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habit with fruit |
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Witheringia maculata (C. V. Morton & Standl.) Hunz.Solanaceae - Strawberry Tomato Family |
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Description. Herb, 0.5-1 m, all parts with long erect simple hairs; leaves paired, petioles to 5 cm, blades to 12 x 17 cm, ovate, base rounded to weakly lobed, bullate; flowers on long-lived inflorescence to 5 cm long, arising between leaf pairs, calyx cup-like and hairy, splitting irregularly, corolla to 35 mm across, lobes to 17 mm long, cream-yellow with purple shading and green spotting at base inside, hairy outside, glabrous inside; fruit with pedicels to 4 cm, berry bright red, glabrous, to 15 mm diameter; seeds 1.5 mm, flattened, beige. Similar species: Witheringia solanacea- pubescence of leaves is fine and soft, not stiff and erect as in maculata, flowers also with green spots on the lobes inside. Witheringia macrantha- very similar leaves and habit, but flowers larger and with dark purple inside at base of lobes, no green spotting. Local distribution. Cloud forest on both slopes. Habitat. High light places in cloud forest such as light gaps, trails and road margins. Species range. Costa Rica and Panama. Abundance. Uncommon Phenology. FL: mar-may+; FR: may+.
Herbivores. No ithomiines have been found eating this species. Pollinators. Large flies? Seed dispersers. Birds Comments. Apparently similar plants from the cloud forest have flowers with slightly different color patterns- one with green spotting and little purple inside, the other without spots and with more extensive purple around the base of the lobes inside. The second type may be W. macrantha. I have observed large flies visiting the flowers in a determined and experienced way. Voucher No. Haber and Bello 7280 |
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