Cuatrecasanthus flexipappus (Gleason) H. Rob., Revista Colomb. Ci. Exact. 17 (65): 210. 1989.

Robinson, Harold & Funk, Vicki A., 2012, Cuatrecasanthus (Vernonieae, Compositae): A revision of a north-central Andean genus, PhytoKeys 14, pp. 23-41 : 25-28

1. Cuatrecasanthus flexipappus (Gleason) H. Rob., Revista Colomb. Ci. Exact. 17 (65): 210. 1989. Figs 5A 10

Type: Based on Vernonia flexipappa Gleason

Vernonia flexipappa Gleason, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 52(5): 186.1925.

Type:

Ecuador. Loja: sin. loc., E. André 2250 (holotype: NY, image US!; isotype: K).

Description.

Shrubs or small trees, 1.0-3.0 m tall; stems densely pilose with dark brown trichomes, becoming glabrous with age. Leaves with petioles 0.5-1.2 cm long; blades narrowly to broadly elliptical, mostly 3-9 cm long, 1-3 cm wide, narrowly acuminate at base and apex, margin narrowly but strongly recurved, without evident teeth or with in-turned teeth, adaxial surface dark green, glabrous or with minute appressed pubescence, secondary and tertiary veins insculpate, abaxial surface pale greenish covered with mostly appressed, stiff, brownish trichomes (rarely straw colored) intermixed with less evident whitish prostrate myceliiform branching trichomes, midvein with dense antrorse pubescence mostly on sides; secondary veins ca. 5 pairs, spreading from midvein at ca. 45° angles, strongly curved. Inflorescence scarcely exceeding vegetative leaves; branches densely pilosulous or hirtellous. Heads sessile in clusters of 3-7, ca. 10-11 mm tall × 2 mm wide; involucres cylindrical to fusiform; bracts mostly deciduous, ca. 15 in ca. 5 series, 1.0-5.5 mm long, ca. 1.2 mm wide, apices short-acute, ovate to narrowly elliptical, yellowish or with reddish median stripe, puberulous to nearly glabrous outside. Florets with corollas white to bluish white or lavender, ca. 5.5 mm long, with glandular dots on basal tube and tips of lobes, few small trichomes on lobe tips, tubes ca. 2 mm long, lobes ca. 4 mm long, with some non-glandular trichomes; anther thecae ca. 2 mm long. Achenes 2.0-2.5 mm long; pappus white, of ca. 50 bristles mostly ca. 6 mm long, not or scarcely broadened toward tips. Pollen grains 37-47 µm in diam.

Additional specimens examined.

Ecuador. Loja: along road between Loja and Zamora, ca. km 11 [03°59'0"S, 79°08'16"W, estimated], 2600 m, 2 August 1978, Zarucchi & Andrade 2304 (US); Carretera Loja-Zamora, km 13, 2500 m [03°59'00"S, 79°07'00"W, estimated], 16 August 1983, Jaramillo & Winnerskojold 5812 (AAU); Loja-Zamora road, ca. km 15, 03°58'S, 79°08'W, 2400-2700 m, 22-23 April 1984, Madsen 74081 (AAU, QCA, US); In the páramo of "El Tiro," located at northern terminus of Podocarpus National Park, 500 m from the Loja-Zamora highway, 03°59'S, 79°08'W, 2940-2970 m, 14 April 1992, Keating 143 (US); In the páramo and shrub páramo above the Refugio de Cajanuma (Centro de Información), Podocarpus National Park, 04°07'00"S, 79°09'30"W, 2800 m, 31 July 1993, Keating 409 (US). Zamora-Chinchipe: 14.8 km from transit control out of Loja on ro ad to Zamora [03°59'10"S, 79°08'02"W, estimated], 2500 m, 8 July 1983, Keeley & Keeley 4104, 4105, 4106, 4107, 4108, 4109, 4110, 4111, 4115 (K, US); Keeley & Keeley 4112, 4114 (US);Zamora, carretera Loja-Zamora, Estación Científica San Francisco, sendero hacia las antenas. Colecciones cerca del Francisco 4, en Transecto 2, 03°58'S, 79°04'W, 3000 m, 29 April 2000; Freire Fierro 3121 (MO, US).

Peru. Cajamarca: Prov. Jaen; E slope of Paso de Huascarai, head of Quebrada Granadillas, 15 km SE of Huancabamba, 05°22'S, 79°20'W, 3000 m, 10 June 1947, Fosberg 27852 (US). Piura: Prov. Huancabamba; Los Llanos to Chorro Blanco (Sapalache - Chiguelas), 2650 m, 5°08.2'S, 79°24.6'W, 19 Oct. 2001, Sagasteguí, Dillon, Leiva, & Zapata 16781 (F, HUT).

Habitat.

Roadside, burned over cloud forest on steep south-facing slope; shrub páramo at 2400-3000 m in elevation.

The species is the most commonly collected member of the genus but apparently is sympatric with both Cuatrecasanthus kingii and Cuatrecasanthus lanceolatus in the area near the border between Loja and Zamora/Chinchipe. The species is very closely related to the northern Peruvian Cuatrecasanthus jelskii (Hieron.) H. Rob. The latter differs most obviously by the densely hirsute abaxial surface of the midvein of the leaves and erect rather than appressed trichomes of the abaxial blade surface. The adaxial leaf surface of the latter also has less strongly insculpate veins.

Preliminary conservation status.

Data Deficient

Figures

Figure 5. Photographs of Cuatrecasanthus types: A Cuatrecasanthus flexipappus, holotype (NY) B Cuatrecasanthus giannasii, holotype (S).

Figure 10. Distribution map of Cuatrecasanthus species.