Comprehensive Description
provided by North American Flora
Monnina pittieri Chod. Bull. Soc. Bot Belg. 30': 303. 1891.
Shrub; branches strigillose and rather densely short-pubescent with spreading or ascending hairs; leaves narrowly lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate to elliptic, 4-10 cm. long, 1-3.3 cm. wide, acuminate or acute at each end, usually falcate, pergamentaceous to subcoriaceous, above sparsely strigillose or subglabrate, beneath sparsely strigillose, along costa and sometimes along the 5-6 pairs of obscure lateral veins rather sparsely short-spreading-pilose; petioles 3-12 mm. long; peduncles axillary and terminal, 7-17 mm. long; racemes dense or rather loose, acute or obtuse, slightly comose at apex, the axis 8.5 cm. long or less; bracts ovate to lance-ovate, acuminate, ciliate and pubescent, deciduous, 2.5-3 mm. long; pedicels densely ascendingor spreading-puberulous, 2-3 mm. long; flowers apparently purplish; sepals ovate or ellipticovate, obtuse to acutish, ciliate, sparsely pubescent, free, 3.5-4.4 mm. long; wings suborbicular, 5.5-6 mm. long, 5-5.2 mm. wide, rounded and cucullate, rounded at base, ciliate on upper margin about to middle, 7-nerved; keel 6-6.3 mm. long; apex of staminal sheath and base of filaments pilose; fruit ellipsoid-ovoid, obtuse, rugose-reticulate, 7.5 mm. long.
Type locality: Woods near Esmeralda, Costa Rica.
Distribution: Mountains of Costa Rica, at altitudes of 2200 to 3100 meters.
- bibliographic citation
- John Kunkel Small, Lenda Tracy Hanks, Nathaniel Lord Britton. 1907. GERANIALES, GERANIACEAE, OXALIDACEAE, LINACEAE, ERYTHROXYLACEAE. North American flora. vol 25(1). New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY