Brunfelsia grandiflora
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Brunfelsia grandiflora |
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| D. Don |
Brunfelsia grandiflora is a species from the Franciscea section of the genus Brunfelsia . The mostly 1 to 6 m (rarely up to 10 m) high bushes or trees occur in parts of South America .
description
Vegetative characteristics
Brunfelsia grandiflora is a 1 to 6 m high shrub or tree ; some collected specimens are said to have been 10 m high trees or lianas of the same length. The plants form a strongly branched trunk just above the base , which can be up to 7 cm thick. The bark is thin, rough and light to dark brown. The branches are slender, pointing upright or splaying, hairless and covered with leaves , often almost rod-shaped and curved. The young twigs are green and mostly hairless, only rarely finely hairy.
The leaves consist of a 2 to 6 mm long petiole and a 6 to 23 cm long and 2 to 8 cm wide leaf blade . The petiole is hairless or finely hairy, it becomes corky and wrinkled transversely with age. The leaf blade is lanceolate to elongated, often curved with the leaf edges pointing upwards. The leaves are long or short pointed towards the front, the tip is almost sickle-shaped. The leaf base is wedge-shaped to narrowed. The leaves are tightly skinned or almost leathery, hairless or only very finely haired along the midrib, the upper side is dark green, the underside pale green. The leaves are rarely frosted or shiny.
Inflorescences and flowers
The inflorescences of Brunfelsia grandiflora consist of five to a large number of non-fragrant flowers , they can be terminal or below the end of the shoot, simple or branched, dense or loose, the length of the inflorescence axis varies between 5 and 45 mm.
Below the flowers are one to three foliage-like bracts with a length of 1 to 5 (rarely up to 10) mm, they are lanceolate to ovate, ciliate, finely hairy or hairless. The flower stalks are 2 to 5 (rarely up to 10) mm long, hairless or covered with isolated glandular trichomes , the stem thickens on the fruit and becomes corky-warty.
The calyx has a length of 5 to 13 mm and a diameter of 3 to 7 mm, it is tubular-bell-shaped, slightly narrowed towards the base and can be slightly inflated at the top. It is smooth or streaky veined, tightly skinned to almost leathery, mostly hairless, only rarely is it spotted on the inside or occasionally glandular hairy. The color of the calyx varies between a light yellow-green and gray-green. The upright or adjacent calyx teeth are 1 to 5 mm long, triangular to ovoid, blunt or tapering to a short point, in old age they occasionally bend back slightly. The calyx is retained on the fruit, it then becomes leathery and, especially at the base, corky-warty, often it cracks open on one or more sides.
The crown is initially purple, but turns white with age. The pale purple to white corolla tube has a length of 15 to 40 mm and a diameter of 1.5 to 3 mm and is twice to five times as long as the calyx. A thickened, whitish ring is pronounced at the transition between the corolla tube and the coronet. The protruding coronet has a diameter of 20 to 50 mm, the corolla lobes are 7 to 15 mm long, they are almost the same size or the upper corolla lobe is slightly enlarged. They overlap slightly on the sides, taper towards the base, the tip is rounded or bulged.
The four stamens start in the upper part of the corolla tube and do not protrude beyond it. The stamens are thin and white in color, about 4 mm long in the upper two stamens and 3 mm in the lower two. The light brown anthers are about 1 to 1.5 mm long and circular-kidney-shaped. The seated ovary is 1.5 to 2 mm high, conical to ovoid and light yellow. The stylus is slim, at the tip it is slightly wider. The slightly bilobed scar is about 1 mm long, blunt, green, the upper lobe is slightly larger.
Fruits and seeds
The fruits are 8 to 20 mm long and diameter, egg-shaped to almost spherical capsules . Towards the front they can be blunt or tapered. They are smooth, shiny, initially dark green, later brownish, on the surface there are corky-point-shaped to corky-warty outgrowths. The pericarp is 0.3 mm thick, crusty and brittle when it dries up, but does not open until late.
Each fruit contains about 10 to 20 seeds that are 5 to 7 mm long and 2 to 3 m wide and can be shaped differently. Mostly they are elliptical to elongated and angled. The net-like dotted surface is dark red-brown in color. The slightly curved embryo is about 4 mm long, the cotyledons are ovate-elliptical and about 1.5 mm long.
Occurrence
The species is native to Colombia , Venezuela , Ecuador , Peru , Brazil and Bolivia .
Systematics
There are two subspecies:
- Brunfelsia grandiflora subsp. grandiflora
- Brunfelsia grandiflora subsp. schultesii Plowman
The subspecies grandiflora is characterized by larger flowers and fruits and can also be found above all at higher altitudes between 650 and 2000 m. The subspecies schultesii, however, occurs mainly between 100 and 900 m altitude. Both subspecies have the chromosome number 2n = 22.
literature
- Timothy C. Plowman (Author), Sandra Knapp, JR Press (Ed.): A Revision of the South American Species of Brunfelsia (Solanaceae) . Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago August 1998, OCLC 39885128 . (= Fieldiana, Botany, New Series , number 39).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Brunfelsia grandiflora at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis