Rochefortia oblongata Urb. & Ekman

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

Rochefortia oblongata Urb. & Ekman

Rochefortia oblongata Rochefortia oblongata Ark. Bot. 22A.17: 94. 1929E.L. Ekman 9224S-04-2385G-236086GH-97339K-583494

Description

Shrubs, short shoot galls occasionally present, 0.7-1.0 cm long; indument glabrous, trichomes simple; bark greyish white, slightly fissured; thorns 0.7-1.1 cm long, relatively robust, acute, simple or dichotomously branched, axillary or terminal, glabrous. Leaves fasciculate; petiole 0.4-1.0 cm long, robust, glabrous; blade 1.1-3.9 cm long, 0.7-1.5 cm wide, oblong-ovate, sometimes elliptic, coriaceous, primary veins very prominent, secondary veins 10-16, tertiary veins absent; base cuneate; apex retuse or obcordate; adaxial surface bright, with numerous cystoliths and simple, bent trichomes emerging from an inflated cystolith basal cell, abaxial surface bright, striate, very rarely with scattered trichomes, midrib and tips with a few trichomes. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, secondarily branched, branches slender, with diffusely scattered trichoms, pedicel 0.50-0.60 cm long. Calyx 0.25-0.30 cm long, 0.28-0.30 cm wide, coriaceous, with scattered trichomes outside, glabrous inside, but with a few scattered trichomes at blade tips, lobes 0.20-0.40 cm long, 0.30-0.35 cm wide, broadly obovate to triangulate, apex obtuse. Flowers at anthesis unknown. Mature fruit unknown; pyrene 0.35-0.40 cm tall, 0.28-0.30 cm wide, 0.20-0.22 cm deep, abaxially completely smooth.

Distribution

Endemic to eastern Cuba (symbol "⌾" in Fig. 3), in tidewater flats and dry bushes at 0-300 m altitude.

Ecology

Fruiting Jun.

Taxon discussion

The species is very similar to Jamaican R. cuneata , but differs in having (at least some) thorns branched and also in leaf traits exhibiting numerous cystoliths and peculiar roughness at touch. Rochefortia oblongata is sympatric with R. cubensis and R. stellata , from which it can reliably be distinguished based on leaves and petioles that are both much longer than in the other species. Moreover, the abaxial surface of pyrenes is entirely smooth (versus reticulate in R. cuneata and all other species of Rochefortia ).

The species is endemic to Southern Cuba and is known only from five herbarium collections. According to the Red List of Cuban Plants ( Berazaín Iturralde et al. 2005), R. oblongata is assigned as endangered under IUCN criteria.

Notes

Representative specimens examined. - CUBA. Guantánamo: Caimanera, W of bay, 19°59'N, 75°91'W [retroactively inferred], 22 Nov 1922 (sterile), Ekman 15748 (K!); Baracoa, N of Loma del Cueros, elev 300 m, 20°54'N, 74°33'W [retroactively inferred], 5 Feb 1976 (sterile), Areces et al. [Flora Cuba] 29684 (HAJB!); Imías, Río Tacre, 20°35'N, 74°31'W [retroactively inferred], 16 Aug 1975 (sterile), Álvarez de Zayas et al. Flora Cuba] 27508 (HAJB!); Holguín: Sierra de Nipe: Mayarí Abajo, Loma del Winche, 20°27'N, 75°48'W [retroactively inferred], Mar 1968 (sterile), Bisse & Köhler [Flora Cuba] 6972 (HAJB!).

Common names

none.