Hiraea ternifolia (Kunth) A.Juss.

Anderson, C., 2016, Circumscription and nomenclature of Hiraea barclayana, H. reclinata, and H. ternifolia (Malpighiaceae), and of seven species misassigned to them, Blumea 61 (2), pp. 125-146 : 138-140

7. Hiraea ternifolia (Kunth) A.Juss. — Fig. 7 ; Map 10

Hiraea ternifolia (Kunth) A.Juss. (1840) 257. — Malpighia ternifolia Kunth (1822 ‘1821’) 146. — Hiraea ternifolia (Kunth)A.Juss.var. granatensis Nied. (1906) 10, nom. superfl. — Hiraea ternifolia (Kunth) A.Juss. var. granatensis Nied. subvar. humboldtiana Nied. (1906) 10, nom. superfl. — Type: Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (holo P-HBK;iso P), Colombia, Cundinamarca, prope Pandi.

Hiraea ternifolia (Kunth) A.Juss. var. eglandulosa Triana & Planch. (1862) 330. — Type: Triana s.n. [5568-3] (lecto, designated by Cuatrecasas 1958: P; isolecto BR, COL, G, K, MO, NY, US), Colombia, Tolima, Mariquita , entre Piedras et Ibagué.

Hiraea platytriphylla Hochr. (1910) 276. — Type: Holton 802 (lecto, designated by W.R. Anderson 2007a: NY; isolecto G, GH, K), Colombia, ‘ Magdalena’ .

Woody vine to 2 m or small tree to 6 m; stems densely velutinous when young, becoming glabrous. Leaves ternate or sometimes opposite. Laminas of the larger leaves 7–19 by 3.5–9.5 cm, elliptical to slightly obovate, apex mucronate or apiculate, base truncate to slightly cordate, mature laminas coriaceous and bullate, adaxially velutinous, eventually glabrescent, abaxially velutinous, hairs mostly Y-shaped but mixed with V-shaped hairs, stalk of Y-shaped hairs to 0.02–0.2 mm long, arms of V- and Y-shaped hairs 0.05–0.4 mm long, often unequal; margin with scattered glands 0.2–0.3 mm diam in distal 1/4–1/3(–1/2); costa and secondary veins impressed adaxially, prominent abaxially. Petioles 6–25 by 2–3.5 mm, densely velutinous, with a pair of glands at apex to 2 mm below apex, each gland 1–1.2 mm long. Stipules 2.5–5.5 mm long, borne usually at the middle or sometimes to basal 1/3 of the petiole (or nearer the base; Chocó, Darién). Inflorescences 1–2 per leaf axil, basically a ternate cyme bearing 4– 6-flowered umbels but often additionally branched, the most complex ( Fig. 7e ) composed of three ternate units ( Fig. 7f ), at times not all axes expressed and the inflorescence then various; umbels without a gland in the centre, sometimes loosely arranged and bearing the 5th and/or 6th pedicel and associated bract and bracteoles on the peduncle below the 4 terminal flowers; inflorescence axis 0–9.5 mm long, bracts 1.5–2.5 mm long and wide; secondary axes 0–5.5 mm long, subtended by bracts 1.2–2 mm long and wide; peduncles 0.5–9 mm long; pedicels 18–30 (to 35 mm in fruit) by 0.4–0.5 mm, densely covered with sessile to T-shaped hairs (stalk to 0.1 mm); axes and abaxial surface of bracts and bracteoles densely sericeous. Sepals 2.2–2.5 mm long and wide, triangular, adaxially glabrous, abaxially sericeous; anterior sepal eglandular, the lateral four biglandular, glands 1.5–1.6 mm long, or all sepals eglandular. Petals yellow, glabrous; lateral petals with the claw 2.5–3 mm long, limb of anterior-lateral petals 7–8 mm long and wide, orbicular, margin subentire to irregularly shallowly denticulate, teeth to 0.05(–0.1) mm long; limb of posterior-lateral petals 6–7 mm long and wide, orbicular, margin denticulate, teeth to 0.3(–0.5) mm long; posterior petal with the claw 3–3.5 mm long and thicker than that of lateral petals, limb 5.5–6.5 mm long and wide, orbicular, margin glandular-digitate-fimbriate, fimbriae to 0.8(–1) mm long, longest at apex. Stamens glabrous, filaments basally connate. Stamen opposite anterior sepal: filament 3.5–4.5 mm long, anther 1.2–1.3 mm long; stamens opposite anterior-lateral petals: filaments 3–4 mm long, anthers 0.8–1 mm long; stamens opposite anterior-lateral sepals: filaments 3.3–3.7 mm long, anthers 1–1.2 mm long; stamens opposite posterior-lateral petals: filaments 2.5–3.5 mm long, anthers 0.8–1 mm long; stamens opposite posterior-lateral sepals: filaments 3–3.1 mm long, anthers 1–1.1 mm long; stamen opposite posterior petal: filament 2–2.8 mm long, anther 0.6–0.7 mm long. Styles glabrous, 3–3.7 by 0.4–0.5 mm; anterior style slightly incurved, apex extended into a spur 0.1–0.2 mm long; posterior styles incurved, apex extended into a spur 0.05–0.1 mm long. Ovary 1–1.5 mm long, densely villous. Samara butterfly-shaped; lateral wings 2.8–3.2 by 2–2.2 cm; dorsal wing or crest 0.2–5.5 mm high, coarsely dentate; nut subspherical, 4.5–5.5 mm diam, areole 2.2–3 mm diam. Embryo subspherical to spherical, 4.5–4.7 mm diam.

