Duroia fusifera (Spruce ex K.Schum.) Hook.f.

  • Authority

    Maguire, Bassett. 1965. The Botany of the Guayana Highland. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 12 (3): 1-285.

  • Family

    Rubiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Duroia fusifera (Spruce ex K.Schum.) Hook.f.

  • Type

    Type. Ad flumina Casiquiari, Vasiva et Pacimoni, Amazonas, Venezuela, 1858-4, R. Spruce 3405 (holotype K, isotype NY).

  • Description

    Distribution and Ecology - Distribution. A small-sized riverine tree principally of the upper Rio Negro-Rio Guainia and Orinoco river drainage of Venezuela and Colombia.

  • Discussion

    Amaiou fusifera Spruce ex Benth. & Hook. Gen. PI. 2: 82. 1873, nomen. The description of the fruit is based upon an immature fruiting specimen with stipitate fruit. The photo of the holotype specimen from Kew shows stipitate young fruits but they are not truly mature. The young fruits are acutely narrowed to the base and stipitate 10-12 mm. As the fruit matures the stipe becomes shorter and the fruit then appears almost sessile or subsessile. In the isotype specimen seen at N Y the leaves are 4-verticillate, oblong to broadly oblong and rounded at apex, glabrous, and with 8-9 nerves on each side of the midrib. There is no indication of prominent transverse venation on the upper surface, as is found in D. genipoides. The photo of the holotype at Kew shows the oblong leaves rounded at the base as in the isotype specimen at NY. The specimen of Williams 14374 has young fruits with stipes 8-15 mm long and the young fruits, 3.5 cm long, 2.8 cm wide, are about at the same stage of development as those described in the Spruce specimen of D. fusifera. At first the young fruits are pubescent, but later become glabrous. In the specimen of Cuatrecasas 7031 from bocas del Carurii, Vaupes, Colombia, the calyx of the staminate flower is prominently repand-denticulate.

  • Distribution

    Distribution. A small-sized riverine tree principally of the upper Rio Negro-Rio Guainia and Orinoco river drainage of Venezuela and Colombia.

    Venezuela South America| Colombia South America|