Gesneria libanensis Linden ex C. Morren

Gesneria libanensis Linden ex Morren

Gesneria libanensis Linden ex Morren, Ann. Soc. Roy. Agric. Gand 2:361, pl. 84, October 1846—Walp., Repert. Bot. Syst. 6:737, 1847.—W. Hook., Bot. Mag. 74: pl. 4380, 1848.—Fritsch, in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 4(3b):184, fig. 81D, 1894.— Urb., Symb. Ant. 2:381, 1901.— Morton in Leon & Alain, Fl. de Cuba 4:462, 1957.

Rhytidophyllum floribundum Lemaire, Fl. Serres Jard. Eur. 2: pl. 178, December 1846 [superfluous name].

Conradia floribunda Paxton, Paxton’s Mag. Bot. 15:99, 1848. [Type: plate and description.]

Herincquia floribunda (Lemaire) Decaisne ex Herincq, Rev. Hort. ser. 3, 2:323, 1848.—Jacques & Herincq, Man. Gén. Pl. 2:562, 1850—Lavallée, Horticulteur Franç. 1864:177, pl. 11, 1864.

Ophianthe libanensis (Linden ex Morren) Hanstein, Linnaea 26:205, pl. 1: fig. 33, 1854.

Conradia corrugata Grisebach, Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n.s. 8:526, 1862. [Type-collection: Monte Verde, Cuba, C. Wright 1335 (GOET, holotype; BR, G, GH, K, MO, NY, P, PH, W, isotypes).]

Conradia libanensis (Linden ex Morren) Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 462, 1862 [pro parte as to Cuban material].—Griseb., Cat. Pl. Cub. 201. 1866 [pro parte].

Pentarhaphia libanensis (Linden ex Morren) Hanstein, Linnaea 34:292, 1865.

Pentarhaphia floribunda (Lemaire) Bentham & Hooker f. ex Carrière, Rev. Hort. 1878:30 and plate, 1878.—Anon., Gard. Chron. 1878(2):593, 1878.

Gesneria hondensis Morren ex Jackson, Index Kewensis 1: 1024, 1893 [sphalm., non Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth (1817–1818)].

Pentarhaphia corrugata (Grisebach) Gomez de la Maza, Anales Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat. 23:280, 1894.

Gesneria libanensis var. corrugata (Grisebach) Urban, Symb. Ant. 2:381, 1901.

Gesneria lopezii Morton, Brittonia 9:19, 1957.—Morton in Leon & Alain, Fl. de Cuba 4:462, 1957. [Type-collection: Oriente, Cuba, C. Morton, M. Lopez F. & Alain Liogier 8759 (US, holotype; BM, isotype).]

Slow-growing subshrubs: stems woody, erect or pendent, to 60 cm tall, ca 3 mm in diameter at 10 cm below apex, bark rugose, or smooth, brown to gray, apex pilose, resinous; branches occasional, internodes 0.7 to 2.0 cm long.

Leaves alternate in a rosette, deciduous or persistent: petioles sulcate, 0.7–2.0 cm long, 1–2 mm wide, green, villous, blades oblanceolate, 1.9–16.0 cm long, 0.6–4.0 cm wide, membranous, base acute, margin crenate to serrate, occasionally irregularly undulate-lobulate, adaxial surface occasionally bullate, or smooth, dark green, glabrous or with appressed pubescence when young, becoming glabrescent and trichomes white with broad bases, veins sunken, abaxial surface lighter green, trichomes occasionally reddish, appressed between veins, or glabrous, some veins prominent, pilose, diverging at an angle of ca 45°.

Inflorescences of 1–5 protandrous flowers, occasionally as long as the leaves: peduncles short, 0.2–2 cm long, sparsely pilose; bracts 2, linear, up to 2 cm long, ca 1 mm wide, green, pilose; pedicels 1.5–2.5 cm long, red or green, pilose; floral tube obconic or turbinate, ca 2 mm long, 2.0–3.5 cm wide, green, pilose to villous with reddish or colorless trichomes, costae 10; calyx 5-lobed, lobes connate ca 1–2 mm, erect, broadly triangular, 1.5–7.0 mm long, ca 1.0–2.5 mm wide at base of free part, margin entire, apex acute, outside green, sparsely pilose, glandular, reddish or colorless trichomes, becoming white, veins prominent, inside green, glabrous; corolla tube ventricose at the middle from a long attenuate base, 1.9–3.6 cm long, ca 2.5 mm at base, ca 8 mm wide above middle, 3–4 mm wide at throat, outside yellow at base, scarlet above, pilosity more dense toward limb, inside red or yellow, glabrous, mouth oblique, limb somewhat expanded, upper lobes exceeding lower lobes, suborbiculate, ca 2–3 mm long, 2–3 mm wide, sparsely pilose, margin dentate, lateral and basal lobes ca 1–2 mm long and wide, margin subentire, sparsely glandular; stamens 4, adnate for less than 1 mm to base of corolla tube, exserted about 2 mm beyond corolla mouth, filaments up to 3.0 cm long, yellow or red, glabrous, anthers oblong, ca 1 mm long, ca 0.5 mm wide, coherent in 2 pairs, staminode ca 3 mm long; inferior ovary pilose at apex with colorless or white trichomes, disc annular, 5-angled, style exserted beyond upper corolla lobes, to 4.0 cm long, yellow or red, glabrous, stigma clavate, recurved, papillate.

