Vaccinium alaternoides Kunth var. parvifolium Bentham, Pl. hartweg. 140. 1844. Disterigma alaternoides (Kunth) Niedenzu var. parvifolium (Bentham) A. C. Smith, Brittonia 1: 220. 1933. Type. Ecuador. Loja: Mountains of Saraguro, Aug (fl), Hartweg 782* (holotype, K, fragment, NY).Terrestrial or epiphytic shrub to 4 m tall; stem terete or subterete, sometimes bluntly angled, nitid, fuscous or cinereous, glabrous; twigs subterete, angled, puberulent to short-pilose with white hairs, persistent or glabrate. Leaves coriaceous, well-spaced, not imbricate or congested, ovate to broadly ovate-elliptic, 1-3(-4) x 0.5-1.6(-2.5) cm, base rounded or obtuse to cuneate, apex obtuse or subacute, rarely acute, margin entire but noticeably narrowly revolute at base beneath, glabrous or sometimes sparsely to moderately pilose beneath, also usually minutely glandular-fimbriate beneath; obscurely 3-5-plinerved from base, midrib impressed above and raised beneath, lateral nerves usually plane or slightly impressed above and raised beneath, but usually obscure, reticulate veinlets obscure on both surfaces; petiole subterete, stout and usually broadly flattened above, 1-3(-4) mm long, short-pilose or puberulent above, glabrate. Inflorescence fasciculate, (1-)3-7-flowered, surrounded by a series of tiny bracts, the innermost reaching the size of the bracteoles; floral bract seemingly ovate, obtuse, to 1.5 mm long, but difficult to distinguish from inflorescence bracts; pedicel subterete, ribbed, 0.5-3 mm long, glabrous or puberulent, sometimes also with scattered, minute, glandular fimbriae; bracteoles reaching to base of calyx lobes at anthesis, imbricate at base, ovate, rounded, 2-4 mm long, glabrous but ciliate. Flowers 4-merous, with calyx ca. 3-4 mm long, glabrous; hypanthium cylindric, terete, 1.5-2 mm long; limb erect-spreading to campanulate, 1.5-3 mm long; lobes ovate-deltate, subacute, 1-2.5 mm long, sometimes tufted setose at apex, sometimes with the bases imbricate; sinuses acute; corolla thin-carnose, cylindric, cylindric-urceolate, or sometimes somewhat swollen distally, 4.7-7.5 mm long, usually glabrous or sometimes puberulent to short-pilose, often faintly puberulous within, white, pinkish-white, or pale red, the lobes strongly reflexed thus sometimes exposing tips of stamen, deltate-oblong, subacute, 1-2 mm long; stamen 8, ca. mm long; filaments 2.5-4.5 mm long, densely and conspicuously villous distally with hairs ca. 1 mm long; anthers 1.5-3 mm long; tubules 2, distinct, equalling or slightly exceeding thecae. Berry to 10 mm diam., translucent white or translucent pinkish, reddish-purple, or wine-red.Vacciniopsis tetramera Rusby, Descr. New S. Amer. Pl. 77. 1920. Type. Bolivia. Cochabamba: Vicinity of Cochabamba, Bang s.n. (holotype, NY).
Disterigma popenoei S. F. Blake, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 35: 120. 1922. Type. Ecuador. Loja: mountains E of Loja, 2200-3100 m, 11 Apr 1921 (fl, fr), Popenoe 1323 (holotype, US, photo NY neg. 9449).
Distribution. Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; premontane wet forest, montane moist, wet and rainforest, southern Ecuadorean scrub vegetation, and subpáramo to páramo at (1600-)2400-3400(-3900) m altitude.
Local names: Ecuador: fiapilla, perlillo, tira, zchirpe.
Uses: Ecuador: fruits eaten by humans and birds.
Cultivated: E, NY.
