Flora of Dominica, Part 2 - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

118 GESNERIACEAE SMITHSON” CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY
1. Flowers loose on pedicels >1.5 cm long; leaves and stems
rarely pubescent.
2. Leaves with petioles 1-5 cm long; pedicels >2 cm
1ong;calyx lobes united only at the base . . . B. filipes
2. Leaves usually 2 sessile, petioles rarely to 1.5 cm long;
pedicels to 2 cm long; calyx lobes united beyond middle
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B. lutea
Besleria filipes
Besletiajilipes Urban, 1901,2:350.
Besletia filipes f. latior Morton, 1939:426.
Besleria filipes f. glabemima Morton, 1939:426.
Besleriajilipes f. pilicadis Mom, 1939:426.
Shrubs to 3 m tall; stem nearly glabrous to strigose; leaves
with blades elliptic, to 15 cm long; calyx lobes ovate, 3-6 mm
long; corolla orange to yellow, 1.3-1.8 cm long; berry orange
to red, succulent.
Guadeloupe and Dominica; in Dominica in wet forests,
200-1400 m: Deux Branches (Ernst 1803, Hodge 2982), La
Chaudiere (Hodge 3588), Pont Casse area [including Mome
Negres Marrons and Trois Pitons] (Cowan 1628, Ernst 2049,
Hodge 1070, 1424, Wasshausen & Ayensu 390, Wilbur 8092,
8322), South Chiltem-Lisdara (Cooper 157, Ernst 1125,1862,
Stern & Warshausen 2508, 2508A), Sylvania (Hodge I103),
Syndicate area [including Milton and Morne Diablotins] (Ernst
2072, Hodge 2812, 2918, Webster 13343, Whitefoord 4547),
sine loc. (Cooper 47, Fishlock 12).
The amount of pubescence on the stems and condition of the
leaf margins, by which Morton distinguished the four forms of
Besleria filipes on Dominica, are probably ecologically
dependent.
A specimen collected in Dominica by Anderson (K),
attributed by Morton (1939:418) to Besleria solanoides Kunth
(otherwise unknown from the Lesser Antilles), has not been
Seen but may be B. filipes.
Besleria lutea
Besleria lutea Linnaeus, 1753:619.-Howard, 1989,6:346.
Besleria imrayi J. Hooker, 1878a, “Inway.”
Besleria lute0 var. imrayi (J, Hooker) Urban, 1901,2:348.-Mo1ton, 1939:457.
BesIeria lutea var. intermedia Urban, 1901.2:348.
Erect shrubs to 3 m tall, stem glabrous and nitid at maturity;
leaves ovate to elliptic; calyx lobes -1 cm long; berry red,
enclosed in the persistent calyx.
Antilles; on Dominica in rainforests at borders or wet
openings, 100-850 m: Deux Branches-Hatton Garden (Hodge
831,3437, Long & Norstog 3387), Freshwater-Boeri Lake area
(Burch 1369, Chambers 2558, Eggers s.n., Ernst 1853,
Fosberg 48273, Hodge 1803, Smith 10213, Stern & Wasshausen
2569, Webster 13250, Whitefoord 4140), Wilbur 7451,
8217), Lisdara (Hodge 832, 2424), Milton (Hodge 2556),
Mome Aux Diables (Wilbur 8063), Pont Cass6 area [including
Trois Pitons] (Erst 1021, 2053, Nicolson 1850, Skog 1582,
Wilbur 8186), Springfield-Sylvania area (Hodge 1335, 3990,
Wilbur 7695), Syndicate area [including Mome Diablotins]
(Whitefoord 3497,4104,4571).
Variety imrayi was considered by Morton as the most
distinctive of the local varieties recognized by Urban, on the
basis of its subsessile leaves. Most specimens from Dominica
have subsessile leaves, but sometimes (Hodge 2556, Whitefoord
3497, 4104, 4140) the leaves are distinctly petiolate.
Variety intermedia is supposed to have the leaf-pairs unequally
petiolate.
Howard (pers. comm.) identified Whitefoord 4571 at A as
Besleria solanoides Kunth, a new record for Dominica if true
(material at US is B. lutea).
Urban (1901, 2:347-349) cited Duss collections from
Dominica under the typical variety and under var. intermedia,
but none have been seen.
Besleria petiolaris
Besleria perwlarir (Grisebach) Urban, 1901,2:352.
Cdlandra petidoris Grisebach, 1862463.
Shrubs to 1.5 m taR stems, leaves, and inflorescences pilose;
leaves succulent, petioles 2-7 cm long, blades oblanceolate to
broadly elliptic, 17-26 cm long; calyx lobes -1 cm long, free;
berry red to orange.
Endemic to Dominica in wet forests, from 100-850 m: Boeri
Lake (Whitefoord 4167), Deux Branches (Hodge 3129),
Freshwater Lake (Wilbur 8200), Jean (Ernst I819), La
Chaudikre (Hodge 3566, 3588), Mome Diablotins (Nicolson
1914, Webster 13326, Whitefoord 3655, 4246, 4569), Pont
Casd area (Cowan 1608, Ernst 2021, Hodge 1073, 1377,
Webster 13216, Wilbur 7799, Sylvania (Hodge 1121).
Columnea Linnaeus
Columnea scandens
Colwnnea scandens Linnaeus, 1753:638.-Morley, 1974:427.
Cdumnea scandens var. vincentina Morton, 1944:13.
Scandent epiphytic shrubs, rooting at the nodes; stems
pubescent to strigose when young, glabrescent with age; leaves
of a pair equal, petioles densely strigose, blades ovate to k
orbicular, 1-6 cm long, usually -2 cm long, k entire, strigose;
calyx usually green, lobes linear-lanceolate to elliptic, usually
-1 cm long, entire or basally toothed; corolla with a long
narrow tube, 4-8.5 cm long, red and pubescent, limb with
upper lobes erect, basal lobe reflexed; stamens exserted; berry
white.
West Indies and northern South America: in Dominica in wet
forests on rocks or trees, 700-850 m: En Haut Jean (Nicolson
4116), Laudat (Eggers 716), Mome Negres Marrons (Hodge
1075), Morne Diablotins (Whitefoord 4393), Roche d’Or
(Warshausen & Ayensu 397).