Gaultheria psilantha A. C. Smith, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 60: 107.  1933. Type.  Colombia.  Cundinamarca:  Páramo de Cruz Verde, nr. Bogotá, 3400-3600 m, 20 Sep 1917 (fl), Pennell 2067 (holotype, NY).

     Erect shrub, (0.2-)0.6-1.5(-2) m tall;  stems subterete, striate, ribbed, often nitid, glabrous to puberulent or short-pilose with white hairs, lacking setae;  buds ovate to fusiform, scales ovate, striate, ciliate, glabrous to densely puberulent.  Leaves coriaceous, flat, generally ovate, but sometimes oblong, (3.2-)4-8(-10) x (2-)2.5-4(-6.5) cm, base truncate, rounded, or obtuse and usually subcordate to strongly cordate, apex subacute, acute, short-acuminate or obtuse to nearly rounded, apex itself a sessile, blunt, terminal gland, more or less obscurely to conspicuously serrulate, with each tooth acute or blunt and usually terminating in a tiny, often deciduous, sometimes gland-tipped seta, glabrous above and beneath or the midrib short-puberulent at base, the lamina often nitid above and blackish punctate beneath;  midrib impressed above and raised beneath, lateral nerves 4-5 per side, plane or impressed above and raised beneath, reticulate veinlets weakly impressed to obscure above but conspicuous beneath;  petiole terete, striate to rugose, shallowly canaliculate above, 3-5(-8) mm long, glabrous to short-puberulent.  Inflorescence axillary, racemose, bracteate at base, ca. 10-20-flowered;  rachis subterete to complanate, 3-8 cm long, glabrous or moderately to densely puberulent or short-pilose with whitish to grayish, eglandular hairs, setae lacking;  pedicels subterete, striate, ca. 4-8 mm long, usually moderately to densely puberulent or short-pilose as rachis;  bracteoles located along middle of pedicel or below, papyraceous, continuous with pedicel, linear-ovate, ca. 2.5-4 mm long, acuminate to aristate, ciliate, often marginally setose with eglandular (or gland-tipped setae);  floral bracts subcoriaceous, concave, cucullate, often wide-spreading to reflexed, continuous with rachis or sometimes for a short distance with pedicel, broadly ovate at base to spatulate to oblong-ovate at apex, (5-)7-15(-20) x 4-6(-8) mm, ciliate and sometimes short-setose marginally (glandular-tipped), usually glabrous to short-pilose on both surfaces.  Calyx glabrous to sometimes short-pilose, (3.5-)4-6 mm long, lobes ovate to triangular, (2-)3-4(-5) mm long, acute to acuminate (aristate), ciliate, often puberulent within;  corolla urceolate to cylindric-urceolate, terete to bluntly 5-angled, (4-)5-6.5(-7) mm long, usually glabrous without or moderately to weakly short-white-pilose, lacking setae, glabrous to rarely sparsely pilose within, white, pink, or red when fresh, lobes oblong, ca. 1-1.5 mm long, acute to obtuse;  stamens with filaments ca. 2.5 mm long, glabrous or weakly pilose;  anthers ca. 1-1.5 mm long, awns prominent;  ovary usually glabrous or moderately short-pilose towards apex;  style to 4 mm long, glabrous.  Fruiting calyx to 11 mm diam., glabrous to short-pilose, blue-black.  Chromosome number:  2n=22 (Middleton & Wilcock, 1990b).

     Distribution (Map).  Scattered in the western Andes of Venezuela east to Edo. Mérida, common in the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia, collected once in Ecuador (Loja Prov.), and three times in Peru.   It is found in moist forest, usually páramo to subpáramo, including disturbed sites and thickets at (1900-)2700-3350(-3500) m elevation.  Flowering and fruiting throughout the year.

     Common names.  Colombia:  reventadera, uvito, uvo falso, cimarrón (Cundinamarca);  camarero (Santander). Some plants are reported to be toxic.

    Cultivated:  E.