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(Last Modified On 4/4/2013)
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(Last Modified On 4/4/2013)
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Species
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Cunila polyantha Benth.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Lab. Gen. et Sp. 362, 1834.-Fig. 4.
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Description
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Shrubs, scandent or ? erect, to 1.5 m, softly pubescent on the younger branches or glabrous. Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acute-acuminate, weakly serrulate to subentire, the bases obtuse to ? rounded, to 6 cm long and 3 cm wide, slightly pubescent, more so on the veins beneath; petioles ca 2-5 mm long. Inflorescences verticils, rarely cymose, few and crowded, each ca 5-7-flowered, bracts leaf-like, ca 4-5 mm long, deciduous. Flowers with pedicels 1-3 mm long; bracteoles present, + linear, ca 1.5-2 mm long; calyx tubular, ca 3.5-4 mm long, 5-toothed, the teeth deltoid and ? equal, ca 12-15-veined, pubescent, especially on the inner surface of the teeth; corolla tubular, white, exserted, ca 3-4 mm long, weakly bilabiate, the lips ca 1-1.5 mm long, the upper lip cleft, the lower lip 3-lobed, the middle larger, pubescent near the tip; stamens exserted. mounted
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Habit
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Shrubs
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Description
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low in the corolla throat, the anthers small, ca 0.5 mm long; gynobase straight, the style slender, exserted, bifid near the tip, the branches unequal. Nutlets ovoid, smooth, mature size unknown.
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Distribution
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Mexico and Central America.
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Specimen
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CHIRIQUI: Volcan de Chiriqui,Davidson 543 (F), 898 (A, MO).
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Note
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Examination of non-Panamanian collections of C. polyantha reveals a notice- able variation in the development of the cymes and their arrangement. In some Mexican material the cymes are numerous, large and conspicuously pedunculate, in contrast to Panamanian specimens where the cymes are few, small and + sessile, thus forming verticillasters. A photograph (MO) of the type [Berlandier s.n. (G)], although admittedly not identical to either of the above mentioned specimens, shows verticils with the more extensive cymose development. In the absence of any comprehensive treatment of the genus, I am not sure of the significance of this variation and hesitate to describe a new species.
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