Diagnostic description ⁵

Vaccinium racemosum (Vahl) Wilbur & Luteyn, Brittonia 29: 275. 1977.

Fig. 92. J-M

Basionym: Hornemannia racemosa Vahl

Synonyms: Symphysia racemosa (Vahl) Stearn

Thibaudia krugii Urb. & Hoerold

Woody shrub, scandent or clambering, attainig 3-5 m in length. Stems much branched, coppercolored, more or less cylindrical, striate, attaining up to 3 cm in diameter, the nodes swollen. Leaves alternate, reddish when young, glabrous, coriaceous, slightly brittle, ovate or elliptical, 4-× 2-8 cm, in general convex, the venation pinnate, usually from near the base, the apex acuminate, the base rounded or obtuse, the margins entire or undulate, revolute; upper surface dark green, shiny, with the venation generally sunken, translucent and yellowish; lower surface yellowish green, with the palmate venation prominent; petioles 5-7 mm long, thick, rugose. Inflorescences of terminal corymbiform racemes; pedicels thick, 10-12 mm long. Calyx campanulate, ca. 5 mm long, green, smooth, with five minute lobes; corolla campanulate, early deciduous, yellowish green, ca. 8 mm long, the lobes ovate, ca. 5 mm long, reflexed; stamens 10, the filaments white, flattened, adnate to the base of the corolla, the anthers golden yellow, the distal tube as long as the theca; ovary inferior, the style simple, the stigma subcapitate. Fruit fleshy, globose, 5-8 mm in diameter, cardinal red, with the calyx persistent on the apical portion. Seeds numerous, ca. 1 mm long, foveate, obtusetrigonal.

Phenology: Flowering and fruiting from June to March.

Status: Native, rather common.

Selected Specimens Examined: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 3758; 7096; 7928; 10875; McKee, H.S. 10640; Sargent, F.H. 533; Shafer, J.A. 3343; 3649.

Distribution ⁶

Distribution: From high and moist regions along the Cordillera Central and the Sierra de Luquillo. Also throughout the Antilles.

Public Forests: Carite, El Yunque, Guilarte, and Toro Negro.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10351073
2. (c) Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10351072
3. (c) Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10351071
4. (c) Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10385876
5. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435322
6. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435818

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