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    Bejaria was revised twice in the twentieth century; first by Fedtschenko and Basilevskaja (1926, 1928), and later by Mansfeld and Sleumer (1935). Camp (1941a) revised the North American (including Mexican) species of Bejaria. He suggested that much of the variation in Bejaria was due to hybridization among a very few species.  Clemant's (1965) revision differs notably from the previous ones in the great importance given to corolla shapes and the minor role given indumentum and inflorescence characters in determining species.  He found the corolla shape to be the preeminent character in the genus, followed in importance by characters of leaf shape, leaf size, and petiole length.
     One of the most striking aspects of Bejaria are the different corolla shapes.  Melampy (1987) found that B. resinosa --a species with large tubular and fusiform corollas-- was visited by a variety of hummingbirds and insects, but that only some of the hummingbirds and Bombus (Bombias) robustus Smith were pollinators, the other visitors were stealing nectar.  Little is known about the pollination of the other Bejaria species.  Several different pollination syndromes are probably present based on floral visitors and extrapolation from other Ericaceae.  Flowers of species with spreading and campanulate corollas are visited and probably pollinated by bees.  Bejaria racemosa is visited by honey bees, Apis melifera (Clemants, 1995b), and B. aestuans is visited by honey bees and other unknown bees (Clemants, 1995b).  Flowers of species with small tubular corollas with long exserted stamens are probably pollinated by bees.  Clemants (1995b) observed and collected oil-collecting bees (Centris flavifrons Friese) and wasps (Scolia sp.?) visiting B. sprucei flowers.  No information is known about the pollinators of species with globose-campanulate, salverform, or infundibular corollas.
     Bejaria, the "Rose of the Andes", was once prized for its large brilliantly colored flowers, but in recent years it has not been widely cultivated.  Four species were known in cultivation in 1854 (Lindley & Paxton, 1850), but by 1953 no species were known to be cultivated in Great Britain (Preston, 1953).  Only one species, B. racemosa, is cultivated and available from United States nurseries and a second species, B. resinosa, available from a European seed house (Clemants, 1995b).  Bejaria probably lost favor as an ornamental because of the difficulty in cultivating the species.  It requires a cold, moist greenhouse, but otherwise the procedures for growing azaleas (Lindley & Paxton, 1850) or Agarista (G. Don, 1834) are recommended.  Considering its beautiful and diverse flowers, Bejaria needs to be reconsidered as an ornamental and proper cultivation techniques identified.
     Bejaria is used locally for wood working, as a medicinal, and as fly paper.  Bejaria wood, one of the few attractive ericaceous woods, is reportedly used to a small extent in turnery and cabinet making (Record & Hess, 1943).  A few species are used medicinally, mostly for heart and lung ailments (see B. aestuans and B. resinosa in Clemants, 1995b).  One of the more interesting uses of Bejaria is as fly paper.  Apparently flies are attracted to flowers of B. racemosa and glandular forms of B. aestuans, where they become stuck upon the viscous parts.  The resin on B. racemosa flowers has the same adhesive strength as commercially available glues for trapping insects (Eisner & Aneshansley, 1983).
     Several Bejaria species are widespread and occur in a variety of habitats, they are not endangered in any way, these include B. aestuans, B. resinosa, B. mathewsii, and B. sprucei.  But the majority of species are narrowly endemic, and where land use pressures are great, they may be endangered.  Of these species B. cubensis of western Cuba, B. subsessilis and  B. zamorae in southern Ecuador, B. ledifolia on Cerro Avila in Venezuela, and B. infundibula of eastern Peru, are probably the most threatened because they occur near habitation.

