Vaccinium dendrophilum Bentham, Pl. hartweg. 219.  1846.  Disterigma dendrophilum (Bentham) Niedenzu, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 11: 210.  1889.  Type.  Ecuador.  Pichincha:  Volcán Pichincha, W slopes, woods of Guayán, Hartweg 1204 (holotype, K-Herb. Benth., NY fragment, photo NY neg. 13030;  isotypes, B† n.v., BM, FI-W, G, P, NY, W).

    Terrestrial, erect or spreading shrub, to 3 m tall or epiphytic with branches pendent to 2 m long;  stem terete, striate, glabrous;  twigs cinereous- or ferruginous-hirtellous to strigose.  Leaves thin-coriaceous, broadly to narrowly ovate, 5-12 x 3-7 mm, base rounded or slightly subcordate, apex short-acuminate or conspicuously cuspidate, margin entire or minutely crenate, sometimes drying a lighter color than lamina beneath, glabrous but usually minutely glandular-fimbriate beneath;  obscurely 3-5-plinerved from base, midrib slightly raised to plane above, all nerves often raised beneath, but inconspicuous;  petiole terete, ca. 1 mm long, short-pilose.  Inflorescence axillary, 1-2-flowered;  floral bract ovate, acute, ca. 1.5 mm long, ciliolate;  pedicel 0.5-1.5 mm long, with a series of bracts at the base, mostly tiny but the inner two to three similar to bracteoles;  bracteoles conspicuously striate, broadly ovate, rounded, 2-3 mm long, glabrous, reaching about midway up the calyx hypanthium or sometimes up to the tips of the lobes, persistent at base of fruit.  Flowers 4-merous, with calyx to 5 mm long;  hypanthium campanulate, terete, 1.5-2 mm long;  limb spreading, 1.5-3 mm long;  lobes deltate, acute, ca. 1.5-2.2 mm long and broad;  sinuses acute;  corolla thin-carnose, cylindric or urceolate, 4.5-8 mm long and to 6 mm diam., often minutely glandular-fimbriate without and faintly puberulous within, white often tinged with pink, the lobes reflexed (and thus sometimes exposing the stamen at anthesis), oblong, acute, ca. 1 mm long;  stamen 8, ca. 3-7.3, often slightly exserted;  filaments (0.8-)2-4 mm long, puberulent or villous distally;  anthers ca. 2.5-4 mm long;  thecae ca. 1.3-2 mm long;  tubules 2, distinct, equal to or slightly longer than thecae, ca. 1.5-2 mm long, dehiscing by clefts ca. 0.8-1 mm long;  style inserted or exserted, ca. 5-8 mm long, glabrous;  nectariferous disc annular-pulvinate, glabrous.  Berry spherical, ca. 5-7 mm diam., translucent white.

    Distribution.  Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru;  lower montane moist and wet forest, premontane moist forest, montane rainforest, to subpáramo and páramo at 1677-3500 m altitude.

    Local names:  Ecuador: mortiño blanco, pipisiki.

    Uses:  Ecuador: fruits edible.  Visited by male Eriocnemis nigrivestis and Diglossa lafresnayii (fide Bleiweiss 1140 and 1141).