0.25 mm long, with cells shortly oblong, cell walls firm, in-ornate; thecae ca. 2.5 mm long, endothecial cells obscure, somewhat oblong, shields tenuously irregularly areolate; apical appendage oblong-ovate, ca. 0.4-0.5 mm long, 0.22 mm wide, glabrous. Style base with distinct expanded node, hispidulous upper part of style shaft ca. 3 mm long; branches ca. 1 mm long. Achenes ca. 2.7 mm long, 8-10-ribbed, with short trichomes, setulae and glands, setulae numerous, contorted, distally on achenes longer, trichomes very sparse, with single row of cells, glands sparse, short-stipitate, with minute capitula; carpopodia shortly stopper-shaped, sub-annuliform, ca. 0.35 mm wide, 0.15 mm high; with cells in 12-15 series, 12-15 μm in diameter, with thickened walls. Pappus setae densely congested, larger setae ca. 35, sometimes irregularly elongate, mostly 4.5-6.0 mm long, apices tenuous, outer series of setae shorter, narrower, mostly 0.7-1.0 mm long, scabrous, simple. Pollen ca. 37μm in diameter, irregularly spinulose.

Diagnosis.

Small shrub with milky sap; opposite leaves that are tri-nervate with a bullate upper surface and an under surface covered with a dense, grayish-wooly tomentum; two rows of subequal involucral bracts; short (~ 1mm) style branches; 8-10 ribs on the achenes and a bi-seriate pappus of subequal bristles ( Table 1 ).

All members of the Liabeae have opposite leaves although some have very short internodes so they appear to have rosettes. Also, all members have milky sap and/or wooly light colored tomentum on the undersurface of the leaves.

The specimen label says that the plants are ½ m tall, have yellow flowers and lots of milky sap. An examination of the field notebook from the King & Bishop expedition did not provide any additional information about the plant or the location, however, an examination of their route that day shows that on the 21st of January their collecting started as they drove south from Tingo (6°22'18.14"S, 77°54'38.54"W). Their first stop was 3 km south of Tingo and they proceeded south stopping occasionally until they reached their fifth stop at 31 kms south of Tingo, probably near the village of Yerbabuena (6°33'57.92"S, 77°49'49.35W). The first five stops are all listed as ca. 5500 ft in elevation (based on Google Earth this seems a bit low) but with different kilometer distances. The next stop (# 6) is where they collected Bishopanthus , however at this point they stopped giving the kilometers and just said "mountains behind Tingo ca. 6500 ft"and it is the only collection at that stop. The final stop of the day (# 7) has the same location with an elevation of 7000 ft. At the 7th stop they collected Cronquistianthus bishopii King & H. Rob., also restricted to this area. The next day (22 January 1983) the first collecting stop was 61 kms along the road from Chachapoyas NW of Jaen. Evidently they were working out of Chachapoyas. We think that on the 21st of January they turned around at the 5th stop (31 km) and headed back to Chachapoyas, passed through Tingo, and stopped somewhere on the more eastern road between Tingo and Chachapoyas at 6500 Ft. The elevation on this road reaches 9000 ft. According to Google Earth the elevation is just about correct at the following coordinates: 6°21'40"S; 77°54'4"W. Of course this is a guess because the real location has never been found.