Bejaria grandiflora Bonpland in Humboldt & Bonpland, Pl. aequinoct. 2: 122. 1813 (as Befaria). Type. Ecuador. Loja: Páramo de Saraguro, 1799-1804, Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (lectotype, designated by Mansfeld & Sleumer (1935): B, n.v., destroyed, photo F neg. 18284; neolectotype, designated by Clemants (1995): P, n.v., photos NY neg. without number, IDC Humboldt & Bonpland herbarium 79: II. 7.).Bejaria caxamarcensis Kunth in Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. gen. sp. 3: 294. 1819 (as Befaria). Type. Peru. Cajamarca: Cajamarca?, without date, Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (syntypes: P (Humboldt & Bonpland), n.v., photos F neg. 38217, NY neg. s.n., IDC Humboldt & Bonpland herb. 79: III. 3. and B-W, n.v., photo IDC Willdenow herbarium #9125). Clemants (1995) did not see any of these specimens and so did not select a lectotype.
Bejaria cinnamomea Lindley, Gartn. Chron. 175. 1848. Type. Peru. Cajamarca: Cajamarca, 2425 m, Lobb 276 (holotype: CGB, photo NY neg. 11700; isotypes: K, W).
Bejaria myrtifolia Hérincq, Rev. Hort. sér. 3, 4: 184. 1850 (as Befaria). Type. Colombia. Cundinamarca: Bogotá, Zipaquirá, 2800 m, 1842, Linden 773 (lectotype: P, photo NY neg. 11681; isolectotypes: BR, CGE, G, G-BOIS, G-DC, GENT, K, LE, OXF, W, fragment at F).
Bejaria congesta Fedtschenko & Basilevskaja, Bot. Mater. Gerb. Glavn. Bot. Sada SSSR 6: 28. 1926. Type. Colombia. Norte de Santander: La Baja, nr. Pamplona, 3300 m, 26 Feb? 1846 or Jan 1847 (fl), Funck & Schlim 1330 (holotype: LE, photo NY neg. 11715; isotypes: BR, CGE, G, G-DC, LD, P, fragment L, n.v., photo F neg. 28911).
Bejaria aestuans Linnaeus var. macrantha Danguy & Chermezon, Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. (Paris) 28: 436. 1922 (as Befaria). Type. Ecuador. Loja: Loja mts., June, without year, Hartweg 796 (lectotype, designated by Clemants (1995): P, photo NY neg. 11682; isolectotypes: BM, CGE, G, G-BOIS, E, K, LD, NY, OXF, W, photo NY type herbarium microfiche #760/C2).
[Bejaria albiflora Linden ex Fedtschenko & Basilevskaja, Bot. Mater. Gerb. Glavn. Bot. Sada SSSR 6: 41. 1926, nom. nud., pro syn. All the specimens I have seen with this name written on them are B. resinosa.]
Bejaria tricolor Linden ex Hérincq, Rev. Hort., sér. 3, 4: 185. Bejaria grisea Fedtschenko & Basilevskaja, Bot. Mater. Gerb. Glavn. Bot. Sada SSSR 6: 43. 1926. Type. Colombia. Norte de Santander: Pamplona, 2800 m, Feb 1847 (fl), Funck & Schlim 1475 (lectotype of B. tricolor, designated by Clemants (1995): CGE, photo NY neg. 11701; holotype of B. grisea: LE; isotypes: BR, F, G, K, LD, P, W, fragment L, n.v., photos F neg. 28913, A neg. 1040).
Bejaria lehmanniana Fedtschenko & Basilevskaja, Bot. Mater. Gerb. Glavn. Bot. Sada SSSR 6: 43. 1926. Type. Ecuador. Loja: Páramo de Saraguro, betw. Oña and Saraguro, 2800-3000 m, Oct-Jan, Lehmann 4962 (holotype: LE, photo NY neg. 11714; isotypes: F, GH, K, LY, US, photo NY neg. 9609).
Bejaria weberbaueriana Mansfeld & Sleumer, Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 12: 261. 1935 (as Befaria). Type. Peru. Cajamarca: Above the Hacienda La Tahoma, nr. Hualgayoc, 3100-3400 m, 13 May 1904 (fl), Weberbauer 4014 (holotype: B, n.v., destroyed; lectotype, designated by Clemants (1995): G, photo F neg. 28917; isotype: fragment F).
Bejaria peruviana Mansfeld & Sleumer, Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 12: 268. 1935 (as Befaria). Type. Peru. Cajamarca: Prov. Jáen, E side of cordillera, E of Huancabamaba, 2800-3000 m, 8 Apr 1912, Weberbauer 6106 (holotype: B, n.v., destroyed; lectotype, designated by Clemants (1995): US, photo NY neg. 11228; isolectypes: F, GH, photo NY neg. 9604).
