Campsiandra angustifolia Spruce ex Benth.
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Authority
Maguire, Bassett, et al. 1953. The Botany of the Guayana Highland. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 8 (2): 87-160.
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Family
Caesalpiniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Tree 6-25 m. tall, all parts except the upper leaflet surface sparsely to subdensely appressed-puberulent; leaves 7-13-foliolate, the petioles 2.5-6 cm. long, narrowly winged, the rachis angled-canaliculate above, 5-16.5 cm. long, the petiolules 1-2 mm. long, transversely rugose; leaflets opposite to subopposite, 6-15 cm. long, 2-6.5 cm. wide, lanceolate, lance-elliptic, elliptic, oblanceoblong, or oblong-lanceolate, the base rotund or obtuse, the apex short-acuminate to acuminate, the tip obtuse, above glabrous, below with minute scattered appressed hairlets, the venation finely reticulate, prominulous on both sides; inflorescences terminal, 7-15 cm. long, compound panicles of racemes, the bracteoles lanceolate, glabrous within, the pedicels 1-1.5 cm. long, articulate at the base of the flower; calyx-tube 2-2.5 mm. long, 2-3 mm. in diameter at the apex, the sepals lanceolate or lance-ovate, 1.8-2 mm. long, 1.5-1.8 mm. wide, obtuse; petals plane or with margins somewhat inflexed, oblong, oblong-oval, or oval, 6-8 mm. long, 3-4.5 mm. wide, glabrous except for the ciliolate margin; stamens inflexed in the bud, the filaments glabrous, 2-3 cm. long, the anthers oval-oblong, 1.5 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, pilose dorsally; pistil glabrous, the stigma expanded-truncate, the style 2-2.5 cm. long, the ovary 4.5-5 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, linear-oblong 5-ovulate, the stipe 2.5-3 mm. long; fruit falcate, oblong, 21-26 cm. long, 5.5-7 cm. wide.
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Discussion
This species is distinct from C. comosa principally on its smaller flowers. Of the two varieties of that species it most closely approaches the typical one.
The distribution of this species is also rather interesting; while most of the collections come from the headwaters of the Amazon region in northwestern Brazil, northeastern Peru, and southeastern Colombia, single collections from southwestern Brazil and Belem represent the outposts of the distributional pattern. Future collections from these areas will probably reveal that the species occurs throughout the Amazonian and its tributary basins.