Erect shrub (epiphytic), 0.5-2.5 m tall;  mature stems terete, striate, scabrous (from persistent bases of deciduous strigose indumentum) to densely appressed-strigose with basally swollen, rigid, straight, eglandular, tan or golden to ferruginous hairs to 2.5 mm long (glabrate);  bark brown to gray, cracking into thin, longitudinal strips;  twigs subterete, striate, densely strigose as stems;  buds ovate, complanate, scales brown, essentially glabrous.  Leaves stiff-coriaceous, surface often strongly bullate, ovate to elliptic, upper surface smooth to pustulate,  (1.1-)1.5-5.5(-9) x 0.4-1.6(-4) cm, base rounded to cuneate or ± attenuate, apex acute to acuminate, sometimes sharply and abruptly acuminate, margin remotely to compactly crenate with each tooth terminating in a usually persistent, rigid hair to 2 mm long, margin plane to tightly revolute, glabrous to sparsely strigose above and strigose beneath with a mixture of short to long hairs (0.5-3.5 mm), ± evenly spaced or concentrated along veins;  midrib strongly impressed above and conspicuously raised beneath, reticulate veinlets slightly raised or impressed above and raised beneath;  petiole terete, flattened above, 2-3(-10) mm long, strigose.  Inflorescence racemose, 1-8(-13)-flowered, basally with 4-10 decussate, sterile bracts;  rachis subterete, striate, 1-2.5(-4) cm long, densely strigose to villous-strigose with straight to somewhat crisped hairs;  pedicels subterete, striate, 4-7 mm long, densely strigose or hirsute as on rachis;  bracteoles apparently continuous with pedicels (connate at their bases), located at or just above the base, ovate, keeled, 2-2.5(-5) x 2-3 mm, acute to long-acuminate, sparsely strigose (ciliolate);  floral bract apparently continuous with rachis, ovate, keeled, ± striate, 3-4.5(-8) x 1.5-2(-4) mm, long-acuminate, sparsely strigose (ciliolate).  Flowers with calyx usually densely appressed- strigose to villous-strigose (lanate) with straight to crisped, golden to ferruginous hairs, surface obscured from view (glabrate to glabrous), 3-4 mm long, lobes ovate, 2-3 mm long, acute to long-acuminate, glabrous within;  corolla cylindric-urceolate, bluntly 5-angled, 5-8(-10) x 4-6(-7) mm, strigose especially along angles with usually straight or crisped hairs, red when fresh, lobes oblong, ca. 1 mm long, obtuse;  stamens 3.5-4.8(-5.2) mm long;  filaments 2.4-4.2 mm long, glabrous or pilose;  anthers  1.4-1.6(-2) mm long, awns minute;  ovary sparsely to densely  short-pilose;  style 3-3.4(-4) mm long, glabrous (pilose especially at base).  Fruiting calyx globose, 6-12 mm diam., persistently strigose or glabrate, blue-black or white, the fleshy calyx lobes usually spreading away from the capsule.

     Distribution (Map).  Found from extreme W Venezuela to Ecuador with two collections from central Peru.  The species inhabits cloud or montane forest edges, páramo scrub or thickets, and Sphagnum-Ericaceae bogs at elevations of (1800-)2400-3400(-3950) m.  Flowering and fruiting occur throughout the year.
 

                   Key to Varieties of Gaultheria strigosa

1.  Lamina with margins nearly plane or only slightly revolute,
     greater than 10 mm broad, basally acute to cuneate;  calyx
     densely strigose or rarely glabrous;  common in Colombia, rare
     in W Venezuela and C Peru ....................................... var. strigosa
1.  Lamina with margins tightly revolute or conspicuously inwardly
     curled, 5-8 mm broad, basally rounded to obtuse or acute;  calyx
     densely strigose;  common at high elevations in Ecuador, less
     common in Colombia ................................................ var. revoluta
 

Gaultheria strigosa Bentham var. strigosa.  Images: Habit.  Flowers. Fruits.

Gaultheria tolimensis Weddell, Chlor. and. 2:  173.  1860.  Type.  Colombia. Tolima:  Cerro Tolima, "3900 m," Jan 1843 (fl), Linden 919p.p. (holotype, P).  [Sheets with this collection number at G and MPU are  G. sclerophylla Cuatrecasas.]

Gaultheria arachnoidea A. C. Smith, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 60:  101.  l933. Type.  Colombia.  Nariño:  "Volcao of Pasto, 12,000 feet," 1840  (fl), Jameson 499 [holotype, K;  isotypes, FI-Webb, G, photo F neg. 26620, NY, OXF].

Gaultheria insipida Bentham var. peruvianum Macbride, Field Mus. Nat.Hist., Bot. 13 (part 5, no. 1): 142.  1959.  Type.  Peru.  Huánuco: Vilcabamba, Río Chinchao, Macbride 5202 [holotype, F;  isotypes, NY(2x)].

     Leaves with surface ± smooth, margins nearly plane to only slightly revolute, (1.5-)1.7-5.5(-9) x 1-1.6)-4) cm, base acute to cuneate, remotely but regularly crenate;  indumentum of lower surface ± scattered regularly over the lamina.  Inflorescence 4-8(-13)-flowered.  Calyx densely strigose (glabrous);  staminal filaments glabrous.  Fruiting calyx blue-black when mature.

     Distribution (Map).  Rather common in Colombia, but rare in extreme W Venezuela and collected only twice in central Peru at elevations of (1800-)2400-3400(-3700) m.
 

Gaultheria strigosa Bentham var. revoluta (A. C. Smith) Luteyn, Brittonia 41: 14.  l989.  Gaultheria revoluta A. C. Smith, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 60:  102.  1933.  Type.  Colombia.  Quindio, Purdie s.n. (holotype, K;  isotypes, GH, NY).

     Leaves with upper surface usually pustular, margins tightly revolute, conspicuously incurved or longitudinally curled, (1.1-)1.5-2.4 x 0.4-1(-1.3) cm, base rounded to obtuse or acute, irregularly but compactly crenate, indumentum of lower surface concentrated along major veins.  Inflorescence 1-2(-4)-flowered.  Calyx densely strigose to sometimes lanate;  staminal filaments pilose.  Fruiting calyx white.

     Distribution (Map).  Common in páramo thickets in Ecuador, less common in Colombia at elevations of 3000-3950 m.