BEJARIA Mutis ex Linnaeus, Mant. pl. 152, 242.  1771 nom. cons. prop. (as Befaria); Linné fil., Suppl. pl. 247.  1782 (as Befaria); Bonpland in Humboldt & Bonpland, Pl. aequinoct. 2: 118.  1809 (as Befaria); Kunth in Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. gen. sp. 3: 290.  1819 (as Befaria);  G. Don, Gen. hist. 3: 849.  1834; A. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 7: 731-732. 1839; Walpers, Ann. bot. syst. 2: 1123.  1852 (as Befaria); Weddell, Chlor. andina 2: 182-183.  1860; Hemsley, Biol. centr.-amer., bot. 2: 282.  1881;  Fedtschenko & Basilevskaja, Bot. Mater. Gerb. Glavn. Bot. Sada SSSR 6: 37-45.  1926;  Fedtschenko & Basilevskaja, Bot. Gaz. (Crawfordsville) 85: 299-332.  1928; Mansfeld and Sleumer, Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 12: 235-276. 1935; Camp, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 68: 100-111.  1941 (as Befaria);  Macbride, Fl. Peru, Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. ser. 13(part V, no. 1): 126-133.  1959;  Clemants, Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 66: 54-106.  1995.  Type species. Bejaria aestuans Linnaeus.  Named in honor of José Bejar, an eighteenth century professor of botany at Cadiz, Spain.  See Clemants (1994) for a discussion of spelling of the genus and its formal conservation against Befaria.
 

Acunna Ruiz & Pavón, Fl. peruv. prodr. 69, t. 12.  1794.  Type species.  Acunna oblonga Ruiz & Pavón.  Dedicated to Pedro de Acuna y Malvar, Minister of the Indes, who recommended Ruiz and Pavón to the Spanish king for a botanical expedition to Peru.

Jurgensenia Turczaninow, Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 20(1): 151.  1847.  Type species.  Jurgensenia mexicana Turczaninow.  Jurgensen was a collector in Mexico from 1840-1845 who collected for Galeotti, after Galeotti returned to Europe.

Heptacarpis Conzatti, Anales de Hospital General 2(5): 5-7.  1940, illegitimate name (Art. 36.1).  Type species.  Heptacarpis salmonicolor Conzatti.  The name is derived from the 7-locular carpel.

     Terrestrial, evergreen, shrubs or trees, prostrate to erect, to 15 m tall;  bark fissured or sometimes deeply fissured, often fibrous;  indumentum tomentose, hispid, glandular-hispid or none.  Leaves petiolate or subsessile;  blades flat to revolute, coriaceous to chartaceous, glabrous or frequently tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid especially along the midvein, the abaxial surface often glaucous, margin entire, rarely slightly crenate, flat or usually slightly revolute;  brochidodromous.  Inflorescence terminal, axillary, or both, racemose, sometimes paniculate, flowers bracteate;  bracteoles 2, usually inserted on the lower 1/2 of the pedicel or occasionally just below the calyx.  Flowers perfect, 5-7-merous;  calyx continuous with the pedicel, persistent in fruit;  corolla spreading, campanulate, salverform, globose-campanulate, fusiform, or infundibular;  aestivation quincuncial or in 7-merous flowers with 3 lobes fully outside, 2 lobes fully inside, and 2 lobes 1/2 inside and 1/2 outside;  petals often slightly tomentose especially distally, usually pink, red, or white;  stamens 10-14(-18), subequal to corolla to long exserted;  filaments ligulate, usually flattened in cross-section, thickest near base, usually tomentose on basal 1/3, usually whitish or yellowish;  anthers ovoid, glabrous or rarely slightly tomentose, the dehiscence introrse by a terminal or subterminal cleft;  ovary glabrous or rarely long-pilose, 5-7-locular with apical-axile placentation and numerous ovules;  nectariferous disc surrounding the ovary base unlobed;  style terete, subequal to the corolla or exserted, sometimes apparently elongating after anthesis;  stigma capitate or 7-lobed.  Fruit a 5-7-locular, woody capsule, depressed obovoid or depressed globose, apically depressed, glabrous, brown to black;  seeds numerous, 0.5-2 mm long, oblong, the testa long-celled reticulate, thin-walled.

