Myrcia citrifolia (Aubl.) Urb.

  • Authority

    Maguire, Bassett. 1969. The botany of the Guayana Highland-part VIII. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 18: 1-290.

  • Family

    Myrtaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Myrcia citrifolia (Aubl.) Urb.

  • Description

    Distribution and Ecology - U I A N A (ex Poiret) or A N T I L L E S (hb. Juss.). Richard (P, ex hb. Poir.,type of Eugenia acetosans; P, ex hb. Juss.). VENEZUELA. Bolivar: Cerro Bolivar!elev 600-750 mm , 25-28 Feb 1953 (fl, bud, fr), Wurdack 34456, 34393, 34394 (allMICH).The following, with longer, mostly elliptic leaves up to 9-12 cm long, seem torepresent no more than extreme leaf-forms of Mvrcia citrifolia:SURINAME. Kayser-airstrip on the Zuid-rivier, 56°30' W , 3° 12' N, 22 Feb1961 (imm fr), Kramer & Hekking 2991 (MICH, U ) .

  • Discussion

    Myrtus citrifolia Aubl., PI. Guiane Fr. index p. 20. 1775.

    Eugenia paniculata Jacq. Coll. 2: 108. pi. 5, f. 1. 1789.

    Ewgenza acei05aM5 Poir. in Lam., Encyc. Suppl. 3: 125. 1813.

    Myrcia ? vernicosaDC.,DC.'Prodr.^: 256. 1828.

    Aulomyrcia jacquiniana Berg, Linnaea 27: 69. 1855.

    Aulomyrcia triflora Berg, Linnaea 27: 79. 1855.

    Aulomyrcia citrifolia (Aubl.) Amsh., Bull. Torrey Club 75: 531. 1948

    Aulomyrcia citrifolia (Aubl.) Amsh., Bull. Torrey Club 75: 531. 1948. Widely distributed in the West Indies (according to Urban probably in Cuba and Haiti, and certainly in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Barbadoes). Legrand (Sellowia 13: 297. 1961) states that the same species ranges as far south as the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It does not seem to be very common in South America north of the Amazon.

    It is readily distinguished from Myrcia guianensis (which also has glabrous flowers, 3-locular ovary, and calyx-lobes pubescent within), by the larger flowers (buds 3-3.5 m m long), and by the branching of the panicles. In M . citrifolia the terminal branchlets of the panicles are usually rather regularly cymosely branched, the flowers in 3's, the terminal flower sessile or nearly so, the lateral ones rather strictly opposite and rather long-pedicellate. In M . guianensis the branching is almost always irregular, the terminal branchlets often alternate, and the groups of flowers (if more than 1) tending to be closely aggregated and the individual flowers all sessile or short-pedicelled.

    The type of Aulomyrcia triflora, Rich. Schomburgk 978, was from Roraima, and seen by Berg at Berlin. It is assumed to have been destroyed. I have not located any other specimens named by Berg himself, but a sheet at K e w bears the number 644/978B, and presumably represents the same gathering (for an explanation of the numbering system used by the Schomburgk brothers, see the introduction to this paper). Another sheet of no. 978 is at CGE. As already suggested by Amshoff (Bull. Torrey Club 75: 531. 1948), A. triflora is hardly to be distinguished from Myrcia citrifolia except that the leaves tend to be broadest below the middle, elliptic or ovate, and broadly subcordate, i.e., not obovate, and narrowed or cuneate at base, as in many specimens of M . citrifolia. The following, referable to A. triflora, if that is recognized as an entity, are all from moderately high elevations, whereas typical M . citrifolia seems to be predominantly a lowland plant:

    V E N E Z U E L A . Bolivar: Uaipan-tepui, elev 1200 m, 1-15 Feb 1948 (fl), Phelps & Hitchcock 425 ( N Y ) ; Auyan-tepui, elev 1500-1850 m, 5-18 M a y 1964, Stcvermark 93459 (bud, M I C H ) , 93532 (fl, M I C H ) , 94112 (imm fr, M I C H ) . BRITISH G U I A N A . Pakaraima Mountains, Membaru-Kurupung trail, elev 1000 m, Oct Nov 1951 (bud), Maguire & Fanshawe 32413 ( M I C H ) ; Roraima, Schomburgk 978 (CGE, isotype), 644/978B (K, isotype), 644 ( W ).

    The name Aulomyrcia jacquiniana is illegitimate because superfluous when published; it was based wholly upon Eugenia paniculata Jacq. The type of the latter name, according to the Code, is the type of .A. jacquiniana. In the original publication of E. paniculata, Jacquin made it clear that he was describing a specimen, saying "Sub hoc ipso titulo accepi ex Martinica ramum elegantis arbusculae, in duos ramulos divaricatos divisum." This is the same specimen, collected by Aquart and now at W , cited by Berg in the protologue of A. jacquiniana; on the label Berg noted "Icon Jacq. ex hoc specimine facta est," and comparison of Jacquin's figure with the plant leaves no reasonable doubt that the illustration was drawn directly from the specimen. The two agree in every detail of leaf size and shape, divaricate branchlets, number of nodes, length of internodes, disposition of bracts, direction of branching in the panicle; even the accidental intertwining of two of the lower paniclebranches is shown in the figure. The artist showed the number of calyx-lobes as 4 rather than 5, but in other respects the figure is a good representation of a specimen of Myrcia citrifolia. As according to Urban, Aquart collected in Martinique about 1787, it seems entirely reasonable that Jacquin should have received this specimen in time to describe and figure it by the following year. The original label bears the name "Eugenia paniculata Aquart," evidently the "titulo" under which Jacquin received it.

    The type of Myrcia ? vernicosa D C , a fragmentary specimen of unknown provenance (cf Field Mus. neg. 7914), surely represents a plant of Myrcia citrifolia. The older leaves are "vernicose," i.e., smooth and lustrous, but the younger leaves are exactly those of other specimens of M . citrifolia; the buds are pedicellate, 3 m m long or more, the calyx-lobes are 5, pubescent on the inner surface, and the ovary is trilocular. I a m indebted to Dr. Simone Vautier for permission to section one of the few buds on this specimen.

  • Distribution

    U I A N A (ex Poiret) or A N T I L L E S (hb. Juss.). Richard (P, ex hb. Poir.,type of Eugenia acetosans; P, ex hb. Juss.). V E N E Z U E L A . Bolivar: Cerro Bolivar!elev 600-750 m m , 25-28 Feb 1953 (fl, bud, fr), Wurdack 34456, 34393, 34394 (allMICH).The following, with longer, mostly elliptic leaves up to 9-12 cm long, seem torepresent no more than extreme leaf-forms of Mvrcia citrifolia:S U R I N A M E . Kayser-airstrip on the Zuid-rivier, 56°30' W , 3° 12' N, 22 Feb1961 (imm fr), Kramer

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