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(Last Modified On 9/18/2013)
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(Last Modified On 9/18/2013)
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Species
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Rustia occidentalis (Benth.) Hemsl.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Biol. Centr. Amer. 2: 14. 1881.
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Synonym
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Exostemma occidentale Benth., Bot. Voy. Sulphur 104. 1844. TYPE: Panama, Barclay and/or Hinds (K, holotype).
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Description
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Shrubs or small trees, to 5 m tall; branchlets terete, smooth, rimose, often cracking, glabrous. Leaves narrowly oblong to obovate oblong, often falcate, regularly 3 times longer than wide, to 22 cm long, to 9 cm wide, acute or deltoid at the apex, acuminate, the acumen to 3 cm long, usually falcate, basally acute, the costa plane or slightly depressed above, prominent beneath, the lateral veins ca. 15, arcuate, those in the middle of the blade 1.0-2.5 cm apart, stiffly papy- raceous, scarcely discolorous, the intervenal areas with scattered glandular punc- tations, glabrous; petioles slender, to 4 cm long, to 0.2 cm wide, usually angular, the lamina decurrent alate, glabrous; stipules not seen. Inflorescences terminal, solitary, paniculate, occasionally racemiform, shorter than the uppermost leaves, the peduncle absent or 0.5-2.0 cm long, the lateral branches short or to 6.5 cm long, angular, opposite (at least the 2 lowermost pairs), the flowers solitary on reduced ultimate branchlets or in spreading cymules on the upper 1/2 of the branchlets. Flowers with the hypanthium cuneate, to 5 mm long, ca. 2.5 mm wide, glabrous, the calycine cup ca. 0.5 mm long, the margin erose, toothless or with 5 vague, undulate areas; corolla purple or red, the tube compressed cylin- drical, ca. 7.5 mm long, ca. 3 mm wide at the base, slightly constricted medially, stiffly carnose to coriaceous, glabrous except densely white villose at the filament attachment point, the lobes 4, oblong, slightly shorter than the tube, acute or obtuse, glabrous; stamens 5, the anthers oblong, ca. 6.8 mm long, ca. 2 mm wide, obtuse and porocidal at the apex, obtuse basally, dorsifixed near the base, the filaments short, ca. 0.8 mm broad; stigmas 2, erect, concave adaxially, ca. 1 mm long, the style cylindrical, ca. 0.9 mm long, ca. 0.7 mm broad, constricted basally. Fruits briefly pedicellate, capsular, obovoid, ca. 1 cm long, to 0.8 cm wide, truncate at the apex with an annular scar, drying dark brown, thin but lignose, delicately longitudinal striate, glandular punctate, splitting to base into 2 valves, each with a conspicuous, median, longitudinal, seminiferous septum.
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Habit
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Shrubs or small trees
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Distribution
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ranges from Costa Rica to Colombia.
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Note
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The fact that the flowers are purple red, the leaves pellucid punctate, and the anthers open by a terminal pore allows for ready identification of the species. Simpson (1976) re- cently treated the genus Rustia as found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. He noted R. occidentalis for Colombia, but he did not mention the Central American distribution of the species.
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Specimen
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PANAMA: BOCAS DEL TORO: Old Bank Island, Wedel 298 (F). CANAL ZONE: Mojinga Swamp, mouth of Rio Chagres, Allen 860 (MO). Chagres, Fendler 289 (F, MO). Chagres River, 1 mi above mouth, Johnston 1745 (MO). COLON: Miguel de la Borda, Croat 9828 (MO). Along Cafno Rey, vicinity of Cocle del Norte, Dressler 4207 (MO). DARIEN: Pinias, Duke 10576, 10605 (both MO). Puerto St. Dorothea, Divyer 2231 (MO), 2290 (F, MO). COLOMBIA: 3-7 mi S of Curice, Duke 9653 (MO).
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