PENDULOSA Kimnach & Uhl, 1992 (engl./ fr.)
Series Nudae
Type : Uhl 2749, Venezuela, Dept. Mérida: 4.8 km E of Las Cruces and 8 km E of Jaji (ca 30 km W of Mérida on Highway 4), July 21, 1982.
Etymology : For the pendulous stems.
Distribution : Venezuela (Dept. Mérida : ± 30 km west of Mérida).
Plant shrubby-pendent, entirely glabrous.
Stems at first erect to ascending, later horizontal, eventually pendent with ascending apices, branching mostly from near base, to 2 m long or more, 3 - 5 mm thick, at first pinkish green, slightly glaucous, later with a tan corky epidermis, tuberculate because of a 1 - 2 mm wide and high podarium just below the site of each leaf-attachment.
Aerial roots profuse on lower half of stems, reddish.
Leaves soon detaching, present only along apical 2 - 15 cm of stem, ca 10 - 21 to a stem, 5 - 25 mm apart, at first ascending toward stem-apex, later nearly at right angles to stem, obovate-oblong, subobtuse, slightly cuspidate, concave on inner face and, when young, with an obscurely faceted surface due to compression of leaves in the apical bud, inconspicuously keeled on outer face, (10-) 15 - 25 mm long, 10 - 15 (-20) mm wide, 2 - 3 mm thick, the usually reddened margins often somewhat twisted or undulate, the epidermis glaucous, bluish green.
Flowering stems arising from near stem-apices, 1 (-2) to a vegetative stem, upright on erect stems, horizontal to somewhat ascending on declining or pendent stems, 13 - 23 cm long, peduncle 2 - 3 cm long, ca 3 mm thick near base, 2 mm thick below lowest flower, pinkish green, the remainder ofrachis ca 1.25 mm thick below to 1 mm thick toward apex, yellowish pink, hardly glaucous, bracts 7 - 11 up to the lowest flower, the upper ones mostly deciduous before anthesis, oblong-obovate, mucronate, obscurely spurred, 4 - 20 mm long, 2 - 11 mm wide, 0.5 - 3 mm thick, glaucous, bluish green, pinkish near margin, pedicels attached equilaterally but strongly decurved so that flowers hang below the horizontal rachis and point downwards, 4 - 19 mm long, 0.75 - 1.5 mm thick, pinkish like the rachis, with 2 - 3 linear-lanceolate, acute bracteoles 1 - 3 mm long.
Flowers 5 - 10 along each rachis, calyx disk 3 - 5 mm wide, pinkish, the segments subequal, ovate-cuneate, acute, flattish-convex on exterior face, slightly concave on inner face, 4 - 6 mm long, 2.5 - 3 mm wide, ca 0.75 mm thick, light green, pinkish near base, the basal half appressed to corolla, the apical half slightly expanding, corolla cylindrical to campanulate, 10 - 13 mm long, 8 - 9 mm thick along whole length, petals slightly expanding at apex, forming an aperture 8 - 10 mm wide, gibbous at base, oblong-ovate, acute, ca 5 mm wide, the internal face shallowly concave and with a minute apical mucro, the exterior with a pronounced subacute keel prolonged at the apex to form a second, slightly longer mucro less than 0.25 mm long, the exterior yellowish-peach-coloured on basal half, yellow tinged pinkish toward apex, most strongly pinkish along the keels, the interior greenish yellow, with a 3 mm wide nectar--depression at base. ......
Cytology : n = 42