Taxon Details: Bertholletia Bonpl.
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Family:
Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)
Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)
Scientific Name:
Bertholletia Bonpl.
Bertholletia Bonpl.
Primary Citation:
Pl. Aequinoct. 1: 122. 1808
Pl. Aequinoct. 1: 122. 1808
Accepted Name:
This name is currently accepted.
This name is currently accepted.
Description:
Description: Canopy to emergent trees. Leaves scattered along branches, medium to large-sized (17-36cm long), glabrous; venation not markedly percurrent. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, spicate or once-branched paniculate arrangements of spikes, growth of rachises determinate. Flowers present with leaves, zygomorphic; sepals 2 at anthesis; petals 6, flat at apices; staminal lip present; androecial hood swept inward but not coiled, bearing vestigial stamens, the stamens not reflexed, the anthers laterally dehiscent; ovary usually 4-locular, 16-25 ovules per locule, attached at base of septum, the style relatively long, geniculate, without stylar collar. Fruit dehiscent but opening smaller in diameter than seeds, dropping from tree at maturity with seeds inside, globose, pericarp thick. Seeds not winged, the testa hard, glabrous; cotyledons absent; embryo macropodial.
Distribution: Amzonian Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia. All collections from French Guiana have come from cultivated trees.
Ecology: Found in lowland, terra firme forests.
Number of species: The only species is B. excelsa.
Taxonomic notes: There is considerable variation in the size and shape of the fruits but this variation has not been demonstrated to merit taxnomic recognition.
Description: Canopy to emergent trees. Leaves scattered along branches, medium to large-sized (17-36cm long), glabrous; venation not markedly percurrent. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, spicate or once-branched paniculate arrangements of spikes, growth of rachises determinate. Flowers present with leaves, zygomorphic; sepals 2 at anthesis; petals 6, flat at apices; staminal lip present; androecial hood swept inward but not coiled, bearing vestigial stamens, the stamens not reflexed, the anthers laterally dehiscent; ovary usually 4-locular, 16-25 ovules per locule, attached at base of septum, the style relatively long, geniculate, without stylar collar. Fruit dehiscent but opening smaller in diameter than seeds, dropping from tree at maturity with seeds inside, globose, pericarp thick. Seeds not winged, the testa hard, glabrous; cotyledons absent; embryo macropodial.
Distribution: Amzonian Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia. All collections from French Guiana have come from cultivated trees.
Ecology: Found in lowland, terra firme forests.
Number of species: The only species is B. excelsa.
Taxonomic notes: There is considerable variation in the size and shape of the fruits but this variation has not been demonstrated to merit taxnomic recognition.
Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):
Bertholletia Bonpl.: [Article] Mori, S. A. & Prance, Ghillean T. 1990. Lecythidaceae - Part II: The zygomorphic-flowered New World genera (Couroupita, Corythophora, Bertholletia, Couratari, Eschweilera, & Lecythis). With a study of secondary xylem of Neotropical Lecythidaceae by Carl de Zeeuw. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21: 1-376.
Bertholletia Bonpl.: [Article] Mori, S. A. & Lepsch da Cunha, Nadia M. 1995. The Lecythidaceae of a central Amazonian moist forest. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 75: 1-55.
Bertholletia Bonpl.: [Article] Mori, S. A. & Prance, Ghillean T. 1990. Lecythidaceae - Part II: The zygomorphic-flowered New World genera (Couroupita, Corythophora, Bertholletia, Couratari, Eschweilera, & Lecythis). With a study of secondary xylem of Neotropical Lecythidaceae by Carl de Zeeuw. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21: 1-376.
Bertholletia Bonpl.: [Article] Mori, S. A. & Lepsch da Cunha, Nadia M. 1995. The Lecythidaceae of a central Amazonian moist forest. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 75: 1-55.