Gesneria pumila subsp. pumila

Gesneria pumila subsp. pumila

Gesneria pumila Swartz, Prodr. 90, 1788.—Sw., Fl. Ind. Occid. 2:1030, 1800.—Lunan, Hort. Jam. 1:322, 1814.—Urb. Symb. Ant. 2:378, 1901.—Adams, Fl. PI. Jamaica 679, 1972.

Conradia pumila (Swartz) Martius, Nov. Gen. & Sp. 3:38, 1829 & 3:191, 1832.—G. Don. Gen. Syst. 4:650, 1838.—DC., Prodr. 7:526, 1839.—Griseb., Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 461, 1862.

Chorisanthera pumila (Swartz) Ørsted, Cent. Gesn. 35, 1858.

Chorisanthera tenera Ørsted, Cent. Gesn. 35, 1858 [ex. char.] [Type-collection: A. Ørsted sn, not seen.]

Pentarhaphia tenera (Ørsted), Hanstein, Linnaea 34:304, 1865.

Pentarhaphia pumila (Swartz) Hanstein, Linnaea 34:305, 1865.

Gesneria tenera (Ørsted) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 2:473, 1891 (“Gesnera”).

Plants acaulescent or suffruticose: stems woody, decumbent, to 15 cm tall, rarely taller; bark rugose, reddish-brown, glabrescent, verrucose, pith reddish; branching from the base, internodes very short.

Leaves alternate: petioles flattened, 0.2–1.2 cm long, 1–2 mm wide, green to reddish-brown, adaxial surface glandular to densely pilose, becoming verrucose with age, resinous; blades oblanceolate

to subspathulate, 1.5–10.6 cm long, 0.8–3.8 cm wide, membranous, sometimes crisped, bullate, base cuneate to subcordate, margin crenate-serrate, ciliate, apex rounded, adaxial surface dark green, pilose to glabrescent with glandular and nonglandular trichomes occasionally with broad bases, glossy or dull, abaxial surface lighter green, pilose to glabrescent with reddish or colorless appressed trichomes along the prominent veins.

Inflorescences few to many, 1– to 3-flowered: peduncles terete, 0.3–3.2 cm long, 1 mm in diameter, green to reddish, sparsely to densely pilose with reddish or colorless articulate trichomes, somewhat resinous; bracts 2, lanceolate, 3–5 mm long, 1 mm wide, green or red, cuneate at the base, margin ciliate, apex acute, adaxial surface glandular; pedicels terete, 0.4–1.6 cm long, 1 mm in diameter, green to red, glandular to pilose; floral tube cyathiform, 2–4 mm long, 2–3 mm wide, green to reddish, pilose with glandular and nonglandular trichomes, to glabrescent; calyx lobes 5, erect, connate at the base for 1 mm, aestivation open, each subulate or lanceolate to elliptic, 2–9 mm long, 1–3 mm wide, green or red outside, sparsely pilose to glabrescent, glandular, inside green or red, glandular, veins obscure, apex acute; corolla narrowly campanulate, tube 0.8–1.6 cm long, 2–4 mm wide at base, 5–8 mm wide at mouth, exterior and interior reddish at the base, then green to creamy white toward the margin, or salmon-pink or reddish, pilose, trichomes more numerous at the mouth, limb 5-lobed, spreading, 0.8–2.2 cm wide, upper two lobes erect, lateral and basal lobes reflexed, each lobe semiorbiculate, 0.3–1.1 mm wide, margin dentate and ciliate; stamens 4, occasionally 5, adnate to the corolla base for less than 1 mm, seldom exserted beyond the limb, filaments linear, slightly wider at the base, 0.8–2.1 cm long, less than 1 mm wide, red, anthers oblong, 0.5–1.5 mm long, less than 1 mm wide, seldom coherent, arranged side by side, pollen grains (Figure 18k) isopolar, prolate, size small (21.4–21.7 μm long at the polar axis, 10.2— 10.5 μm wide at the equatorial axis), amb nearly circular, tricolpate, colpi 18.4 μm long, less than 1 μm wide, apocolpia truncate, sexine reticulate, homobrochate, lumina less than 0.5 μm across, muri ca 0.25 μm wide; staminode to 6 mm long, lacking fertile anther; ovary inferior, disc reddish, 1–2 mm wide, style linear, widest at the base, 0.7–2.4 cm long, 1 mm wide, pink, stigma clavate, papillate.

Capsule nearly spherical to elliptic, 3–7 mm long, 2–6 mm wide, green-gray to brown, glabrescent except occasionally pilose along the costae, costae obscure or nearly visible; seeds rhombic, 0.5 mm long, reddish-brown.

TYPE-COLLECTION.—Jamaica, O. Swartz sn (S, holotype, Figure 85b; B, BM, C, G-DC, LD, LINN, M, S, UPS, isotypes).

CHROMOSOME NUMBER.—η = 14 (Talpey 14; Lee, 1966a).

DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY.—Plants grow in western Jamaica (Figure 84) in the parishes of Hanover, Westmoreland, St. James, St. Elizabeth, and Trelawny, and in eastern Jamaica in the parishes of Portland and St. Thomas at elevations of 300700 m on moist shaded limestone cliffs or ledges. Gesneria pumila subsp. pumila may produce flowers in the field during all the months of the year except May; in the greenhouse this subspecies produces flowers in April and November.

SPECIMENS EXAMINED.—JAMAICA. PARISH OF HANOVER: Dolphin Head, 1300 ft, 21 December 1960, C. Adams 8628 (UCWI). PARISH OF WESTMORELAND: 1.5 mi NW of Leamington, 1300 ft, 31 January 1961, C. Adams 8883 (UCWI); Bush Mt. (Bush-mouth) district, ca 1 mi W of Flower Hill PO, ca 1000 ft, 30 October 1952, G. Proctor 7300 (IJ, NY); Teague Gully, 1000–1300 ft, 8 February 1961, G. Proctor & W. Mullings 22049 (BM, IJ); January 1844, W. Purdie sn (K). PARISH OF ST. JAMES: White Rock Hill, ca 1 mi S of Sweet Water, 2000–2200 ft, 2 December 1962, G. Proctor 22991 (BM, GH, IJ). PARISH OF ST. ELIZABETH: Springfield, 1500–1750 ft, 22 March 1964, G. Proctor 24731 (IJ); near Springfield, 1500 ft, 16 August 1970, L. Skog 1643 (BH); New Hope, Springfield, 1849, H. Wullschlagel 952 (GOET, M, W). PARISH OF TRELAWNY: Cockpit Country, near Red Mud Hole, ca 6 mi NNW of Accompong, 1100 ft, 27 April 1956, W. Stearn 954 (BM); Cockpit Country, ca 8 mi N of Quickstep, 7 March 1950, G. Proctor 4131 (IJ, US); 7 mi NNW of Quickstep, 1500 ft, 18 March 1962, J. Poulter in Adams 10895 (UCWI); Cockpit Country, Troy, 13–18 September 1906, N. Britton 512 (F, NY); Tyre Woods, 2000 ft, 13 January 1909, W. Harris 10667 (F, K, NY, UCWI 2 sheets, US). PARISH OF PORTLAND: spur of John Crow Mountains, opposite Mill Bank, 450–625 m, 18 June 1926, W. Maxon 9352 (NY, US); Ecclesdown, 1200–2000 ft, 1 March 1961, C. Adams 9091 (UCWI); Ecclesdown, 1200 ft, 29 March 1961, C. Adams 9344 (UCWI); John Crow Mountains above Ecclesdown, 900 ft, 8 April 1967, A. Katzenberger & R. Katzenberger 107 (RDJ); west slope of Crown Peak, John Crow Mountains, ca 3000 ft, G. Proctor 4007 (IJ, US); John Crow Mountains, 1.5–2.5 mi SW of Ecclesdown, 1500–2500 ft, 24 January 1956, R. Hozvard, G. Proctor & W. Stearn 14801 (A, BM); east slope of the John Crow Mountains, 1.5 mi SW of Ecclesdown, 1500 ft, 21 March 1951, G. Proctor 5616 (IJ); east slope of John Crow Mountains, 1–1.5 mi SW of Ecclesdown, 1200–1500 ft, 14 January 1955, G. Proctor 9801 (IJ, NY); SW of Ecclesdown, 1400 ft, 3 November 1964, T. Talpey 14 (BH); east slope of the John Crow Mountains, ca 1.5 mi SW of Ecclesdown, 1500 ft, 5 February 1969, R. Weaver 1926 (UCWI); Rodney Hall, 1000 ft, 26 March 1961, C. Adams 9333 (UCWI); John Crow Mountains, 1500 ft, March 1951, E. Robertson 113 (UCWI). PARISH OF ST. THOMAS: trail from Corn Puss Gap north, 2000 ft, 29 July 1966, W. Anderson & D. Sternberg 3316 (GH, UCWI); Corn Puss Gap, ca 2100 ft, 5 January 1945, A. Barry sn (IJ); north slope of Corn Puss Gap, 1750–2000 ft, 1 March 1969, G. Proctor 29992 (IJ); deep ravine in mountain forest above House Hill, 500–700 m, 6–12 June 1926. W. Maxon 8863 (NY, US); Cunna Cunna Gap, July 1843, W. Purdie 221 (K). LOCALITY UNKNOWN: “Jamaica,” 1844, W. Purdie sn (GH, K, TCD); “Jamaica,” 1784–1786, O. Swartz sn (S, holotype of Gesneria pumila Swartz; B, BM, C, G-DC, LD, LINN, M, S 2 sheets, UPS, isotypes). CULTIVATED: Cornell University, G-874, 19 April 1966, M. Stone 125 (BH).