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THE LIBRARY OH THE
X
FIELDIANA <'AY 1 1 1973
Botany
Published by Field Museum of Natural History
Volume 36, No. 2 December 27, 1972
Moritzia DC. (Boraginaceae):
A Genus New To North America
JOHNNIE L. GENTRY, JR.
ASSISTANT CURATOR, VASCULAR PLANTS
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
While working through some unidentified collections of Borag-
inaceae from Central America, I came upon a few specimens with
a gross habit somewhat suggestive of Cynoglossum and Hackelia.
However, the specimens lacked the essential features of either one of
those genera or of any other known North American Borage. After
further investigation, it was determined that the specimens were in
Moritzia, a genus heretofore endemic to South America. Prior to
this recent discovery, the genus was known only from Colombia,
Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and southern Brazil. Moritzia is a small
genus, consisting of three to five species, one in northern South
America, and the remaining species in southern Brazil. All North
American specimens examined have proven to be M . lindenii (A. DC.)
Bentham ex Giirke, the northern South American representative of
the genus. This find is another example of the relationship that
exists between the paramo region of Costa Rica and that of the
Andean flora of South America.
MORITZIA DC.
Moritzia DC. in Meisner, Genera 1: 280. 1840; 2: 188. 1840.
Meratia A. DC. in DC. Prodr. 10: 104. 1846.
Erect perennial herbs. Leaves alternate, the basal ones large, slightly or
gradually reduced upwards. Flowers sessile or pedicellate (in ours), in bractless,
usually paired scorpioid cymes. Calyx short-tubular, accrescent in age, armed
with stout uncinate hairs, the lobes short. Corolla blue or white, salverform with
a short tube, equalling or slightly surpassing the calyx; limb 5-lobed, the lobes
spreading, imbricate; throat of the corolla tube with hairy patches (in ours) or
with hairy fornices. Stamens 5, affixed above the middle of corolla tube; anthers
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 72-8^2
Publication 1157 13
M.A7 I 5 1079
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14 FIELDIANA: BOTANY, VOLUME 36
included to conspicuously exserted. Style simple, slender, surpassing or shorter
than (in ours) the body of the mature nutlet; stigma bilobed. Ovules 4. Nutlets
solitary by abortion, erect, ovoid, smooth to muricate (in ours), ventrally keeled,
abruptly contracted (stipe-like) at the base, attached to the flat gynobase by a
small basal areola.
Moritzia lindenii (A. DC.) Bentham ex Giirke in Engler &
Prantl, Pflanzenfam. IV. 3a, 121. 1893. Meratia lindenii A. DC. in
DC. Prodr. 10: 104. 1846. Figure 1.
Perennial from a tap root; stems erect, several, 2-6.5 dm. tall, retrorsely stri-
gose below, antrorsely strigose above, also with hirsute pustulate-based hairs.
Leaves strigose above and below; basal leaves usually persistent, oblanceolate,
4-24 cm. long, .7-2.5 cm. wide, apex narrowly acute, the petiole winged; cauline
leaves ascending, reduced upwards, 2-10 cm. long, .7-1.2 cm. wide, the apex nar-
rowly acute, the lower ones narrowly oblanceolate, sessile or on a winged petiole,
the upper cauline leaves narrowly lanceolate to narrowly oblong. Inflorescences
densely strigose and sparsely hirsute, bracts absent. Pedicels 1-2 mm. long, 3.5
mm. in age, densely strigose. Calyx 2 mm. long, 5-ribbed, densely covered with
stout, translucent, uncinate, pustulate-based hairs, also with a few minute stri-
gose hairs mostly between the ribs; lobes triangular or lanceolate, 0.7- 1 mm. long,
apex narrowly acute. Corolla limb spreading, blue or white or blue with a white
center, 5.5-6.5 mm. wide; tube slightly ampliate upward, 2 mm. long, equalling
the calyx lobes; lobes 2-2.5 mm. long, rounded, papillate-mealy, sparsely strigose
with minute hairs adaxially; throat with 5 densely hairy patches. Stamens
attached above the middle of corolla tube; filaments 0.5-0.6 mm. long; anthers
0.8-0.9 mm. long, included. Style 1.5-2 mm. long, included or slightly exserted.
Nutlet ovoid, 2-2.2 mm. long, densely muricate, very obscurely angulate, apex
acute; fruiting calyx 2.5-3.5 mm. long, tightly enclosing the solitary nutlet; style
reaching to about two-thirds height of the nutlet.
The genus is now known from the following collections in North
America all from Costa Rica.
Specimens examined. COSTA RICA: Cartago: Cerro de la
Muerte, 4.5 miles east of Ojo de Agua, mossy forest, 3,165-3,335 m.,
July 15-16, 1962, Webster, et al 12306 (F); San Jose": Cerro de la
Muerte, km. 92. approaching paramo type vegetation, 3,200 m.,
Sept. 17, 1967, Whitmore 86 (F, GH, MO, US); Cordillera de Tala-
manca between Asuncion and Cerro las Buvis, open Chusquea pa-
ramo, 3,260 m., July 14, 1968, Davidse & Pohl 1140 (F, NY, UC);
San Jose" and Cartago: near La Asuncion, open paramo, 3,200-3,300
m., Aug. 6, 1971, Burger 79U (CR, F, GH, MO, NY, US); Valle de
los Conejos, Cerro Chirrip6 (upper Rio Talari), open paramo forma-
tion, 3,400-3,820 m., Aug. 22, 1971, Burger 8273 (F, GH, US).
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9
*£#*
FIG. 1. Moritzia lindenii. A, habit, X 1A', B, inflorescence, X 2; calyx, X 10;
uncinate hair, X 15; C, dissected flower, X 5; D, hairy patch at mouth of corolla
tube, X 15; E, stamen, X 10; F, flower and bud, X 5; G, mature nutlet with
aborted nutlets, X 10. (A-F from Davidse & Pohl 11 W (F); G from Burger 8273
(F)).
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16 FIELDIANA: BOTANY, VOLUME 36
KEY TO THE SUBFAMILY BORAGINOIDEAE IN CENTRAL AMERICA
AND PANAMA
1. Nutlets armed with glochidiate prickles.
2. Nutlets erect, attached medially or near medially to the gynobase; prickles
only on the dorsal side of the nutlets; style shorter than to slightly exceeding
the body of the nutlets Hackelia.
2. Nutlets widely spreading, attached apically to the gynobase, prickles on the
dorsal and ventral side of the nutlets; style greatly exceeding the body of
the nutlets Cynoglossum.
1. Nutlets unarmed.
3. Calyx lobed not more than one-half way to the base, densely covered with
stout, uncinate hairs; mature nutlets solitary, falling away tightly enclosed
in the calyx Moritzia.
3. Calyx parted to near the base, uncinate hairs absent; mature nutlets mostly
2 or 4, falling away separately, not enclosed in the calyx.
4. Stamens strongly exserted; corolla lobes acute Macromeria.
4. Stamens included; corolla lobes obtuse or rounded Lithospermum.
There are two other genera of the Boraginoideae that are culti-
vated in Central America and Panama, Borago and Myosotis. Stand-
ley (1938) reported that Myosotis arvensis (L.) Hill is naturalized in
the pastures of Volcan de Turrialba, probably imported with grass
seed. Borago can be distinguished by the adaxially appendaged fila-
ments and Myosotis by the corolla lobes being convolute in bud.
REFERENCES
STANDLEY, P.C.
1938. Flora of Costa Rica. Field Mus. Bot. Ser. 18: 978-993.
