Odontocarya miersiana Barneby
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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.
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Family
Menispermaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Latin Diagnosis - Cum O. tamoide (DC.) Diels ab ipso Miers confusa sed O. acuparatae Miers propior, ab hac androecii filamentis inter se ab ima basi liberis necnon foliorum lamina haud simpliciter 5-plinervia sed nervis 5 primariis cum debiliori intercalato alternantibus, nectariis ad venarum primariarum confluxum nullis ad confluxum costae cum nervis secundariis sitis saccatis poro apertis, et praesertim endocarpii sculptura ventrali (infra descripta) aliena diversa. Odontocarya tamoides sensu Miers, Contr. Bot. 3: 63. 1871, pro parte, exclus. basionym. Glaberrima, scandens, truncis ad 8 mm usque diam, cortice vetustiori lucido brunneo-grisescenti, caulibus hornotinis canaliculatis parce lenticellatis; petiolus (1-) 2-3.5 (-4.5) cm longus, basi tortilis, apicem versus parum incrassatus; lamina submembranacea opaca suborbiculari-cordata vel late ovata (basi tunc sinuatim truncata) 4-6 cm longa, 3-5 cm lata, apice saepe abrupte breviter acuminata, sinu basali ad 6 mm usque alto, acumine triangulan costa excurrenti cuspidato, lobis basalibus late rotundatis minime argulatis, tota palmatim 5-nervia, nervis primariis cum debiliori flexuoso interposito alternantibus, exterioribus 2 brevibus, interioribus 2 ad vel ultra mediam incurvis, costa mediam versus et ultra utrinque 1-2 venulas secundarias gignenti, his dorso nectaria parvula ellipsoidea poro minuto aperta suffulcrantibus, reticulo ultimo subtili aperto superne immerso inferne acute prominulo, areolis >l mm diam; inflorescentia axillaris e ramulis hornotinis vel foliigeris vel aphyllis nascens solitaria, simpliciter pseudoracemosa ±6-13 cm longa, floribus fasciculatis 2-4-nis, pedicellis longioribus 2-4 mm longis; flos [male]: sepala membranacea fusca, 3 exteriora deltato-ovata obtusa concava 0.6-0.7 mm longa, 0.5-0.7 mm lata, 3 interiora late ovata vel suborbicularia matura ad 2-2.2 mm usque longa; androecii 6-meri ±1.3 mm longi filamenta linearia inter se libera vel ima basi brevissime connata ±0.9 mm longa, anther-arum thecae crectae contiguae 0.4-0.45 mm longae; inflorescentia [female] pendula, pedunculo brevi incluso 13-27 cm longa, pluriflora, pedicellis maturis 7-15 mm longis, 0.5-0.7 mm diam; flos [female] ignotus; drupae 12-14 mm longae, 8-10 mm diam exocarpium coriaceum, maturum flavum demum aurantiacum, mesocarpium fibroso-mucilagineum persistens, endocarpium 11.5-13 mm longum, 7-9 mm diam, dorso rotundato convexo obscure longitrorsus carinatum ventre circacircum condylum apertum ±6 mm longum, 4.5-5.5 mm latum fosso excavatum.
Distribution and Ecology - Woods and thickets, apparently local, known only from the general vicinity of Guanabara Bay, in the Federal District and State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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Discussion
Type. BRAZIL. Rio de Janerio: Jurujuba (i.e., at the E portal of Bahia de Guanabara, just S of Nicteroi), July 5, 1837, John Miers (on attached packet numbered 3516) (BM). The holotype of Odontocarya miersiana is a meager specimen, but having four well preserved leaves and complete although immature staminate inflorescences it illustrates its species fairly well. It is the plant that Miers had in mind and described when he transferred Cocculus tamoides to Odontocarya. Obviously he had recognized it as different from his own O. acuparata which he had himself collected not far away in the Organ Mountains. Before making the misidentification with C. tamoides, Miers regarded his plant from Jurujuba as a species of Chondrodendron, as shown by unpublished annotation of the type. Thus although O. miersiana was described nearly a century ago, it has never acquired a name of its own (unless the still ambiguous Cissampelos Vitis, mentioned at the end of this account and under the preceding species, O. acuparata, in reality was based on specimens of the same). The species is closely related to O. acuparata from which it may be distinguished by the free filaments of the staminate flower, the sculpture of the endocarp, and details of the foliage. The leaf-blade of O. acuparata is 5-nerved from the base, and the five veins are connected dorsally where they run together by a weblike membrane, open distally, which seems to conceal an intravenous nectary; and these same webs are repeated upward in the forks of the secondary nerves lateral to the costa. The blade of O. miersiana has the same type of quintuplinervature, but between each of the five main nerves is interposed a more slender, flexuous one which leads directly into the tertiary venation and takes the place of the intravenous nectary. However, at the forks of the veins lateral to the midrib appear little vesicles opening by a pore, just such as are found in O. arifolia and O. truncata. The ventral face of the endocarp in O. acuparata is coarsely wrinkled as is the dorsal face. In O. miersiana the condylar aperture is surrounded by a shallow trench of which the acute exterior margin forms the circumference of the endocarp’s ventral face. From genuine O. tamoides, which Miers never knew, O. miersiana differs in shape and texture of the leaf-blades as well as in characters of the androecium and endocarp; moreover the glabrous var. tamoides has been traced south in Brazil only to the lower Amazon delta and cannot reasonably be expected in the region of Guanabara Bay.