Calliandra silvicola Taub.
-
Authors
Rupert C. Barneby
-
Authority
Barneby, Rupert C. 1998. Silk tree, guanacaste, monkey's earring: A generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part III. Calliandra. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74: 1-223.
-
Family
Mimosaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Type
"[BRAZIL. Goiás:] ... in ditione fluminis Maranhão superioris [= rio das Almas] in silva ad Morro do Salto: ULE n. 2834." — Holotypus, †B; isotypus, HBG!.
-
Synonyms
Calliandra surinamensis Benth.
-
Description
Species Description - Microphyllidious, widely branching, arborescent shrubs attaining 3 m, with slender smooth, gray and in age blanched annotinous branches, appearing glabrous but the lf-axes pilosulous with fine erect or incurved hairs to 0.4-0.7 mm, the olivaceous subcon- colorous, moderately lustrous lfts glabrous, the capitula arising either singly or geminate from incipiently elongating, efoliate brachyblasts axillary to contemporary or lately shed lvs of long-shoots; phyllotaxy distichous. Stipules inequilaterally lanceolate 2.5-5 x 1-1.3 mm, ±5-7-nerved, persistent. Lf-formula 1—ii/12—17, the pinnae 1 pair in most brachyblast-lvs, sometimes in all; lf-stk of primary lvs (1-)1.3-3.5 cm, bridged and bicupulate at insertion of each pinna-pair, the petiole mostly (0.7-)l.3-2.3 cm, the interpinnal segment to 8-15 mm; pinnae equilong or the proximal pair a trifle shorter, the rachises of distal pair 2.5-5.6 cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 2-3.5 mm; lft-pulvinules transversely elliptic 0.2-0.3 x 0.5-0.6 mm; lfts subequilong except at far ends of rachis, the blades linear-oblong from proximally ob- tusangulate base, deltately acute, those near mid-rachis 9.5-11.5 x 2.2-3 mm, 3.4-4.5 times as long as wide; venation slenderly prominulous on both faces of young lfts, less pronounced in age, primarily pinnate, the straight subcentric midrib ±5-9-branched on each side, a weak posterior primary produced barely to, more often far short of, mid-blade, the tertiary venula- tion random. Peduncles slender 10-35 mm, 1-bracteate near middle, the bract ovate 1-1.5 mm; capitula 7-12- fld, the receptacle 1.5 mm or less; floral bracts minute; fls (so far as known) homomorphic, the calyx 5- and the corolla 5-6-merous; pedicels at most 0.3 mm; perianth submembranous, glabrous except for microscopically ciliolate calyx-teeth, "purple" acc. to protologue; calyx campanulate ±1.2-1.8 x 1.5 mm, bluntly 5-angulate 5-ribbed, the deltate or depressed-deltate teeth 0.3-0.7 mm; corolla ±4-5 mm, cleft to middle or below, the lobes recurved at anthesis; androecium 26-28-merous, 15-20 mm, the continuous tube only ±1.5-2 mm, the filaments thence united in fascicles to 8-9 mm, the tassel apparently pink or carmine; ovary subsessile glabrous. Pod unknown.
Distribution and Ecology - Of poorly known ecology and dispersal, reported from "woods" and "gallery-woodland," first collected in 1827 by Burchell near Corumbá and Pirenôpolis, then in 1892 by Ule on the upper Maranhão fork of the Tocantins, in 1964 by Irwin between Brasília and Planaltina, and in 1968 by Irwin between Corumbá and Niquelândia at 750 m, all within 15°-16°S and 47°45'-49°W in Distrito Federal and state of Goiás, Brazil. — Map 21. — Fl. IX-X(-?).
-
Discussion
When first discovered, C. silvicola was misinterpreted by Bentham partly as a variety of C. mertensioides, which is C. asplenioides of this account and a member of sect. Calliandra, not of sect. Androcallis, and partly as the Amazonian C. surinamensis, in which the number of pinnae is stabilized at exactly one pair per leaf. None of the collections of C. silvicola presently available for study are of good quality, and the affinities of the species are obscure.
-
Distribution
Distrito Federal Brazil South America| Goiás Brazil South America|