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                           NOTES
     Unless otherwise stated transverse measurements of the rachis, pedicel, filament, and style were made at or near the base of the organ, whereas leaf, bract, and calyx lobe widths and calyx diameter were measured at their widest points.  Furthermore, the petals and calyx lobes are adaxially glabrous unless otherwise stated.
     Descriptive nomenclature follows Radford et al. (1974) except for the following:

Key to the sections and species of BEJARIA

1. Leaves chartaceous, midveins not noticeably prominent on abaxial leaf surface; inflorescence racemose or paniculate appearing stalked because of marked reduction in leaf size immediately below the inflorescence; capsules septicidal and slightly loculicidal at apex. (sect. Racemosae).........1. B. racemosa
1. Leaves coriaceous, midveins noticeably prominent on abaxial leaf surfaces; inflorescence racemose, rarely paniculate, not appearing stalked, leaves usually not markedly reduced in size below the inflorescence; capsules septicidal.  (sect. Bejaria).
   2. Filaments glabrous; leaves linear and longitudinally curled, 3.5-6 cm long; Cuba..............................................................................2. B. cubensis
   2. Filaments tomentose; leaves usually ellipsoid or ovoid and flat, if linear and longitudinally-curled then the filaments are tomentose and the leaves usually less than 3 cm long; Mexico, C. America, and S. America. 
     3. Petals spreading at least distally or incurved distally and forming a small globe (as in B. tachirensis); corolla campanulate, salverform, spreading, or globose-campanulate; stamens rarely exserted.
      4. Leaves with petiole 3-21 mm long; corolla campanulate, salverform, or spreading; widespread...................................................3. B. aestuans
      4. Leaves with petiole less than 3 mm long; corolla campanulate or globose-campanulate.
       5. Leaves ovate, basally truncate or obtuse; Ecuador.............................................................................................................4. B. subsessilis
       5. Leaves elliptic, narrowly obovate or linear, basally cuneate.
        6. Petals 15-27 mm long; leaves elliptic or narrowly obovate; apex acute to obtuse...................................................................... 5. B. imthurnii
         6. Petals 5-17.5 mm long; leaves elliptic, narrowly ovate or linear; apex acute, acuminate, or cuspidate.
           7. Pedicels 13-20 mm long, the inflorescence diffuse; leaves glandular-hispid; Cerro Neblina....................................................6. B. neblinensis
            7. Pedicels 3.5-14 mm long, the inflorescence congested; leaves various, if glandular-hispid then longitudinally-curled (B. nana).
              8. Petals spreading, corolla campanulate; leaves narrowly elliptic; Cerro Turumiqure..............................................................7. B. steyermarkii
             8. Petals distally incurved, corolla globose-campanulate; leaves  elliptic or linear.
               9. Leaves elliptic, flat, glabrous................................................................................................................................................8. B. tachirensis
              9.  Leaves linear, longitudinally-curled, glandular-hispid......................................................................................................... 9. B. nana
     3. Petals not spreading (in B. infundibula the petals are held at an angle forming a straight sided funnel); corolla tubular, fusiform, or infundibular; stamens often exserted.
      10. Corolla infundibular; vic. of Chachapoyas, Peru......................................................................................................................10. B. infundibula
      10. Corolla tubular or fusiform.
         11. Longest calyx lobe usually shorter than 3.4 mm; pedicel 0.2-0.6(-0.8) mm diam.
            12. Stamens subequal to the corolla or slightly exserted; flowers 7-merous.............................................................................11. B. zamorae
            12. Stamens long-exserted; flowers 5-7-merous.......................................................................................................................12. B. sprucei.
         11. Longest calyx lobe longer than 3.4 mm; pedicel
            (0.4-)0.6-1.6 mm diam.
            13. Leaves elliptic with a cuneate base; petioles usually more than 3.5 mm long.....................................................................13. B. mathewsii
           13. Leaves ovate or longitudinally curled and appearing linear, with a truncate base; petioles less than 3.5 mm long.
               14. Leaves usually flat; petals 20-40 mm long.......................................................................................................................14. B. resinosa.
              14.  Leaves longitudinally-curled; petals 13-23 mm long.......................................................................................................15. B. ledifolia.

     This is a version of the taxonomic treatment of the neotropical species of Bejaria (Ericaceae) by Steven E. Clemants, taken from "Ericaceae--Part II. The Superior-Ovaried Genera (Monotropoideae, Pyroloideae, Rhododendroideae, and Vaccinioideae p.p.)."  The full treatment may be see in Flora Neotropica Monograph 66: 54-106 (Clemants, 1995b).  This on-line synthesis is published with permission of The New York Botanical Garden and Steven E. Clemants.

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