Protologue Description: 2. Macrocarpaea elix J.R. Grant, sp. nov. TYPE: ECUADOR. Azuay: highway Cuenca-Cola de San Pablo, km 88, secondary forest, 2540 m, shrub 1.5 m, flowers pale yellow, aromatic, 14 February 1977, J.D. Boeke & H. Loyola 988 (Holotype: NY; Isotypes: AAU, QCA). Fig. 4E-K.
A Macrocarpaeae noctilucae J.R. Grant & Struwe cui affinis, sed plantis hispidis spiculatis (vs. glabris) differt.
Shrub or small tree to 1-5 m, hyaline hispid to spiculate with short simple hairs on stems, petioles, leaves, inflorescences, bracts and calyces. Stems terete to slightly quadrangular above, hollow to solid, 5-9 mm in diam. just below inflorescence. Leaves elliptic to ovate, petiolate, (11-)20-33 cm long. Petioles 10-45 m long, robust with strong open vagination or groove nearly equaling the length of the petiole; interpetiolar ridge 2-5 rnm high. Blades (10.0-)19.0-28.5 x (5-)11-18 cm, entire, not revolute, dark green above, lighter below, with slightly impressed veins above, and strongly raised veins below, glabrous above, hyaline hispid on all veins below, papery thin, to thin coriaceous; base aequilateral to oblique, cuneate to rounded; apex acuminate to acute. Inflorescence a much-branched open thyrse, often appearing glaucous on dried herbarium specimens due to minute white crystals covering upper stems, petioles, and calyces, 37+ cm long (the total inflorescence unknown, as has been cut into various segments for separate herbarium sheets); branches 11-22 cm long; 9-15 flowers per branch. Bracts obovate, elliptic, obovate, to oblanceolate, sessile to short-petiolate, 15-120 x 7-68 mm; base aequilateral to oblique, cuneate, rounded to short-attenuate; apex acuminate to acute; bract petioles 2-16 mm long. Flowers pedicellate, erect to slightly spreading; pedicels 9-25 mm long; bracteoles inconspicuous and scabrous, linear, or triangular to ovate, lanceolate to oblanceolate, 1.5-20.0 x l-8 mm. Calyx campanulate, 8-10
x 7-8 mm, spiculate to glabrous, smooth, green, ecarinate; calyx lobes ovate, 2-4 x 2.5-4.0 mm, apex rounded to obtuse. Corolla funnel-shaped (22-)35-45 mm long, 10-20 mm wide at the apex of the tube, pale yellow (Boeke & Loyola 988), greenish-yellow (Harling & Andersson 23442), pale greenish (Steyermark 53548), smooth; corolla lobes ovate, 7-12 x 4-9 mm, apex obtuse to rounded. Stamens 24-30 min long; filaments 20-25 mm long, filíform, terete; anthers linear to linear-elliptic, 4-5 x 1.5-2.0 mm, sagittate, versatile; pollen "glabra-type." Pistil 35-40 mm long; ovary 5-7 x 2-3 mm; style 28-30 x 0.75-1.00 mm; stigma lobes spathulate to elliptic, 2-3 x 1.0-1.5 mm. Capsules ovoid to ellipsoidal, 21-35(-41) x 7-11 mm, smooth to faintly rugose, light to dark brown, erect to nodding; style remnant 15-23 mm; seeds "perimetrically winged," flattened, roughly 3-4 sided in outline, yet appearing as myriads of different puzzle pieces, 0.8-1.9 x 0.5-1.0 mm, bicolored, testa tan, wings orangish straw-colored, testa reticulate, wings ribbed.
Name derivation: Etymology: from the Latin elix, a channel for diverting a stream. The name describes the large grooves on the petioles, like channels. The epithet is based on a word used in apposition, and therefore to be maintained according to Article 23.1 of the ICBN (Greutcr et al., 2000).