Blakea gracilis is a sun-loving hemi-epiphyte found in wet montane forests from Nicaragua to Panama from about 1200 to 2300 m (Almeda 2000; Lumer 1982). Flowers are fairly large and range in color from pure white to pink with alternating pink and white stripes. The flowers have noticeable yellow stamens, which cluster towards the rear of the flower. The plant produces dime-sized berries that are a deep red when mature. A wide variety of bees act as pollinators for this species (Lumer 1982). B. gracilis seeds are dispersed by frugivorous birds that like to eat the sweet berries (Lumer 1982).
Blakea gracilis is distributed from Nicaragua to Panama from 1200 to 2300 m (Almeda 2000).
Flower buds are deep pink. Flowers tend to be fairly large, or approximately 4.5 cm in diameter. The flowers are zygomorphic, or bilaterally symmetrical (as opposed to having radial symmetry), in appearance and have six petals that range in color from pink with alternating deep pink and white stripes to flowers that are all or nearly all white (Lumer 1982). There are twelve stamens that position themselves near the rear of the flower while the pistil curves toward the anthers (Epstein 1981). The stamen is made up of anthers, which are yellow, squat, and wedge shaped, and white filament. The style varies in color from white to pink and is attached to a white stigma. There are two pairs of three-nerved bracts, which intersect one another (Lumer 1982).
Flowers of B. gracilis are functionally one-day flowers, which remain on the plant for two days. However, on the second day, flowers are extremely fragile with the petals falling off very easily. The flowers have no nectar but present a light sweet smell. Scent production begins at dawn and ends at dusk. B. gracilis flowers for ten months in an extended, unsynchronized cycle (Lumer 1982).
Epstein (1981) described the leaves as large and three-veined. They are elliptic, and may be leathery, though this leathery texture may vary (Epstein 1981; Lumer 1982). Young leaves may be shiny. In the wild B. gracilis is often epiphytic. Cultivated plants reach a height of two to three feet.
Small seeds contained are contained in a fleshy, berry fruit with a diameter similar in size to that of a dime (2.2 cm) (Epstein 1981). Fruits mature during the dry season. They are deep red at maturity (Lumer 1982).
Although there is not any specific data on the dispersal of this species, the fruit is extremely similar to that of other Blakea, and further resembles many other epiphytic members of this family, which are primarily dispersed by frugivorous birds (Stiles & Rosseli 1993). The seeds of this plant are surrounded by a sweet, sticky aril, which acts as a mechanism for dispersal. Birds consume the sweet aril and, in the process, the seed stick to their beaks. The birds then fly away and must rub their beak on a branch to remove the aril and seeds, thus dispersing the seeds to an area suitable for germination (Lumer 2000).
Growth Form
Although there are some species of Blakea have been described as small trees or epiphytes, individuals of B. gracilis are hemi-epiphytes which root in the ground but grow on trees, fallen logs, and tree stumps (Lumer 1982).
Habitat
Blakea gracilis is a sun-loving species and may flower very little, or not at all, in shady areas. It is common in pastures and along roadsides in wet montane forest below the cloud forest (Lumer 1982).
Pollination
Like other members of the Melastomataceae family, these flowers are buzz pollinated (Lumer 1982). Buzz pollination is a pollination system in which the bee “buzzes” while in or on the flower, and these vibrations causing the expulsion of the pollen out of the anther pores (Buchmann 1983). Lumer (1982) further explains that the pollen is extremely small and three-pored (tricolporate). It is released through terminal pores.
B. gracilis is visited by a wide variety of bee pollinators. This include large bees (Eulaema sp., Xylocopa sp.), medium size bees (Bombus sp., Ptelioglossa ducalis) and small bees like Trigona sp. and Examolopsis sp. (though there is some speculation about whether this small bee is a true pollinator) (Lumer 1982).
