Endlicheria colombiana (Meisn.) Mez
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Authority
Chanderbali, Andre S. 2004.
(Lauraceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 91: 1-141. (Published by NYBG Press) -
Family
Lauraceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Colombia. Antioquia: Without locality and date (fl [female]), Jervise s.n. (lectotype, designated by Kostermans, 1937: K).
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Synonyms
Oreodaphne colombiana Meisn.
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Description
Species Description - Trees to 8 m. Branchlets slender, midway along flush 3-5 mm diam., distally weakly angular and sparsely strigillose, soon terete and glabrous, the surface always clearly exposed, grey to dark brown, the hairs short, to 0.15 mm, straight, appressed, greenish grey; terminal buds plump, 3 × 2.5 mm, densely grey-sericeous. Leaves alternate, widely and evenly spaced along current flush; petioles slender, to 1.5-0.3 cm, canaliculate, the indument as on branchlets; laminae chartaceous, plane, elliptic, 11-25 × 5-12 cm, the base obtuse, briefly decurrent, the apex obtuse, acuminate for up to 1 cm, the margins minutely recurved throughout; upper surface light greyish green to olive-brown, waxy, the primary to fourth-order veins strongly raised; lower surface sparsely strigillose, the hairs soon restricted to main veins, eventually lost, the primary to fourth-order veins raised, their prominence decreasing with rank; secondary veins 5-9 per side, ± evenly spaced, slightly more distant around midlamina, ascending at 50-60° (more obtusely towards apex), arcuate, or arching after midcourse, distal pairs loop-connected; tertiaries oblique to midrib, between secondaries straight to once-forked. Staminate inflorescences evenly spaced along current flush in the axils of foliage leaves, to 10 cm long with 9 lateral branches, branch orders 2-3, the highest order dichasial, lax, the flowers distant, the axes sparsely grey-strigillose, distal branches and pedicels more densely so; bracts and bracteoles caducous by anthesis, none seen; pedicels terete, to 7 mm long, those supporting secondary flowers slightly shorter. Flowers hypocrateriform, 5 mm diam., sparsely grey-strigillose outside; receptacle infundibuliform, 2 × 3 mm, merging with tepals, densely rusty tomentellose inside. Tepals chartaceous, ovate, 2 × 1.3 mm, ascending to spreading at anthesis, the inner surface rusty tomentellose-papillose. Stamens of whorls I and II sessile, 0.7 mm tall, the anthers broadly ovate, 0.6 × 0.7 mm, minutely papillose, the apex apiculate, the connectives bluntly prolonged between the 2 locelli, these obliquely hemispherical, introrse-latrorse, the filaments ligulate, as broad as anthers, rusty tomentellose; whorl III stamens sessile, 1 mm tall, the anthers ovate, 0.6 × 0.5 mm, erect, locelli 2, extrorse-latrorse, the filaments broader than anthers, columnar, rusty tomentellose, the basal glands sessile, globose; whorl IV wanting; pistillode fusiform. Pistillate inflorescence with indument and color as in staminate plants, but shorter and with fewer lateral branches, the flowers slightly smaller; stamens sterile, smaller; ovary glabrous; style slender, distinct from ovary; stigma tri-lobed. Fruits unknown.
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Discussion
Endlicheria colombiana is a poorly known species. The 19th century collections seen by Meissner (1864), Mez (1889), and Kostermans (1937) are all pistillate plants with unfertilized flowers. They have spreading tepals and bear sessile stamens with ovate anthers typical of the E. browniana species group, but their smooth receptacle-tepal transition stands out among the distally constricted receptacle elsewhere in this species group. Vegetatively, these pistillate plants are almost identical and undoubtedly represent the same species, but a staminate plant from near the type locality in Antioquia, Zarucchi et al. 7120, is placed here with hesitation. Flowers of that specimen show the smooth receptacle-tepal transition noted as unique to E. colombiana in the E. browniana species group, but they are much more robust and show a sharper pedicel-receptacle transition than the pistillate flowers. Yet this may be a consequence of disease. Almost all leaves show severe insect damage, several flowers are infested with fungal mycelia, and there is no sign of pollen in often shallow locelli.
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Distribution
Small trees from the Andes of Antioquia (Colombia) at ca. 1500 m. The two collections with calendar information were flowering in May and November.
Colombia South America| Chocó Colombia South America| Valle Colombia South America| Carchi Ecuador South America| Esmeraldas Ecuador South America| Colombia South America| Antioquia Colombia South America|