9. Psammisia KLOTZSCH Linnaea 24: 42 (1851). -- Lectotype: Psammisia falcata
(H.B.K.) KLOTZSCH.

Reference: LUTEYN, J. L., New species and notes on neotropical Ericaceae, Opera Bot. 92: 109--130 (1987).

Epiphytic or terrestrial shrubs. Leaves alternate, coriaceous, pinnate or plinerved, petiolate. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, subfasciculate or racemose with few to many flowers; pedicel bibracteolate. Flowers 5-merous, without odor; aestivation valvate; calyx articulate with the pedicel; hypanthium short-cylindric or campanulate; limb erect or spreading; lobes (2--4-) 5, ovate or triangular, apiculate or acute; corolla carnose, subcylindric, elongate urceolate or subglobose, the lobes triangular and subacute; stamen (8-) 10 (-12), equal, from about 1/3 to often nearly as long as the corolla; filaments equal, distinct or connate, the connectivess all or alternately 2-spurred (rarely spurs obscure or lacking), the spurs either acute and conspicuous or rounded and not very apparent; anthers equal, inserted dorsally near the base, stout, lacking disintegration tissue; thecae strongly granular; tubules distinct, 1/4 to about as long as the thecae, dehiscing by elongate introrse clefts; pollen lacking viscin threads; ovary inferior, 5-locular; style filiform and often exserted. Fruit a berry.

Psammisia consists of approximately 70 species ranging from Costa Rica southward into Bolivia and eastward to French Guiana and Trinidad.


