Odontocarya duckei Barneby
-
Authority
Mori, S. A. 1987. The Lecythidaceae of a lowland Neotropical Forest: La Fumée mountain, French Guiana. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 44: 1-190.
-
Family
Menispermaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Description
Latin Diagnosis - O. acuparatae Miers et O. miersianae Barneby arete affinis sed imprimis drupae parvae mesocarpio efibroso deciduo necnon endocarpio condyloque suo minimis, ab illa nectariis foliorum intravenariis poro aperientibus ab hac androecii fila-mentis interioribus alte connatis absimilis. Habitus O. acuparatae, glaberrima; foliorum petiolus 3-10 cm longus, lamina cordato-acuminata (3-)4-9 cm longa, (2-) 3-8 cm lata, ipsa basi breviter flabel-latim producta, lobis basalibus late rotundatis sinu 2-10 mm alto separatis, acumine anguste oblongo, ipso apice triangulari vel retuso, costa excurrenti mucronata; inflorescentia pedunculo incluso 1-2 dm longa multiflora pendula, pedicellis maturis gracilibus 5-10 mm longis ±0.5 mm diam sub drupa paullo incrassatis; drupae 6-7 (forsan ad 0.5 usque) mm longae ±5 mm diam caro tota mucilaginea demum decidua, endocarpium 5.5-6 (9) mm longum dorso laeve vel obscure rugulosum condylus ovalis parvulus 1.5-2 mm longus 0.8-1 mm latus.
Distribution and Ecology - In capoeira, on varzea, or on sandy shores, lower Amazon delta region in Pará and southward along the coast, perhaps to Ceará, Paraiba, and Pernambuco, the full range unclear.
-
Discussion
Type. BRAZIL. Pará : Ilha do Maranhão, Anil, [female] fr., Jun 3, 1907, A. Ducke 510 (holotype MG). Cited above is a rather heterogeneous assemblage of material from around Brazil’s eastern shoulder which cannot be assimilated either by Odontocarya acuparata and O. miersiana to the south or to O. tamoides to the north, although sharing with all three some individual features. The material from Pará, which I regard as typical O. ducket, differs from O. acuparata in its tiny drupe surrounded by a cleanly deciduous mesocarp and excavated ventrally by a condyle only 1.5-2 mm in greatest diameter. It resembles some forms of O. tamoides in leaf-shape, but lacks the discolored nectaries in the nerve-angles of the leaf, while the drupe is itself smaller, with smaller condyle and smooth dorsal face, ermine O. tamoides extends south to the Tocantins in Pará, but the form colected there (Drouet 1990, GH) has the leaf-nectaries and crested endocarp of its species exceptionally well developed. I have seen no staminate flower of typical O. duckei, unless Gardner’s old collection from Recife in reality belongs there. The two collections cited from Paraiba have leaves with faint intercalary nerves between the primary ones of the leaf-blade and suggest O. miersiana to this extent, but the staminate flower has an androecium with united filaments and the drupe is again too small, smooth, and has a tiny condyle. Ducke’s plant from Serra de Baturite, Ceará, has small drupes but the mesocarp is somewhat fibrous and the pistillate inflorescence is very short and few-flowered. This may represent a distinct entity. Much more material of Odontocarya from Brazil’s Atlantic seaboard will be required before the taxonomy of the simply racemose group becomes stabilized.