Rochefortia stellata Britton & P.Wilson

Irimia, Ramona-Elena & Gottschling, Marc, 2016, Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales), Biodiversity Data Journal 4, pp. 7720-7720 : 7720

Rochefortia stellata Britton & P.Wilson

Rochefortia stellata Rochefortia stellata Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 16: 96. 1920N.L. Britton, E.G. Britton & J.F. Cowell 12634NY-111155NY-111156US-1047763

Rochefortia stellata Rochefortia stellata subsp. maisiensis Wiss. Z. Friedrich-Schiller-Univ. Jena, Math.-Naturwiss. Reihe 29: 471. 1980E.E. Liogier [Alain] & L. Figueiras 7061

Rochefortia stellata Rochefortia victoriniana Wiss. Z. Friedrich-Schiller-Univ. Jena, Math.-Naturwiss. Reihe 29: 471-472. 1980J. Bisse & E. Köhler [Flora Cuba] 7865JE-5999

Rochefortia stellata Rochefortia septentrionalis Wiss. Z. Friedrich-Schiller-Univ. Jena, Math.-Naturwiss. Reihe 29: 472, fig. 9. 1980J. Bisse & L. Rojas [Flora Cuba] 3983JE-5990

Rochefortia stellata Rochefortia septentrionalis var. cristalensis Wiss. Z. Friedrich-Schiller-Univ. Jena, Math.-Naturwiss. Reihe 29: 472, fig. 10. 1980J. Bisse & E. Köhler [Flora Cuba] 6923JE-5998

Rochefortia stellata Rochefortia septentrionalis var. obovata Wiss. Z. Friedrich-Schiller-Univ. Jena, Math.-Naturwiss. Reihe 29: 472. 1980E.E. Liogier [Alain] & A.J.B. Acuña Galé 7802

Rochefortia stellata Rochefortia holguinensis Wiss. Z. Friedrich-Schiller-Univ. Jena, Math.-Naturwiss. Reihe 29: 472-473. 1980M. Curbelo s.n. 1931

Description

Shrubs or small trees 3.0-5.0 m tall, galls absent; indument tomentose, especially on young organs, trichomes simple or stellate; bark grey whitish to light brown, longitudinally fissured; 0.7-1.3 cm long, slender, acute, successively branched at 2 or 3 levels, numerous, alternate or terminally of twigs, variously tomentose through glabrescent. Leaves fasciculate; petiole 0.4-0.6 cm long, robust, covered with a dense layer of stellate trichomes; blade 0.6-3.1 cm long, 0.4-2.1 cm wide, elliptic, widely elliptic or sometimes widely ovate, coriaceous, primary veins prominent, secondary veins 5-8, tertiary veins arcuate; base rounded or cuneate; apex rounded, retuse, obcordate, rarely mucronulate; adaxial surface bright, with cystoliths, rugose to almost glabrous or with a few scattered trichomes on the midrib, cilliate at tips, or with long (visible by the naked eye), simple, curved trichomes emerging from an inflated cystolith cell, abaxial surface densely tomentose, occasionally almost glabrous. Inflorescence axillary, flowers in clusters of 2 to 8, pedicels 0.10-0.15 cm long. Calyx 0.20-0.25 cm long, coriaceous, densely stellate outside, ciliate at tips, sometimes with simple trichomes scattered inside towards the distal part, lobes 0.18-0.22 cm long, 0.13-0.15 cm wide, shape triangular, apex acute, occasionally tridentate. Flowers at anthesis unknown. Fruit 0.40-0.50 cm tall, 0.40-0.50 cm wide; style 0.18-0.20 cm long, globose, divided in the proximal part, branches 2, 0.08-0.10 cm long, smaller than fruit, persistent (also the stigmas); pyrene 0.35-0.40 cm tall, 0.18-0.20 cm wide, 0.12-0.13 cm deep, abaxial surface with 5-6 longitudianal ridges.

Distribution

Rochefortia stellata (symbol "•" in Fig. 3) is endemic to the southern and eastern provinces of Cuba (i.e., Granma, Guantánamo, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba; Borhidi 1991) and occurs in coastal forests and tickets on limestone and serpentine soils as well, between 10-600 m altitude, sympatrically with R. cubensis and R. oblongata .

Ecology

Flowering Mar–Aug, Nov–Dec; fruiting: Apr–Aug.

Taxon discussion

Rochefortia stellata is the most distinctive species and can be easily distinguished from all other Rochefortia species, because of the consistent presence of multi-branched (i.e., stellate) trichomes (Fig. 2) on young twigs, petioles and leaves (on abaxial surface, stellate trichomes are much more abundant and persistent over time, whereas those on the adaxial surface can be lost at maturity). Together with the restricted distribution in eastern Cuba, the species can therefore be reliably identified, even in vegetative stage. Many individuals exhibit branched thorns, which is shared with R. cubensis and R. oblongata only.

Within his Rochefortia sect. Stellatae , Klotz (1980) distinguished a number of taxa at the species level and below, because he observed morphological variation in correlation with geographic occurrence. Specimens with the smallest leave size and narrowest blade (0.8-1.2 cm long, 0.2-0.3 cm wide) occur mainly in Holguín: Sierra de Nipe (being type localities of R. septentrionalis and R. septentrionalis var. obovata ) and Sierra Cristal (type locality of R. septentrionalis var. cristalensis ), but are also found elsewhere. Plants with scattered stellate trichomes on the upper surface are not confined to Baitiquiri (type locality of R. victoriniana ), but can be also observed in other Cuban provinces. Generally, density and occurrence of stellate trichomes rather conform to ontogeny than to biogeography, as entire plant organs (e.g., young branches, petioles, calyx lobes, both leaf surfaces) are covered with a dense layer of stellate trichomes in early developmental stages, while older organs have lost this indument, except those on the abaxial leaf surface (possibly as an effective protection against evaporation).

Some individuals of R. stellata (e.g., Bucher s.n.: F! Bisse & Köhler 8300: JE!) appear as substrate for plants assigned to Tillandsia sp. ( Bromeliaceae ).

Notes

Representative specimens examined. - CUBA. Granma: Cabo Cruz, 19°50'N, 77°50'W [retroactively inferred], 26 Jun 1924 (sterile), Ekman 19075 (G! K!); Guantánamo: Mesa del Chivo, Maisí, 20°14'N, 74°91'W [retroactively inferred], 19 Aug 1939 (fr), León & Victorin 17108 (GH! US!); Baracoa: Cajobabo, monte seco de la Loma de la Luna, 20°41'N, 74°29'W [retroactively inferred], Jun 1967 (fr), Bisse & Rojas [Flora Cuba] 3404 (HAJB! JE!); Holguín: Sierra de Nipe, in carrascales at Río Piloto, 20°28'N, 75°48'W [retroactively inferred], 3 Jul 1924 (fl), Ekman 19171 (F! US!); Santiago de Cuba: S of town, 20°08'N, 75°49'W [retroactively inferred], 16 Apr 1917 (fl), Ekman 8597 (K!); S coast, near Juragua Beach, 19°53'N, 75°33'W [retroactively inferred], Aug 1929 (♀ fl, fr), Bucher s.n. (F!); Guamá, 1.5 km W of El Macho, 19°58'N, 76°31'W [retroactively inferred], 29 May 1988 (fr), Álvarez de Zayas et al. [Flora Cuba] 65564 (JE!).

Common names

"espino de costa" in Holguín and "carey de costa" in Santiago de Cuba.