Spathacanthus hoffmannii Lindau, Bull. Herb. Boissier 3: 370. 1895

Burgos-Hernandez, Mireya & Castillo-Campos, Gonzalo, 2020, Taxonomic revision of the Mesoamerican genus Spathacanthus (Justicieae, Acanthoideae, Acanthaceae), PhytoKeys 144, pp. 31-55 : 31

publication ID

https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.144.46929

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/848A62EE-15B1-55D4-9D12-ADAC96B74B56

treatment provided by

PhytoKeys by Pensoft

scientific name

Spathacanthus hoffmannii Lindau, Bull. Herb. Boissier 3: 370. 1895
status

 

Spathacanthus hoffmannii Lindau, Bull. Herb. Boissier 3: 370. 1895 Figs 4 View Figure 4 , 5 View Figure 5

Type.

Costa Rica. Alajuela: prope Aguacate, Aug 1857, C. Hoffmann 842 (holotype: B destroyed, photos F!, GH!, US!).

Description.

Small trees or shrubs, up to 8 m height, highly branched, internodes glabrous. Stems quadrate to flattened when young, glabrous or pubescent at nodes with flexuose eglandular trichomes. Leaves subsessile to rarely short petiolate, petioles 2-5 mm long, blades elliptic to obovate-elliptic, 72-285 mm × 25-110 mm, apically acute to acuminate, basally acute, margin undulate, glabrous on both surfaces. Inflorescences terminal, sometimes axillary, rachis pubescent; bracts triangular to lanceolate, subulate, 1-8 mm × 1-1.3 mm, abaxial surface glabrous; bracteoles lanceolate to subulate, 2.5 mm × 1-1.5 mm, abaxial surface glabrous. Flowers pedicellate, pedicels 9 mm long, glabrous; calyx green before fruiting, 10-40 mm × 10-16 mm, abaxially glabrous, equally divided into 2 prominent elliptic to obovate-elliptic segments; each segment 11-30 mm long; anterior segment entire, the posterior entire to bilobed; triangular lobes, 1.5-5 mm long, acute to apiculate; corolla white, 52-110 mm long × 30-50 mm wide, externally glabrous and internally pubescent, throat 35-50 mm long × 9-20 mm in diameter near midpoint, upper lip 15-26 mm long, bilobed, lobes ovate to elliptic, 10-20 mm × 11-18 mm, lower lip 18-25 mm long, three-lobed, lobes ovate to elliptic, 15-20 mm × 12-16 mm. Stamens whitish, longer pair 24-34 mm long from the base to the apex of the thecae, shorter pair 18-28 mm long; anthers dithecous, thecae 4-6 mm long; style glabrous 44-59 mm long; stigma lobes 0.3-0.6 mm long. Capsule 50-89 mm long, stipe 20-40 mm long, head 22-39 mm long. Seeds subcordate, 7.5-13 mm × 7.5-11 mm, surface roughened.

Distribution, habitat and phenology.

Spathacanthus hoffmannii is known only from Costa Rica where it has been reported from all provinces (Fig. 1A View Figure 1 ). It occurs along the banks of watercourses and on cliffs in humid forests, rain forests and cloud forests at 350 to 1750 m a.s.l. Flowering takes place from January to October, fruiting from December to September.

Specimens examined.

Costa Rica. Alajuela: Est. Biol. Reserva Forestal de San Ramón, valley of Río Lorencito, Burger et al. 12439 (F); Bajos de Jamaical, Reserva de San Ramón, I. Chacón 1768 (CR, DUKE); finca Los Ensayos ca. 11 mi NW of Zarcero, 900 m a.s.l., 15 Aug 1977, T.B. Croat 43516 (MO); San José de Naranjo, I. García s.n. (CR, F); río San Lorencito, límite E de la Reserva Forestal de San Ramón, J. Gómez-Laurito 10263 (CR, F); Est. Biol. Res. Forestal de San Ramón, valley of río Lorencito on Caribbean slope, J. Gómez-Laurito & K. Swangel 12439 (CR); Reserva Forestal de San Ramón, río San Lorencito, 800-1000 m a.s.l., 05 Dec 1983, G. Herrera 362 (CR, MEXU, MO, US); Buena Vista de San Carlos, L. Holdridge 6790 (CR); Quebrada Lajas, finca Los Ensayos, Buena Vista de San Carlos, A. Jiménez M. 2319 (CR, F, MO, NY); near road to Laguna Hule, R. Lent 3243 (CR, F, MO); Cordillera de Tilarán, río La Balsa, 500 m a.s.l., 07 Mar 1994, V. Ramírez & Q. Jiménez 273 (CR, MO, NY); road to Colonia Virgen del Socorro, barranca of río Sarapiquí, 700-800 m a.s.l., 08 Aug 1979, W. Stevens 13547 (DUKE, F, MEXU, MO). Cartago: carretera entre Turrialba y Siquirres, a la vera del río Chitaría, J. Gómez-Laurito 6801 (CR, USJ); cerros de La Carpintera, 1600 m a.s.l., 14 Oct 1973, R, Lent 3657 (CR, F, MO); 13 km E of Turrialba on hwy to Limón, canyon of Río Chitaría, R. 750-800 m a.s.l., 10 May 1983, Liesner et al. 15444 (CR, DUKE, MEXU, MO); above Turrialtica restaurant, 36.5 km from Turrialba, R. Read & G. Daniels 74-63 (US); vicinity of Pejivalle, P. Standley & J. Valerio 46759 (F, US); 9.5 mi E of Turrialba, on rocky banks of río Chitaría, 762 m a.s.l., 12 Aug 1977, G. Webster 22253 (DUKE, F, MEXU). Guanacaste: El Silencio, near Tilarán, P. Standley & J. Valeria 44745 (F, US). Heredia: Virgen del Socorro, río Sarapiquí, Cariblanco, 600-800 m a.s.l., 31 Aug 1983, I. Chacón & G. Herrera 1211 (CAS, CR, DUKE, MO); barranca del río Sarapiquí, Colonia Virgen del Socorro, J. Gómez-Laurito 9868 (CR, F); canyon of río Sarapiquí, just upstream from bridge on rd to La Virgen del Socorro, 05 Aug 1983, B. Hammel 13304 (CR, DUKE, F, MO); camino a la Colonia de la Virgen del Socorro, rumbo a Pto. Viejo, L. Poveda 985 (CR); Vara Blanca de Sarapiquí, N slope of Central Cordillera, 1500-1750 m a.s.l., Jul 1937, A. Skutch 3325 (K, MO, NY, US). Limón: La Florida, voie ferrée atlantique, H. Pittier 11286 (US); río Hondo, H. Pitiier 16641 (K). Puntarenas: Miramar, Quebrada seca, cerro Zapotal, 18 Sep 1985, L.D. Gómez et al. 23990 (CAS, CR, DUKE, MEXU, MO). San José: Terrazú, Pérez Zeledón. estribaciones del cerro Diamante, 500-600 m a.s.l., 22 Sep 1998, A. Estrada et al. 1730 (MEXU); zona protectora La Cangreja, Santa Rosa de Puriscal, Q. Jiménez 482 (CR, K); zona protectora cerro Turrubares, Q. Jiménez 543 (CR).