Capsule ovoid to globose, 3–5 mm long, 3–5 mm wide, green to brown or gray, pilose, dehiscing apically, costae 5 or 10; seeds fusiform, twisted, striated, less than 1 mm long, ca 0.25 mm wide, reddish-brown.

TYPE-COLLECTION.—Mt. Liban, Oriente, Cuba, J. Linden 1833 (GENT, lectotype, Figure 67; BM, BR, G, K, NY, P, W, isolectotypes).

DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY.—Gesneria libanensis grows in the Province of Oriente in Cuba (Figure 68) on damp limestone rocks and cliffs at 100–700 m elevation. Flowering collections have been made during every month of the year.

SPECIMENS EXAMINED.—CUBA. PROVINCE OF ORIENTE: Sierra de Nipe, farallones de Cayo del Rey, 16 April 1940, J. Carabia 3527 (NY, US); Cayo Rey, July 1943, Bro. Clemente 2956 (US); Cayo del Rey, southwestern base of the Sierra de Nipe, ca 100 m, 7 January 1956, C. Morton, Alain Liogier & M. Lopez F. 8759 (US, holotype of Gesneria lopezii Morton; BM, isotype); Sierra de Nipe, desfiladero del Río Bío, 16 September 1922, E. Ekman 15113 (F, G, K, NY, S, US); Maceo, Cayo Rey, 30 January 1955, M. Lopez F. 1787 (NY); Miranda, Sierra de Nipe, November 1940, Bro. Leon 19510 (US 2 sheets); Bayate, Picote (in Sierra de Nipe), ca 550 m, 16 July 1916, E. Ekman 7405 (G, K, NY, S); Bayate in decliv. mont, calcar. Picote, 14 March 1918, E. Ekman 9148 (S); Picote in declivibus arduis, 14 November 1919, E. Ekman 10112 (S); Monte Picote, near Palmito del Cauto, 400 m, 29 January 1956, C. Morton 9669 (US 2, sheets); Florida Blanca, Alto Songo, 450 m, 19 January 1960, Alain Liogier, J. Acuña & M. Lopez F. 7402 (US), 5 February 1954, M. Lopez F. 1111 (LS), 9 February 1957, M. Lopez F. 2854 (BH, US), 1 May 1957, M. Lopez F. 2873 (US); Represa del Guaso,

28 December 1917, Bros. Hioram & Angel 1510 (LS, NY); Guantánamo, Monte Libanon, San Fernandez, ca 700 m, 24 December 1919, E. Ekman 10282 (G, K, NY, S); on cliffs, Monte Libano, 5 March [1861], C. Wright 3080 (GH); Monte Liban, 1843–1844, J. Linden 1833 (GENT, lectotype of Gesneria libanensis Linden ex Morren; BM 3 sheets, BR, G, K 2 sheets, NY, P 2 sheets, W 2 sheets, isolectotypes); Monte Verde, January-July 1859, C. Wright 1335 (GOET, holotype of Conradia corrugata Grisebach; GH, isotype), 1859 or 1860, C. Wright 1335 (BR, G 3 sheets, K, NY, P, PH, W); La Perla, 600–650 m, 6–18 February 1911, J. Shafer 8547 (NY); La Alcachofa, Guantánamo, December 1934, Bro. Hioram 8 (LS, NY); Yateras, January 1933, Bro. Hioram 14076 (GH); banks of Río de Peña, Toa, near Dos Pasos, 400 m, December 1953, Alain Liogier 3647 (GH, NY). LOCALITY UNKNOWN: Bayate de Monte-Rus, 24–25 February 1955, M. Lopez F. 1979 (NY, US); 1861, C. Wright 377 (=3080) (S).