Agarista ericoides
Agarista ericoides is a shrub of the heath family, Ericaceae, found in upland Minas Gerais, Brazil. Its small, narrow leaves have strongly rolled edges and gland-tipped hairs.[1] Kew recognises it as an accepted species.[2]
Appearance
The Ibitipoca flora describes shrubs 30 centimetres to two metres tall, with leaves five to fourteen millimetres long. Small teeth and glandular hairs occur along the leaf edges. Its account describes white, tubular to urn-shaped flowers, followed by rounded, slightly flattened capsules.[1]
Judd's 1995 treatment instead records pink to red flowers. Flower colour should therefore be read with the particular treatment and material in mind; both accounts emphasise the very narrow, rolled leaves and glandular hairs.[3][1]
Habitat and botanical records
In Ibitipoca State Park, the plant was found frequently in rocky upland grassland, and also beside cloud forest and in gallery forest. The 2017 flora documented collections from several decades, including 2014, and reported the species for the Atlantic Forest domain.[1]
These later records extend the evidence available to Judd, whose 1995 account knew the species only from the type collections associated with its older names.[3][1]
Reproduction
A 2019 conference abstract reported hand-pollination experiments on fifteen plants in Ibitipoca. The results indicated self-incompatibility: cross-pollination produced substantially more fruit than hand self-pollination. The authors found no pollen limitation under natural conditions in that experiment. This is evidence from one study site, published as an abstract.[4]
Name
Paul Taubert described Agarista ericoides in 1893, using material collected near Diamantina in 1892. The later name Leucothoe ericoides refers to the same species in a different genus.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Cabral, A., Romão, G. O. and Menini Neto, L. (2017). Ericaceae no Parque Estadual do Ibitipoca, Minas Gerais, Brasil. Boletim de Botânica da Universidade de São Paulo 35, 75–93; account 1.2, pp.78–80; doi:10.11606/issn.2316-9052.v35ip75-93. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Agarista: accepted species. Plants of the World Online. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Judd, W. S. Agarista ericoides. New York Botanical Garden, electronic treatment based on Flora Neotropica Monograph 66 (1995). Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ Arenas, M. D., Lima, H. A. and Rodarte, A. T. A. (2019). Biologia Reprodutiva em três espécies de Agarista D. Don ex G. Don (Ericaceae) em Vegetação de Campo Rupestre. Abstract in the proceedings of the 70th Congresso Nacional de Botânica, Maceió, p.130. Accessed 9 October 2026.