Leptecophylla pomarae (A. Gray) C. M. Weiller

Styphelia pomarae (Gray) Moore

Cyathodes pomarae Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 5:324. 1862c.—Seemann, Fl. Vit., 146. 1866.—Drake del Castillo, Ill. Fl. Ins. Pac. 7:224. 1892; Fl. Poly. Fr. 116. 1892.

Cyathodes tahitensis Nadeaud, Enum. Pl. Tahiti 62. 1873.

Styphelia pomarae (Gray) Moore, Bish. Mus. Bull. 102:36, footnote. 1933.

In herbaria Grant saw this combination attributed to F. Mueller, who reduced the genus Cyathodes to Styphelia, but could find no record of its publication. Nadeaud was unaware of Gray's earlier name when he published his species.

DESCRIPTION.—Shrub, 2 m high, with branches usually ascending; lower stems often twisted and rope-like; wood heavy (Grant 4397 with specific gravity of 0.89). Twigs tan, with light pubescence. Leaves erect, soon spreading, with puberulent petioles 1–2 mm long, elongate elliptical, 10–14 × 2–2.5 mm, usually, but not necessarily, ciliolate, mucronate, with a deciduous terminal tuft of hairs on the mucro, glaucous below, with about 7 principal veins which fork to a variable degree. Flowers axillary, solitary (or rarely in clusters of 2 or more, fide Nadeaud), including pedicel about 6 mm long, with 3–9 ciliolate bractlets. Sepals 2.3 mm long, ovate, ciliolate. Corolla 4.3–5.2 mm long, the tube 2.5–3.2 mm, much exceeding the calyx, and the lobes 1.7–2 mm long, glabrous or sparingly hairy along the adnate filaments within, the lobes usually, but not always, with a few long hairs on the inner surface. Anthers slightly exserted from the tube. Scales 0.3 mm long. Ovary 0.7–0.8 mm long, style 2–2.2 mm. Drupe 8 mm in diameter, subglobose, about 6-celled, dark red becoming purple in drying; mesocarp mealy, with flat taste.

The above key brings out the differences between this species and S. tameiameiae. The distinction given by Drake del Castillo (1892:116): “Arbuste dressé—C. pomarae, Arbuste à rameaux ascendants—C. tameiameiae” is incorrect. Nadeaud says “ramis nigrescentibus,” and this is true of Grant 3739 and 4397, but the color is due to infection by fungi.

TYPE.—Collected by Pickering in Tahiti (U.S. Exploring Expedition) in 1839.

RANGE.—Society Islands: Tahiti: Pickering, mountains, in 1839 (fide Gray); Nadeaud 403, crests of Mt. Aorai, 1858, fruit, and Ure e Hiro (Orofere Valley, Paea), alt. 1200 m, flower (P fide Drake del Castillo 1892); Quayle 35, Aorai trail, alt. 1694 m, 22 September 1921, flower and fruit (BISH); Quayle, Aorai trail, 1–3 August 1922, flower and fruit (BISH, 6 sheets); Grant 3549, Pare, Fautaua Valley, face of Mt. Diadem, alt. 1085 m (3560 ft), 13 May 1930, flower (BISH, MIN); Grant 3739, Mahina, Aorai ridge, alt. 1220 m (4000 ft), in thicket of Vaccinium and Metrosideros 5 June 1930, flower and fruit (BISH, MIN); Grant 4397, Mahina, Ahonu-Tuauru ridge, alt. 915 m (3010 ft), in Weinmannia–Metrosideros forest, 5 November 1930, flower and fruit, wood specimen (BISH, MIN); St. John and Fosberg 16982, Oro-fena, s. ridge, alt. 1570 m, low woods, 21 September 1934, flower and fruit (BISH).

Grant observed the plant at 15 field stations in Tahiti, all, including the above-listed records, from the northwestern quarter of Tahiti-nui, in the districts of Papenoo, Mahina, Arue, Pare, and Paea. It ranges in altitude from 900 m to the summit of Mt. Aorai (2064 m) the highest point Grant reached on the island. It usually occurs as a dominant or subdominant shrub in the low forests of the upper humid crests, its most common dominant associates being, in order of abundance, Weinmannia parviflora, Metrosideros collina, and Vaccinium cereum.