Strychnos krukoffiana Ducke
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Authority
Krukoff, Boris A. 1965. Supplementary notes on the American species of Strychnos VII. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 12: 1-94.
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Family
Loganiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Distribution and Ecology - Brazil: Amazonas: basin of Rio Negro (near Manaos), Ducke 1981 (Aug. 30, 1946) (type coll.), s.n. (June 6, 1945).istribution: Known only from two collections made from the same plant.
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Discussion
Type locality: Amazonas (basin of Rio Negro, near Manaos, north-east of Flores), Brazil. A giant bush-rope (provided with tendrils) from the high forest on terra-firme. This species has been reviewed by us in detail (6: 11) and found to be related to S. divaricans and S. tabascana. Fruits of this species are still unknown. It would be important to collect and describe mature fruits and seeds and place this species in the proper place in the key made by Ducke, which is based on the fruit characters (31: 53-57). It would also be important to collect a series of specimens from various parts of mature and young plants so that we could distinguish it on the basis of sterile material with more confidence. The first collection of this species (leaves and old inflorescences) made by Ducke on June 6, 1945, was sent to us for identification and I wrote to Ducke that it was probably of a new species, which however we do not like to describe in the absence of flowers. This specimen (Ducke s.n.; June 6, 1945) with our annotation label is deposited at the N. Y. Botanical Garden. On August 30, 1946 Ducke obtained a flowering specimen from the same plant (Ducke 1981), and he sent this specimen to us. On Jan. 22, 1947 I wrote to Ducke (a copy of this letter is now deposited with my files at the Smithsonian Institution) concerning this specimen as follows: “I am sending you our description of a new species of Strychnos; which you can use if you care to in your publication. We have drawn this description along the line of our other descriptions of Strychnos. As I already told you, in our judgment this species is related to S. divaricans and S. tabascana, but it is easily distinguishable from these as well as others.” As per Ducke (31: 23), this plant was cut down before he could collect its fruits. In the systematic arrangement of the species, it has been placed by us next to S. divaricans (6: 11), to which it is related, and it is not necessary to make any change.
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Distribution
Distribution: Known only from two collections made from the same plant.
Brazil South America|