20. Themistoclesia KLOTZSCH Linnaea 24: 41 (1851). --Lectotype: Themictoclesia
pendula KLOTZSCH.

Reference: SLEUMER, H. O., Uber die Gattung Themistoclesia Kl. Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Mus. Berlin-Dahlem 13: 108--111 (1936).

Straggly to bushy, often epiphytic shrubs or shrublets. Leaves alternate, subcoriaceous to coriaceous, occasionally thick-fleshy, obscurely plinerved or rarely pinnate, short-petiolate. Inflorescence axillary, fasciculate, racemose, or flowers solitary; pedicel usually inconspicuously bibracteolate. Flowers (4-) 5-merous, without odor; aestivation valvate; calyx continuous with the pedicel, although seemingly articulate in T. alata ; hypanthium obconic or short-cylindric, strongly winged (T. alata ) or bluntly angled; limb erect to slightly spreading; lobes acute to acuminate, minute to well developed; corolla ovoid to cylindric, terete or angled but not winged; stamen 4--5 or 8--10, equal or alternately slightly unequal, more than 1/2 as long as the corolla and often about as long as the corolla tube; filaments distinct, slender and terete to somewhat flattened at the base, lacking spurs; anthers inserted medially or almost basally, lacking disintegration tissue; thecae smooth; tubules nearly equal to or about two times longer than the thecae, generally 2 and separate, rarely 1 by fushion, dehiscing by short, introrse clefts; pollen lacking viscin threads; nectariferous disc annular-pulvinate, glabrous or hispid; ovary inferior; style filiform, about as long as the corolla. Fruit a berry; seeds numerous, small, the embryo green and clearly visible through the surrounding tissue.

Themistoclesia is a genus of about 25 species ranging from Costa Rica and Panama through the Andes from Venezuela into Peru.


Key to Species of Themistoclesia
1a.
Leaves obovate to oblong, cuneate at base; pedicel to 2.5 mm long, seemingly articluate with the calyx; calyx strongly winged; corolla 3--4 mm long; staminal tubules fused into one tubule
.....................................................................................................T. alata
1b.
Leaves ovate to elliptic, rounded, subcordate, or obtuse at base; pedicel (3--) 6--22 mm long, continuous with the calyx; calyx not winged but conspicuously angled; corolla (6--) 7--11 mm long; staminal tubules 2, distinct.
2a.
Leaves involute, funnel-shaped, amplexicaul, surrounding and totally concealing the inflorescence
............................................................................................T. recondita
2b.
Leaves flat, petiolate, not surrounding nor concealing inflorescence.
3a.
Inflorescence with flowers solitary or few (2--3) in a fascicle; corolla 7 mm long, glabrous; pubescence of pedicel and calyx soft, white puberulent or short-pilose; nectariferous disc glabrous
...................................................................................T. inflata
3b.
Inflorescence with flowers (1-) 2--15 in short (but conspicuous) to elongate racemes; corolla 6--13 mm long, glabrous to hispid; pubescence of pedicel and calyx when present hispid; nectariferous disc glabrous to hispid.
4a.
Leaves apically short-acuminate or cuspidate, hispid beneath and also black-scurfy due to a fungus; corolla 6--8 mm long, hispidulous all over or restricted in lines along the length of the corolla opposite the lobes; rachis 5--10 mm long; pedicel 7--11 mm long
..........................................................................T. campii
4b.
Leaves apically long-acuminate, mucronate, glabrous, glabrate, or hispid beneath; corolla 9--13 mm long, glabrous or with pubescence restricted to the lobes; pedicel 6--20 mm long.
5a.
Corolla cream-colored; nectariferous disc glabrous; inflorescence 1--2-flowered; rachis 3--5 (-8) mm long; pedicel 8--10 mm long; corolla 9--13 mm long; pubescence of inflorescence and stem bright reddish-ferruginous
..................................................................T. orientalis
5b.
Corolla red; nectariferous disc hispid; inflorescence normally 3--15-flowered; rachis 0.3--3.5 cm long; pedicel 6--20 mm long; corolla 9--11 mm long; when present pubescence of inflorescence and stem dark and dull yellowish-brown.
6a.
Leaves 3--8 x 1.2--3.5 cm, flat, the base broadly rounded and usually subcordate, the apex often caudate-acuminate; pedicel 10--20 mm long; rachis 0.3--3.5 cm long
........................................................T. dependens
6b.
Leaves 1.7--2.8 (-3.5) x 0.8--1.4 cm, usually concave, sometimes weakly bullate, the base rounded, obtuse, or broadly cuneate, not subcordate, the apex acuminate and subulate with a mucro 3--7 mm long; pedicel 6--13 mm long; rachis to 5 (-8) mm long
........................................................T. epiphytica