1. Bejaria MUTIS ex LINNAEUS Mant. Pl. 152, 242 (1771; "Befaria").--Type: Bejaria aestuans L.
Acunna RUIZ & PAVON, Prodr. Fl. Peruv. Chil. 69, tab. 12 (1794).--Type: Acunna oblonga
RUIZ & PAVON.
Jurgensenia TURCZANINOW, Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Mosocou 20: 151 (1847).
-- Type: Jurgensenia mexicana TURCZANINOW.
Heptacarpis CONZATTI, Anales de Hospital General 2(5): 5--7 (1940), nom. illegit.
-- Type: Heptacarpis salmonicolor CONZATTI.

References: MANSFELD, R. & H. O. SLEUMER, Revision der Gattung Befaria Mutis. Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 12: 235--276 (1935). -- CLEMANTS, S. E., A revision of the genus Bejaria Mutis ex L. (Ericaceae). Ph.D. dissertation, The City University of New York, New York, NY (1984). -- CLEMANTS, S. E., (1103) Proposal to conserve 6182 Bejaria (Ericaceae) with a conserved spelling and type. Taxon 43: 473--476 (1994). -- CLEMANTS, S. E., Bejaria , in J. L. LUTEYN (ed.), Ericaceae--Part.... The superior-ovaried genera (Monotropoideae, Pyroloideae, Rhododendroideae, and Vaccinioideae p.p.). Flora Neotrop. Monogr. 66: 54--106 (1995).

Terrestrial shrubs or small, slender trees, glabrous to densely glandular-setose. Leaves alternate, evergreen, margin entire or rarely obscurely denticulate, flat to tightly revolute, pinnately nerved. Inflorescence terminal or axillary, racemose to corymbose, few- to many-flowered, often viscid; pedicel bibracteolate. Flowers (5-) 7 (-8)-merous, mildly fragrant in B. aestuans ; aestivation imbricate; calyx continuous with pedicel, deeply lobed, campanulate; corolla of distinct, showy petals, these suberect and imbricate (hummingbird pollinated) or spreading (bee pollinated) at anthesis, soon deciduous; stamen twice as many as the petals or more (10--20), equal, about as long as the petals or slightly longer; filaments equal, distinct, elongate, basally densely pilose or tomentose; anthers equal, oblong-obconic, dorsifixed, slightly awned, obliquely 2-pored at the apex, lacking disintegration tissue; pollen with viscin threads; style glabrous, elongate and often bent to one side; stigma capitate, 7-grooved; ovary superior, glabrate, 6--7-locular, the numerous ovules borne on a conspicuous axile placenta. Fruit a subglobose capsule, septicidally 7-valvate from the apex; seeds winged or tailed.

A neotropical to subtropical genus of 15 species, ranging from Georgia and Florida (USA) to Cuba, and from Mexico south into Bolivia. The Ecuadorean species fall into two distinct groups-- those with petals spreading and those with petals imbricate. Within these two groups, however, the species are relatively difficult to distinguish and the more detailed descriptions of CLEMANTS (1995) should be consulted.


Key to Species of Bejaria
1a.
Corolla spreading-campanulate, the petals hardly if at all imbricate, distally spreading; stamen rarely slightly exserted.
2a.
Leaves elliptic; petiole 3--12 mm long; petals 12--27.5 (-45) mm long
...................................................................................B. aestuans
2b.
Leaves ovate to elliptic-ovate; petiole none or equal to or less than 3 mm long; petals 24--37 mm long
...................................................................................B. subsessilis
1b.
Corolla tubular, the petals broadly imbricate, distally contracted not spreading; stamen exserted.
3a.
Flowers inclined; pedicel thin, 0.2--0.4 mm diam.; longest calyx lobe < 3.4 mm long; stamen long-exserted; Zamora-Chinchipe (Oriente) at altitudes to 1970 m
..................................................................................B. zamorae
3b.
Flowers erect; pedicel thick, 0.6--1.7 mm diam.; longest calyx lobe > 3.4 mm long; stamen not long-exserted; central and southern (Sierra) Ecuador.
4a.
Leaves flat, elliptic, with the base cuneate, usually more than 3 cm long; petiole usually more than 3.5 mm long; rachis 2--7.5 (-11) cm long
.........................................................................B. mathewsii
4b.
Leaves flat or often longitudinally curled or revolute, ovate to oblong-elliptic, with the base truncate, obtuse, or rounded, usually less than 3 cm long; petiole usually less than 3.5 mm long; rachis 1--3.5 cm long
.........................................................................B. resinosa