Key to Species of Psammisia
1a.
Corolla subglobose, broadly urceolate, or cylindric-urceolate to cylindric-subglobose, up to 14 mm long.
2a.
Leaves plinerved.
3a.
Inflorescence with a conspicuous peduncle 2.5--6 cm long
..............................................................................P. dolichopoda
3b.
Inflorescence without a peduncle.
4a.
Leaves 10--30 cm long, the apex acuminate or cuspidate.
5a.
Leaves 13--25 cm long; rachis 0.4--2.2 cm long; calyx 8--11 mm long; corolla bright butter-yellow; staminal filaments distinct
............................................................P. flaviflora
5b.
Leaves 10--15 cm long; rachis 2--4 cm long; calyx 6--7 mm long; corolla coral-red; staminal filaments connate.
............................................................P. corallina
4b.
Leaves 2--10 cm long, the apex rounded to bluntly acute.
6a.
Inflorescence subfasciculate, 1--3-flowered; rachis 0.2--0.5 cm long; leaves 2--4 cm long; staminal filaments connate
............................................................P. cuyujaensis
6b.
Inflorescence racemose, 4--25-flowered; rachis 1--8 cm long; leaves 2--10 cm long, if less than 7 cm then densely pubescent beneath; staminal filaments connate or distinct.
7a.
Leaves beneath and inflorescences (corolla excepted) hoary-canescent; staminal filaments distinct.
...................................................P. incana
7b.
Leaves and inflorescences glabrous; staminal filaments connate
...................................................P. amazonica
2b.
Leaves pinnately nerved.
8a.
Lateral nerves 18--24 per side; leaf base rounded or broadly cuneate; calyx 4.5--8 mm long; corolla 8--9 mm long
................................................................................P. caloneura
8b.
Lateral nerves 2--10 per side.
9a.
Lateral nerves 2--5 per side (leaves rarely plinerved on the same plant)
.....................................................................P. graebneriana
9b.
Lateral nerves 5--10 per side.
10a.
Leaves chartaceous; corolla cylindric, 10--15 (-16) mm long; anthers 6--7.5 mm long
............................................................P. sodiroi
10b.
Leaves coriaceous or subcoriaceous; corolla globose to urceolate, or cylindric to conical, 7--9 mm long; anthers less than 6 mm long.
11a.
Calyx lobes apiculate, less than 1 mm long; anthers conspicuously spurred; leaves often appearing asymmetric; stem without bracts
...............................................P. sclerantha
11b.
Calyx lobes well developed, 2--3 mm long; anthers without spurs; leaves symmetric; stem with bracts 5--10 mm long scattered along the length
..............................................P. idalima
1b.
Corolla tubular, cylindric or cylindric-urceolate, usually greater than 14 mm long (shorter in P. fallax, P. debilis, and P. sclerantha).
12a.
Leaves pinnately nerved.
13a.
Corolla less than 10 mm long
..............................................................................P. sclerantha
13b.
Corolla greater than 10 mm long.
14a.
Calyx hypanthium bluntly 5-winged or deeply grooved; leaf lamina papillose on both surfaces due to internal hydathodes
...................................................................P. oreogenes
14b.
Calyx hypanthium terete; leaf lamina not papillose as above.
15a.
Corolla 17--21 mm long; leaf lamina beneath with circular, concave glands 0.2--0.5 mm diam
..........................................................P. montana
15b.
Corolla 8--15 (-17) mm long; leaf lamina with or without glands as above.
16a.
Corolla 8--11 mm long, white at extreme base turning red to dark wine-red in lower 1/2 then pale green in upper 1/4, the limb and lobes white; anthers 5 mm long
.................................................P. debilis
17a.
Rachis ca 0.7--1 cm long, usually glabrous; inflorescence (1-) 2--3 (-5)-flowered; leaves glabrous beneath, flat, the nerves not conspicuously impressed above, the lamina not bullate
.......................................14a. var. debilis
17b.
Rachis 2--3.5 cm long, densely short-pilose; inflorescence 4--5-flowered; leaves short-pilose along nerves beneath, weakly bullate, the nerves conspicuously impressed above
.......................................14b. var. ecuadorensis
16b.
Corolla 10--15 (-16) mm long, orangish-red in lower 2/3 and green in upper 1/3; anthers 6--8 mm long.
18a.
Calyx 6--7 mm long; corolla 10--15 (-16) mm long, gradually tapering distally and there without glandular fimbriae, the lobes 2--3 mm long; leaves without circular glands on lamina beneath
.......................................P. sodiroi
18b.
Calyx 3--4 mm long; corolla 15 mm long, distinctly and abruptly constricted distally and there glandular-fimbriate, the lobes ca 3--4 mm long; leaves with circular glands on lamina beneath
.......................................P. orientalis
12b.
Leaves plinerved.
19a.
Calyx lobes 4--8 mm long, often irregularly fused into 3--4, these often bifid.
20a.
Rachis 1--2 (-3.5) cm long; plants essentially glabrous throughout; Loja and Zamora-Chinchipe provinces (and adjacent Peru)
.....................................................................P. fissilis
20b.
Rachis (4-) 5--26 cm long; plants usually pubescent, sometimes densely; Esmeraldas south to Loja (and adjacent Colombia).
21a.
Inflorescence densely ferruginous-tomentose, with septate hairs; calyx lobes 5; bracteoles 6--10 mm long; staminal filaments connate
............................................................P. ferruginea
21b.
Inflorescence subglabrous or short-pilose, with simple hairs; calyx lobes 3 or 4; bracteoles 3.5--4.5 (-5) mm long; staminal filaments distinct
............................................................P. ecuadorensis
19b.
Calyx lobes not exceeding 4 mm in length, usually 5 although the limb sometimes irregularly split.
22a.
Staminal filaments connate for at least half their length
....................................................................P. columbiensis
22b.
Staminal filaments distinct (or only weakly connate at very base).
23a.
Anther spurs obscure or essentially lacking.
24a.
Corolla 15--29 mm long, distally conspicuously constricted and narrowed, the throat short, ca 7--8 mm long; leaves 5--10 x 1.5--3 cm; inflorescence strictly racemose, 4--7-flowered; pedicel 8--13 mm long; floral bracts 1--2.5 mm long; rachis 1--1.2 cm long; anther connectives alternately weakly spurred
...................................................P. aurantiaca
24b.
Corolla (18-) 20--37 mm long, basally or medially conspicuously constricted and narrowed, the throat long, ca 9--18 mm long; leaves (10-) 20--40 x (4-) 6--13 (-17.5) cm long; inflorescence a corymbose raceme, 8--23 (-35)-flowered; pedicel 20--60 mm long; floral bracts 2--5 mm long; rachis 0.7--5 (-6) cm long; anther connectives without spurs.
25a.
Rachis 0.7--2 cm long; leaves apically tapering and long-acuminate, basally rounded or cuneate, but not attenuate onto petiole; calyx hypanthium campanulate, broadly rounded at the base, conspicuously articulate with the pedicel, broader than long
..........................................P. ulbrichiana
25b.
Rachis 2--5 (-6) cm long; leaves usually apically abruptly long-acuminate, basally narrowed and short-attenuate onto the petiole; calyx hypanthium narrowed, cylindric, truncate at the base, sometimes inconspicuously articulate with the pedicel, often longer than broad
..........................................P. aberrans
23b.
Anther spurs obvious to prominent.
26a.
Rachis 5--8 cm long, clearly pedunculate; calyx 11--15 mm long
.......................................................P. chionantha
26b.
Rachis 0.5--6 cm long, not pedunculate; calyx 4--9 (-13) mm long.
27a.
Corolla 15--18 mm long; calyx ca 4 mm long; rachis 0.5--1.2 cm long
..........................................P. roseiflora
27b.
Corolla (18-) 27--35 (-40) mm long; calyx 4--9 (-13) mm long; rachis 0.7--6 cm long.
28a.
Pedicels 20--40 (-55) mm long; calyx lobes prominent, 3, 4 or 5 in number, often in a state of fusion, 1--3 mm long; anthers 9--10 mm long
.................................P. guianensis
28b.
Pedicels 10--14 mm long; calyx lobes lacking (i.e., limb truncate) or 5, apiculate, and less than 0.4 mm long; anthers 6--7 mm long
.................................P. elliptica