Vaccinium penaeoides Kunth in H.B.K., Nov. gen. sp. pl. 3: 264. 1818. Metagonia penaeoides (Kunth) Nuttall, Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. N.S. 8: 265. 1843. Disterigma penaeoides (Kunth) Niedenzu, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 11: 210. 1889. Type. Ecuador. Tungurahua: Volcán Tungurahua, Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (holotype, P-Humb. & Bonpl., photo NY s.n.; the P isotype, with fragment at F, designated as such by Sleumer in 1958, has no. 3212 on the label; the specimen at B ex Herb. Humboldt with no. 3212 was destroyed but is represented in photo by F neg. 4641).Low, usually much-branched, terrestrial shrub, depending on habitat, bushy and to 0.5 m tall, or often prostrate and matted or forming cushions to a few centimeters high in páramo, rhizomatous and these bearing bracts (miniature leaves); stem terete, ribbed, fuscous or cinereous, glabrous or puberulous to shortly hispid-pilose, glabrate; twigs subterete, often obtusely angled with overlapping and swollen nodes, striate, densely puberulent to densely short-pilose or hispidulous with white to ferruginous hairs, glabrate. Leaves congested, imbricate, coriaceous, oblong, oblong-ovate, oblong-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 4.5-12 x (1.3-)2-5 mm, base rounded, obtuse, or subacute, apex subacute or tapering and long-acuminate, margin shallowly crenate or subentire, glabrous, also with scattered glandular fimbriae to 0.1 mm long beneath; several-nerved from at or near the base (more pinnate), midrib plane to sometimes impressed above, lateral nerves often obscure, all nerves including reticulate veinlets sometimes conspicuously raised beneath; petiole subterete, broadly canaliculate above, ca. 1 mm long, glabrous or puberulent. Inflorescence with flowers solitary, bracteate; floral bract ovate, subacute, to 2 mm long; pedicel subterete, 0.5-3 mm long, but elongating to 11 mm sometimes when in moist situations, deciduously puberulous, sometimes bearing ca. 4 bracts similar to bracteoles along pedicel and at base; bracteoles ovate, imbricate at base, sometimes conspicuously striate, acute, rounded or obtuse, 2.5-4 mm long, glabrous but sometimes densely ciliolate, reaching to base of lobes. Flowers 4-merous, with calyx ca. 3-5.5, essentially glabrous; hypanthium cylindric, 1.3-2 mm long; limb erect-spreading, 1.7-4 mm long; lobes deltate, subacute to acuminate, 1-3 mm long, often marginally ciliolate; sinuses acute; corolla thin-carnose, drying thin or coriaceous, cylindric-urceolate to globose-urceolate, often swollen distally, 6-12.5 mm long and 4-9 mm diam., essentially glabrous, sometimes with scattered, minute, glandular fimbriae, white to red, the lobes spreading and reflexed, triangular to deltate, acute to subacute, 1-1.6 mm long; stamen 8, shorter than the corolla; filaments much longer than anthers, 2.5-6.5 mm long, subglabrous to densely short-pilose or villous; anthers 1.8-4.5 mm long; thecae ca. 1.5 mm long; tubules 2, distinct, about equal to or slightly longer than thecae, ca. 1.7-2 mm long, dehiscing through elongate clefts half to almost as long as tubules. Berry spherical, to 8-12 mm diam., translucent white, sometimes with pale greenish tint.Vaccinium epacridifolium Bentham, Pl. Hartweg. 221. 1846. Vaccinium penaeoides Kunth in H.B.K. var. epacridifolium (Bentham) Weddell, Chlor. and. 2: 179. 1860. Disterigma epacridifolium (Bentham) Niedenzu, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 11: 210. 1889. Type. Colombia. Cauca: Popayán, Hartweg 1212 (holotype, K; isotypes B†, BM, C, P).
Vaccinium penaeoides Kunth in H.B.K. forma densa Weddell, Chlor. and. 2: 179. 1860. Type, none cited.
Disterigma margaricoccum S. F. Blake, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 35: 119. 1922. Type. Ecuador. Tungurahua: slopes of Volcán Tungurahua, 3048-3962 m, 8 Mar 1921 (fl, fr), Popenoe 1287 (holotype, US, photo NY s.n.).
Disterigma leiopodandrum S. F. Blake, J. Washington Acad. Sci. 16: 363. 1926. Type. Colombia. Cauca: Paletara, Pennell 6928 (holotype, US; isotypes GH, NY).
Distribution. Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; lower montane wet forest, montane wet forest, and subpáramo to páramo at 2865-4350 m altitude.
Local names: Ecuador: anisillo de monte, chirimote, urcu mote.
Uses: Ecuador: fruit edible. Medicinally
infusion used for treating nerves.