Distribution — Panama (Darién), Colombia (Cesar, Cundinamarca, Chocó, Meta, Norte de Santander, Tolima), Venezuela (Mérida).

Habitat & Phenology — Lowland forest; 150–1700 m; collected in flower February to May, July, September, and December, in fruit in March, May, September, and November.

Notes — Hiraea ternifolia is unusual in its ternate phyllotaxy, complex inflorescences, and the velutinous vesture covering nearly all vegetative structures. As a rule the leaves are ternate but sometimes are opposite. For example, Lehmann 4636 is one of two syntype collections of H. velutina ; the duplicate that Niedenzu saw at B (destroyed, photo F) consists of a leafy branch that is ternate, and a leafless flowering sprig with opposite leaf scars. The duplicates at K and US consist of branches with opposite leaves. Another example is found among the duplicates of Whitefoord & Eddy 486. The sheet at F consists of three branches, one of which has opposite leaves; the specimens at MEXU and MO are all ternate. The ternate arrangement is also found in the compound inflorescences, which may be triternate ( Fig. 7e ); however, not all axes are necessarily expressed, and the inflorescences vary from ternate cymes to variously branched complex units. The central umbel is usually 4-flowered, but the lateral umbels are often 6-flowered, as is sometimes the central umbel as well. The laminas are velutinous on both surfaces; the adaxial vesture is eventually sloughed off though mostly retained on the costa, but the abaxial hairs are persistent. Mature laminas are bullate, with the costa and secondary veins deeply impressed adaxially. Cuatrecasas (1958) indicated the COL duplicate of Triana s.n. [5568-3] as isotype of Hiraea ternifolia var. eglandulosa . Yet, this collection is one of three syntypes cited by Triana & Planchon (1862), and therefore Cuatrecasas’s choice is one of lectotypification. Triana’s and Planchon’s types for the names published in 1862 are at P, and the specimen at P is thus the lectotype.

Figures

Map 10 Distribution of Hiraea ternifolia (Kunth)A.Juss. (■) and H. venezuelana C.E.Anderson (●).

Fig. 7 Hiraea ternifolia (Kunth) A.Juss. a. Stem apex with ternate leaves; b. large leaf, adaxial view; c. base of lamina and apex of petiole with a pair of glands (almost hidden by vesture) and a pair of stipules, adaxial view; d. detail showing abaxial vesture of mature lamina; e. triternate cyme, the lateral umbels of each ternate unit in bud; f. ternate cyme; g. posterior petal; h. posterior-lateral petal; i. anterior-lateral petal; j. androecium, first stamen at right opposite posterior petal; k. gynoecium, anterior style at right; l. samara, abaxial view; m. embryo (from: a. García Barriga 11845, NY; b–d. García Barriga 11697, NY; e, g–k. Uribe U. 2987, US; f. Schlim 515, P; k–l. Whitefoord & Eddy 486, MO). — Scale bar: a–b = 4 cm; c = 8 mm; d = 4 mm; e–f, l = 2 cm; g–i, m = 5.7 mm; j–k = 2.7 mm. — Drawn by Karin Douthit.