Ocotea roraimae Mez

  • Authority

    Maguire, Bassett & Wurdack, John J. 1964. The botany of the Guayana Highland--Part V. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 10: 1-278.

  • Family

    Lauraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Ocotea roraimae Mez

  • Description

    Distribution and Ecology - Distribution. Tree with hermaphrodite flowers known from the slopes of Mount Roraima, British Guiana, and from neighboring mountains in the sandstone area of Amazonas, Venezuela, up to 2200 m. VENEZUELA. Bolivar: vicinity of Bluff Camp, at base of west-facing sandstone bluffs at Chimanta-tepui (Torono-tepui), 1700 m, Steyermark 75614 (fr. NY), 75607 (fr. NY); bosques de montana del Aprada Tepuy, Uriman, Bernardi 978 (fl. NY), orillas del Rio Icabaru, cerca del campo diamantifero de Uaiparu, 6583 (y. fr. NY), 6631 (fl. NY). Amazonas: occasional in scrub forest 4 k m north of Cumbre Camp, summit of Cerro de la Neblina, Rio Yatua, Maguire, Wurdack & Bunting 37173 (fl. NY), 37184 (fl. NY); infrequent in upper basin of Cañon Grande above Salto Grande, Maguire, Wurdack dc Maguire 42361 (fl. NY).

  • Discussion

    Type. Baum im unteren Walde, Roraima, 1900 m, Jan 1910, E. Ule 8606 (isotype, fl., fragm. & photo. F, photo. NY).

    Vernacular Name. Cavi si-yek (Bernardi).

    The Bernardi numbers show leaves less pubescent and larger than those described by Mez from Ule's collection, but are otherwise similar. Steyermark 75607, if correctly placed, bears leaves less acuminate than those of the type, but even more densely pubescent on the lower surface and young branchlets. The detached fruit, however, although in a younger stage of development, is characteristic of the species.

    The fruiting specimen of Holt & Blake 705, collected at Cerro Yapacana in the upper Rio Negro region of Amazonas, Venezuela, was compared by A. C. Smith at Kew with the flowering type. The oblong-ellipsoid fruit is over 2 cm long and approximately 1.3 cm in diameter, seated in a shallow, cyathiform cupule not more than 5 mm deep, 13 mm long including the short, constricted, stipelike base, and 13 m m broad. Pinkus 145 from the type locality, Roraima, shows a cupule more constricted, more typically cyathiform than that of the Holt & Blake number, with which former specimen Steyermark 75611, from Chimanta, agrees perfectly.

    All the specimens, including the fragment of the type of which a leaf only is available, show in varying degrees the black mycelium of a fungus which seemingly is residual and indeed may be specific for the taxon.

  • Distribution

    Distribution. Tree with hermaphrodite flowers known from the slopes of Mount Roraima, British Guiana, and from neighboring mountains in the sandstone area of Amazonas, Venezuela, up to 2200 m.

    Venezuela South America| Guyana South America|