Zygia latifolia var. communis Barneby & J.W.Grimes

  • Authors

    Rupert C. Barneby

  • Authority

    Barneby, Rupert C. & Grimes, James W. 1997. Silk tree, guanacaste, monkey's earring: A generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part II. , , and . Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74: 1-149.

  • Family

    Mimosaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Zygia latifolia var. communis Barneby & J.W.Grimes

  • Type

    Brazil. Roraima: Mun. de Boa Vista, Reserva Ecolôgica de Maracá, ±3°30/N, 61°42'W, 25 Apr 1987 (fr.), G. P. Lewis 1562. — Holotypus, K; isotypus, NY.

  • Synonyms

    Inga cauliflora Willd., Pithecellobium cauliflorum Mart.

  • Description

    Variety Description - As described for the species, with these limitations: lfts 3-5 per pinna; corolla-tube glabrous; pod <19.5 mm wide.

    Distribution and Ecology - In seasonally flooded lowland forest, on swampy, near the coast brackish, shores, and pendulous from stream banks, in gallery forest ascending locally to 600 m, common and widespread over South America N and W of the Amazon and Madeira rivers, in Brazil SE into extreme N Goiás, and S through Acre into NE Bolivia. — Map 35, where probable but inherently ambiguous records based on sterile or flowering material with relatively ample lfts suggestive of var. latifolia are differentiated by a distinctive symbol. — Fl. almost throughout the year, perhaps most profusely during the flood season.

  • Discussion

    In transferring P. stipulare to Zygia, Rico (1991) stated that Bentham considered it synonymous with P. cauliflorum, but this is incorrect. In reality, Bentham recognized P. cauliflorum as an independent species and equated P. stipulare only with plants that he had previously mistaken (Bentham, 1844: 414) for P. cauliflorum. Rico considered Z. stipularis different from Z. cauliflora in persistent stipules and more numerous ("up to 5 pairs") leaflets per pinna. She failed to notice the discrepancy between this definition and the protologue of P. stipulare, in which Bentham described the leaflets as "1-2-jug . . . addito saepius inferiore minore," a number confirmed in Flora brasiliensis ("foliolis 3-5"), and moreover she passed over without comment Bentham’s record of P. stipulare from Guyana.

  • Distribution

    Goiás Brazil South America| Acre Brazil South America| Bolivia South America|