Chrysothemis pulchella
Content
Description
Terrestrial herb, 5-40(-90) cm tall. Stem succulent, erect when young, decumbent with age, densely puberulent to pilose towards apex, glabrescent below. Leaves equal in a pair; petiole <1-3.5 cm long, puberulous to pilose; blade membranous to papyraceous when dry, lanceolate, elliptic to ovate to oblong-ovate, 9-30 x 3-14.5 cm, margin crenate or dentate, apex acute, base short to long decurrent into petiole, above sparsely pilose to subscabrous, or villous, below pilose to puberulous. Flowers in umbellate, 3-9-flowered inflorescences; peduncle <1.5(-5) cm long, puberulous to pilose; pedicel 1.0-2.5 cm long, puberulous to pilose. Calyx tubular-campanulate, not inflated, base rounded, 5-angled or -winged, orange to red, tube 1-1.8 cm long, free portion of lobes erect, subequal, broadly triangular, 0.25-0.5 x 0.35-0.5 cm, margin glandular-denticulate, apex abruptly acuminate, outside pilose to villous, inside glabrous or rarely pubescent; corolla erect in calyx, orange or yellow, 1.6-3 cm long, tube cylindric, base gibbous, 0.3-0.6 cm wide, middle ampliate, throat not constricted, 0.3-0.5 cm wide, outside glabrous near base, white sericeous above, inside glandular pubescent, limb 1-1.5 cm wide, lobes subequal, spreading, suborbicular, 0.3-0.8 x 0.3-0.8 cm, margin entire; stamens included, inserted at base of corolla tube; ovary conic, 0.2-0.4 x 0.2-0.3 cm, pubescent, style 0.7-1.1 cm long, glabrous, stigma deeply 2-lobed. Mature capsule yellow-green, ovoid, ca. 0.6 x 0.6 cm.
Distribution
C America present, Guianas present present, Southern America: Brazil North (Amazonas present, Roraima present); Colombia (Colombia present); Nicaragua (Nicaragua present); Panamá (Panamá present)
West Indies, C America (Nicaragua to Panama), Colombia to the Guianas and Brazil (Amazonas, Roraima); ±200 collections studied, 20 in the Guianas (GU: 13; SU: 6; FG: 1).