Bejaria dryanderae Mansfeld & Sleumer, Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 12: 268. 1935 (as Befaria). Type. Colombia. Valle: Páramo de Farallones, 3200 m, 1 Oct 1933 (fl), Dryander 1367 (holotype: B, n.v., destroyed). Colombia. Valle: Los Farallones, Quebrada de Las Nieves, 3000-3120 m, 31 Jul 1946 (fl, fr), Cuatrecasas 21831 (neotype: A, photo NY neg. 11694; isoneotypes: COL, F, US, fragment US). The holotype (Dryander 1367) and first paratype (Steubel 321b, B) were destroyed and Clemants (1995) saw no duplicates of them. The second paratype (Smith 1406, A, BM, E, F, G-DC, D-DEL, MICH, MO, NY, WIS, US) was specimen of B. aestuans. Therefore, since there was no original material that referred to the species, Clemants (1995) chose Cuatrecasas 21831 as the neotype, because it was collected at the same location and matches the description given by Mansfeld and Sleumer (1935).
Shrub or small tree, 0.25-6 m tall; bark
fissured, glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid, dark brown
or gray; twigs subterete, brown or gray, often hispid (glandular-hispid).
Leaves coriaceous, flat, revolute, or rarely longitudinally curled, usually
ovate to elliptic, sometimes narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate (obovate,
orbicular or cordiform), (0.7-)1-2.5 x 0.3-1.6 cm, base obtuse to truncate
(cuneate or cordate), apex acute to acuminate (obtuse or rounded), usually
bluntly mucronate, margin entire, occasionally ciliate (glandular ciliate),
both surfaces usually glabrous, sometimes tomentose or hispid (glandular-hispid),
midvein usually hispid (glabrous, tomentose, or glandular-hispid).
Inflorescence terminal, rarely axillary, racemose, (3-)5-12(-22)-flowered;
rachis 1-3.6 cm long and 13-24 mm diam., brown or dark brown, tomentose
and usually hispid (glandular-hispid); pedicels ascending, 10-18
mm long and 0.6-1.6 mm diam., usually hispid, occasionally glandular-hispid,
glabrous or tomentose; bracteoles usually inserted on basal 1/2 of
pedicel (often at the very base), narrowly ovate to narrowly obovate or
oblong, sometimes narrowly elliptic to elliptic, flat or often involute,
1.9-6.6 x 0.4-2.1 mm, base truncate, apex obtuse to acute to acuminate,
margin usually ciliate, occasionally glandular-ciliate, both surfaces glabrous
or tomentose; floral bracts narrowly ovate to ovate or elliptic (narrowly
obovate), flat, revolute, involute, or longitudinally-curled, 2.3-12.5
x 0.8-2.5 mm, base cuneate, apex acute to acuminate, margin entire, adaxial
surface glabrous to tomentose, sometimes hispid or glandular-hispid, abaxial
surface usually hispid, sometimes glabrous or tomentose (glandular-hispid).
Flowers 7-merous; calyx 3.6-9 mm long; tube 1-4 mm long and
2.5-6.5 mm diam., brown or reddish-brown, glabrous, tomentose, hispid,
or glandular-hispid; lobes ovate, occasionally narrowly ovate or
elliptic (deltoid), 2.8-5.9(-7.5) x 1.5-4.9 mm, longest lobe 3.8-7.5 mm,
apex acute to obtuse, occasionally acuminate (caudate or mucronate), margin
entire, ciliolate or ciliate, occasionally glandular-ciliate, abaxial surface
glabrous, tomentose, hispid, or glandular-hispid; corolla tubular
or fusiform, red to purple, occasionally pink or white, petals often undulate,
narrowly obovate, (16.5-)20-40 x 4-10 mm, margin entire or distally ciliate,
distally slightly to densely tomentose; stamens subequal to corolla
or slightly exserted, (16-)19-47 mm long; filaments tomentose;
anthers 1.6-3.7 mm long and 0.8-1.9 mm diam., glabrous; ovary glabrous;
style exserted, 23-56 mm long; stigma capitate. Capsules depressed
globose, 5.5-9 mm long and 9.2-11 mm diam., brown, exocarp not separating
from the valves; seeds 1.2-1.6 mm long, 0.3-0.7 mm diam.
Distribution. From Páramo de Tamá, Venezuela to southern Colombia, and from Páramo de Castillo, Ecuador to Cerro de Calla-Calla, Peru, in the shrub páramos and lower páramos, at (1750-)2500-3700 m. It is represented by only a single colletion from the northern part of Ecuador. It flowers and bears fruit throughout the year, Melampy (1987) found that the species flowers throughout the year but there is a peak of flowering from December to February in Boyacá, Colombia.
Local names. Venezuela: pegajosa (Táchira). Colombia: pegamosca or pegamosco, matamosca, carbonero, azalea del monte, and pegapega (Cundinamarca), angucha, angucho, and angujo (Cauca, Cundinamarca, and Valle). Ecuador: payama, payana (Azuay, El Oro, and Loja); Peru: pegapega (Cajamarca) and purun rosa (La Libertad).
Uses. It is used in Colombia (Cundinamarca) for fly paper (Haught 5633), hence the names matamosca and pegamosca (fly killer and fly sticker). In Ecuador (Azuay) and Peru (Cajamarca) it is used medicinally: in Ecuador "for wounds [and], sprains cook the leaves and put the crude crushed leaves over the wound, also used as a purgative... for heart attacks cook the flowers and drink the infusion" (Steyermark 53329), whereas in Peru it is "considered the strongest medicine for respiratory ailments. Cooked and mixed with miel de palo" (Davis & Turner 703).
Cultivated: NCSC.