Brunfelsia brasiliensis
| Brunfelsia brasiliensis | ||||||||||||
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Illustration of Brunfelsia brasiliensis |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Brunfelsia brasiliensis | ||||||||||||
| ( Spreng. ) LBSm. & Downs |
Brunfelsia brasiliensis is a species from the Franciscea section of the genus Brunfelsia . The 0.3 to 2 m high shrubs are found in parts of Brazil.
description
Vegetative characteristics
Brunfelsia brasiliensis is a 0.3 to 2 m high shrub whose rough bark is reddish to light brown in color. The numerous branches arise near the root base and are covered with leaves . Especially when they are young they can be finely haired, but the hair can also be absent. Annual twigs are leafy, slender and upright and densely covered with yellowish-brown, non-glandular trichomes . The foliage often increases towards the branch tips.
The leaves stand on 1 to 5 mm long, finely to tomentose-haired petioles . The leaf blade is 3 to 13 cm long and 1 to 4 cm wide, lanceolate to elongated-lanceolate, more rarely elongated, inverted egg-shaped. The tip is pointed to tapering, occasionally blunt. The base is wedge-shaped to narrowed. The upper side of the leaves is dark to light green, slightly hairy, rarely shiny, almost scaly or hairless. The slightly lighter underside can be hairy differently. It is often tomentose along the midrib, rarely hairless. The leaves are membranous to leathery, six to ten almost straight lateral veins extend from the midrib.
Inflorescences and flowers
The umbellate- shaped inflorescences are both terminal and close to the shoot ends. They are compact and almost sessile or loose and elongated. They consist of five or many flowers , only rarely are reduced inflorescences with only one or two flowers. The inflorescence axis is 1 to 2 cm long and tomentose. The inflorescence stalk is 2 to 8 mm long, thickened at the tip and clearly separated from the inflorescence axis. The inflorescences are supported by one to three foliage-like bracts , which are 2 to 15 mm long, lanceolate, hairy and ciliate on the edge.
The flowers are not fragrant, they stand on 2 to 15 mm long flower stalks that stand upright and are yellowish to yellowish-brown with light to tomentose hairs. The hair is rarely glandular. As the fruit ripens, the flower stalk thickens. On the flower stalks there are fine bracts that are linear-lanceolate and only 1 to 2 mm long.
The light green to purple, tight-skinned calyx is 8 to 22 mm long and 3 to 8 mm in diameter, the veins are parallel. It is tubular to tubular-bell-shaped and variably light to tomentose, yellow to yellowish-brown hairy, rarely glandular or papillary . The calyx teeth are 1 to 5 mm long, upright and occasionally bent back on the fruit. They are triangular to ovoid, pointed at the end. When the fruit is ripe, the calyx is bell-shaped to urn-shaped and becomes leathery.
The crown is initially purple, fading to a pale lavender color or too white. The corolla tube is sparsely hairy or hairless, 17 to 25 mm long, has a diameter of 1 to 3 mm and is as long to twice as long as the calyx. The corolla tube is pale purple at the base, but becomes white towards the tip. The coronet has a diameter of 18 to 32 mm and forms a protruding plane. The corolla lobes are almost the same shape, are broadly rounded to blunt.
The four stamens start in the upper part of the corolla tube. The stamens are slender, slightly widened at the base, hairless and white. The lower pair is 2 to 4 mm long, the upper 4 to 5 mm. The anthers have a length of 1 mm, they are oblong-kidney-shaped. The ovate-conical ovary is 1 to 5 mm high. The strong green, thread-like stylus is 17 to 18 mm long. The scar is slightly bilobed with a slightly larger upper lobe, 1 to 2 mm long and also strong green.
fruit
The fruits are 8 to 13 mm long and 8 to 10 mm in diameter, egg-shaped to almost spherical capsules . They are enclosed by the calyx, are pointed towards the front, smooth, shiny and light to dark green. The pericarp is only about 0.5 mm thick, cartilaginous to crust-like and dries up when ripe. The fruits only spring up very late.
Each fruit contains (rarely only two) seven to ten seeds . These are 4 to 6 mm long and 3 mm in diameter. They are elongated-ovoid and more or less angled. The seed surface is dark red-brown and grained like a network. The embryo has a length of 4 mm and is very slightly curved. The cotyledons are 1.5 mm long and elliptical.
Occurrence
The species occurs in Brazil in the Distrito Federal and in the states of Goiás , Minas Gerais , Paraná , Rio de Janeiro , São Paulo and Santa Catarina .
Systematics
There are two subspecies:
- Brunfelsia brasiliensis ssp. brasiliensis
- Brunfelsia brasiliensis ssp. macrocalyx (Dusen) Plowman
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, ISBN 978-9998104693 . (Fieldiana Botany, New Series, number 39).
