Gesneria clandestina (Griseb.) Urb.

Gesneria clandestina (Grisebach) Urban

Gesneria clandestina (Grisebach) Urban, Symb. Ant. 2:377, 1901.—Adams, Fl. Pl. Jamaica 681, 1972.

Conradia clandestina Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 461, 1862.

Pentarhaphia clandestina (Grisebach) Fawcett, Prov. List, JAM. 28, 1893.

Shrubs: stems woody to within 30 cm of the apex, to 5 m tall, bark rugose, gray-brown, glabrescent, lenticels elongated, white, erumpent, becoming verrucose with age; branches from base and upper leaf axils, to 1.0 cm in diameter, green to red, pilose with reddish-articulate hairs, primary internodes to 12 cm long, others much shorter, 0.2–1.0 cm long.

Leaves alternate: petioles sulcate, 0.8–2.7 cm long, 2–4 mm wide, reddish, pilose with reddish-articulate trichomes; blade elliptic to oblong or oblanceolate, often falcate, 6.9–14.7 cm long, 3.1–6.1 cm wide, membranous, base rounded to cuneate, margin serrate or dentate, ciliate, apex acuminate to caudate, adaxial surface dark green, sparsely pilose, glossy, pubescent, abaxial surface lighter green, pilose along the prominent veins.

Inflorescences of one flower: peduncles terete, 4–5 mm long, 1–2 mm in diameter, red, pilose; bracts 2, lanceolate, about 2 mm long, less than 1 mm wide, red, pilose; pedicels terete, 0.9–1.8 cm long, elongating in fruit, 1–2 mm in diameter; floral tube turbinate, ca 6 mm long, 7 mm wide at apex, red, densely pilose; calyx lobes 5, connate for less than 1 mm at the base, each lobe erect, narrowly ovate, 2.2–2.7 cm long, 5 mm wide above the base, margin entire, ciliate, apex narrowly acuminate or caudate, outer surface reddish, densely appressed-pilose, midvein prominent, inner surface reddish-green, sparsely pilose; corolla broadly campanulate, tube 1.7–2.5 cm long, 6–8 mm wide at the base, gradually wider to the mouth, 1.5–2.5 cm wide, outside greenish-yellow, densely puberulent, inside green, glabrous, limb 5-lobed, each lobe subpatent, broadly ovate, glandular, margin entire, upper lobes ca 8 mm long, 9 mm wide, lateral lobes ca 8 mm long, 7–11 mm wide, basal lobes 6–8 mm long, 8 mm wide; stamens 4, adnate to the base of the corolla tube, exserted for about 4 mm beyond the corolla mouth, filaments linear, ca 2.9 cm long, red, sparsely pilose, anthers oblong, 4 mm long, 2 mm wide, coherent in 2 pairs by their apices, pollen grains (Figure 18a) isopolar, with a nearly circular amb, size small (18.7–19.2 μm long at the polar axis, 11.6–13.7 μm wide at the equatorial axis), tricolpate, colpi 16 μm long, 1 μm wide, apocolpia nearly-truncate, prolate, sexine appearing homobrochate, lumina 0.25 μm across, muri about 0.5 μm across, verrucose, warts 1.25 μm across, scattered at random, about 1 μm apart; ovary inferior, disc annular, style about 3.5 cm long, reddish pilose, stigma stomatomorphic.

Capsule turbinate, 1.0–1.3 cm long, 0.9–1.1 cm wide, red, glabrescent, costae of 5 prominent wings; seeds narrowly fusiform to linear, less than 1 mm long, red to brown.

TYPE-COLLECTION.—“Jamaica,” N. Wilson sn (K, holotype, Figure 71b; GOET, K, isotypes).

DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY.—Gesneria clandestina grows in shaded wet mountain forests in eastern Jamaica (Figure 72) at elevations of 350–725 m. This species has been collected in flower in January, March, and June, with fruits collected about two months later; plants have not yet flowered in cultivation. As with Gesneria alpina, this species may be visited and pollinated by Brachyphylla pumila and Phyllonycteris aphylla among the flower-feeding bats.

SPECIMENS EXAMINED.—JAMAICA. PARISH OF ST. THOMAS: Cuna Cuna Gap and vicinity, 600–725 m, 13–19 June 1926, W. Maxon 9153 (NY, US); south slopes of Corn Puss Gap, 1600–2000 ft, 1 January 1967, G. Proctor 27755 (IJ); vicinity of Corn Puss Gap, ca 1800 ft, 1 January 1967, G. Gastony 113 (GH): south slopes of Corn Puss Gap, ca 2000 ft, 29 January 1967, G. Proctor 27785 (GH, IJ, U, US); south slope of Corn Puss Gap, 1 March 1969, G. Proctor 29991 (IJ); on the trail to Corn Puss Gap, about 500 ft. from the gap, and 6 miles from Bath, 11 August 1970, L. Skog 1623 (BH. UCWI); John Crow Mountains, valley, SE foothills, 350 m, 2–4 March 1909, N. Britton 3941 (NY); south eastern foothills of John Crow Mts., 2 March 1909, W. Harris & N. Britton 10679 (F, NY, UCWI). LOCALITY UNKNOWN: “Jamaica,” no date, N. Wilson sn (K, holotype of Conradia clandestina Grisebach; GOET, K, isotypes).