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(Last Modified On 11/29/2012)
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(Last Modified On 11/29/2012)
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Genus
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WITTIA K. Sch.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 13:117. 1903
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Reference
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Britton & Rose, in Carnegie Inst. Wash. Publ. No. 248. 3:206. 1923.
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Synonym
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Pseudorhipsalis Britton & Rose, loc. cit. 4:213. 1923.
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Description
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Succulent shrubby root-climbers, usually epiphytic; stems phylloid and jointed, usually of two intergrading types as in Epiphyllum: the primary terete or weakly winged, usually rooting, the secondary (flowering) flattened and leaf-like, lobed or undulate, with marginal areoles covered with few to several minute scales and indefinitely papillate or naked. Leaves lacking. Flowers ephemeral (or noc- turnal?), sessile, borne singly at the areoles; perianth mediocre or relatively small, tubular to tubular-salverform or campanulate, the tube about as long as the seg- ments or shorter, bearing a few inconspicuous deltoid bracts, the segments about 10-15, erect or spreading; stamens about 30-45, the filaments few to several times longer than the anthers, inserted at progressively deeper levels within the perianth tube, the outermost conspicuously shorter than the innermost; ovary ovoid- fusiform, minutely tuberculate-bracteate. Fruit a fleshy berry with rather few seeds.
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Habit
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shrub
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Note
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It is extremely difficult to justify the separation of Pseudorhipsalis from Wittia upon the basis of our scanty herbarium material, and surely it is nearly impossible to do so even from the meagre descriptions and rather irrelevant comments of Britton and Rose. Granted that there is an obvious transition between the sub- tribes Epiphyllanae and Rhipsalidanae, the purpose of illustration as well as that of convenience would be served better by fewer gradient genera than those recognized by Britton and Rose. Britton and Rose enumerate two species each for Wittia and Pseudorhipsalis. In addition to the two species in Panama, W. amazonica is known from extreme northeastern Peru and adjacent Colombia, and Ps. alata from Jamaica.
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Key
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a. Flowers tubular-salverform, white flushed with rose, the perianth seg- ments widely spreading; flowering stem joints narrowly repand ................. 1. W. HIMANTOCLADA aa. Flowers tubular, deep pink tipped with lavender, the perianth segments erect; flowering stem joints narrowly serrate............................................. 2. W. PANAMENSIS
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