Amaioua intermedia var. brasiliana (A.Rich. ex DC.) Steyerm.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Rubiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Amaioua intermedia var. brasiliana (A.Rich. ex DC.) Steyerm.

  • Description

    Distribution and Ecology - Distribution. Brazil, where commonly encountered in the southern and southeastern part in Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catarina, and Rio de Janeiro.

  • Discussion

    A. brasiliana A. Eich. diss, ex DC. Prodr. 4: 370. 1830. A. laureaster Mart, in Flora 24: Beibl. II: 84. 1841, type: Ad fluvium Tagoahy, prov. Cujabanae et prope San Carlos prov. S. Apuli (Brazil), Oct. et Nov., 1839, Martius 617 (isotype NY). A. guianensis var. ß brasiliana (A. Eich.) Schum. in Martius, Fl. Brasil. 6(6) : 359. 1889 The less common variant, with somewhat more congested inflorescence, described as var. y confertiflora by Schumann, must serve as the nomenclatural type of the species, A. intermedia. The commoner var. brasiliana, based on A. brasiliana, is a later name than ^4. intermedia. Schumann cites the Martius 617 collection under his var. (3 brasiliana. This collection, upon which A. laureaster Mart, was based, is represented at N Y by a staminate branch having short peduncles of the inflorescence up to 5 m m long. The photo of the type of A. laureaster from K shows a staminate branch on the left hand side of the sheet and a pistillate (fruiting) branch on the right hand side with apparently two pedicellate and fasciculate fruits present. The Blanchet 1012 specimen from the Meisner Herbarium deposited at NY is labeled Amaioua intermedia and is undoubtedly the collection from Bahia cited by Schumann in Martius's Flora Brasiliensis (p. 359) as var. y confertiflora. It shows the flowers of the staminate and pistillate inflorescences as *'conferta" and with "floribus sessilibus." A. Richard described his Amaioua brasiliana as " suffrutescens repens." Such a faulty description of this southern Brazilian species would certainly make the acceptance of the name doubtful. This doubt was expressed by Schumann when he placed the name, prefixed by a question mark, under his synonymy of A. guianensis. Whether or not Schumann was using A. Richard's name of A. brasiliana in the sense of a new combination in the varietal category, or erecting a new varietal name, var. ß brasiliana, is debatable. Apparently, he was re-using Richard's name in the varietal category as a new combination, in which sense it is interpreted in the present paper. Schumann placed this entire complex, treated in the present paper as A. intermedia, under A. guianensis. However, as presently interpreted, the A. intermedia group is more closely related to A. corymbosa than to A. guianensis, showing relationship to A. coryml)osa especially in the pedicellate pistillate flowers, pedunculate fruits, frequent occurrence of barbate axils of the nerves on the lower side of the leaf-blades, tendency to more elongated peduncles of the staminate inflorescence, and more generally fewer-nerved leaf-blades. Treated as somewhat intermediate between A. corymbosa and A. guianensis, the taxon A. intermedia is considered distinct from these other two species in having well-developed fruiting pedicels, fasciculate pistillate flowering and fruiting pedicels, longer pistillate corolla-tube, generally longer pistillate and staminate calyx-teeth, generally longer staminate pedicels, and generally smaller and narrower leaf-blades. In its fasciculate pistillate inflorescence, it approaches A. brevidentata Steyermark, described beyond. In its lack of a pistillate peduncle, it shows relationship with A. guianensis.

  • Distribution

    Distribution. Brazil, where commonly encountered in the southern and southeastern part in Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catarina, and Rio de Janeiro.

    Brazil South America|